The Role of the Initial Attracting Quality in Marriage: Virtues and Vices

This study reports on the relationship of the initial attracting quality to the present most annoying quality between spouses in a sample of 30 men and 30 women married (not to each other) from two to eight years. The initial attracting quality (Virtue) and the most annoying quality at present (Vice) were assessed by questionnaire and interview and sorted into one of five categories based on Norman's (1963) five personality factor system. The findings suggest that the initial attracting quality and the most annoying quality at present are related in that the latter is an exaggeration, implication or the opposite of the former.