Most research regarding marital satisfaction a. questions the u-shape pattern, suggesting that the upturn in the u shape may be illusory and that marital dissatisfaction continues to decline throughout life b. is not conclusive regarding the u-shape and marital satisfaction but seems to substantiate that men are more satisfied than women c. is not conclusive regarding the u-shape and marital satisfaction but seems to substantiate that women are more satisfied than men

substantiates the "U-shaped" pattern, where marital satisfaction is high at the beginning, drops down around the birth of children, and then gradually rises back to its original high level.

Explanation:

The feeling of excitement of the unknown is what contribute to the high satisfaction in the beginning of marriage. But overtime, couples become used to each other and that feeling start to become dull.

Before the birth of children, couples tend to have a lot of time to spend to pay attention to each others.

After children are born, taking care of the children will take a huge chunk of time that the partners have in their life. When this happen, time that they spend to actually communicate and courting each other will start to gradually decrease. If this left unhanded, marital satisfaction will start to gradually go down. But, if it's properly taken care of, the partners will find a more meaningful reasons for their relationships and the satisfaction will gradually rises back.

i disagree that there is little difference between adult female development and adult male development. sociological studies comparing female and male pathways to adulthood, revelead that there are sustancial differences between them. particularly, female and male differ from timing of marriage, when they began to live with children and the likelihood of combining wife/husband and parent roles.