Couples' average age was related to the couple conflict types as well, with older

couples more likely to score highly on the hostile type scale and younger couples more

likely to score highly on the validating scale. Since the transition to parenthood literature

has not typically explored age as a factor, the discussion of its relevance here is largely

provisional. As noted previously, younger couples may not yet have as strong of social

support networks, necessitating partners' greater reliance on each other; this situation

may encourage more expression and understanding characteristic of the validating type.

Older couples may have more established social connections, leading them to be less

dependent on their spouses; this situation may make partners less cautious and more

likely to be confrontational when dissatisfactions arise. It could also be the individuals

who tended to approach conflicts with hostility were likely to have been involved in more

unsuccessful romantic relationships before marrying and becoming first-time parents,

making them older than individuals who tended to approach conflicts from a validating

stance and who may have found partners more quickly.

 What may be of most interest concerning the outcome of the canonical correlation

analysis is the absence of the volatile and conflict-avoiding conflict types from the set of

variables most strongly associated with the canonical variate. These two regulated couple

conflict types were negatively associated with the explanatory set, as was the validating

conflict type, but were not significant contributors to the correlation. Indeed, an

examination of the Pearson correlation matrix demonstrates no significant positive or

negative correlations between these two conflict types and any of the study's variables

(except correlations among the couple conflict types themselves). The results indicate the

conflict-avoiding and volatile couple conflict types are not significantly associated with