英訳に困っています＞＜助けてください＞＜
The family life cycle
Even if a theory is a little bit limited, it may still be useful . For instance , Duvall (1971)developed a model of the different stages of marriage which has been criticized in similar ways - it is culturally specific and it doesn't take account of the experiences of single parents , or of divorce , for example . But even with its shortcomings , the model can still help us to understand how a consistent long- term marriage goes through different phases ; and how there phases actually involve different behaviour on the part of the couple , and different assumptions about what they are actually doing.
Duvall identified eight different stages of marriage in all . The first of these is the honeymoon period , in which the married couple are learning to live together, without children . At this time , they are getting to know each other and setting the foundations for their later life together . Statistically , a couple whose honeymoon period lasts for two years or more before children come along are much more likely to stay together in the long term than those who only have a brief interval before starting a family . This may partly be because they have the time to get to know one another as people much better .
The second period in Duvall's model is the nurturing period, when the oldest child is less than two years old, and the couple are learning to cope with being new parents . It can be a stressful time for both of them, and it isn't made easier by lack of sleep, and anxiety about how the child or children are progressing . So at this time , the couple are likely to need to give one another quite a high level of both practical and emotional support; and knowing each other well can make for fewer misunderstanding and quarrels.
