Quality of close relationships -: A product of value consensus and partnership duration

Unmarried, childless couples (n = 67) in a close relationship for more then six months and less than ten years (age between 16 and 36 years) rated the emotional quality of their relationship and described their and their partner's values. moderated regression analysis was, run with the partners' similarity in values, duration of the relationship and the product of similarity and duration as independent variables, and relationship quality as dependent variable. In congruence with the hypotheses,based on theoretical reasoning and previous empirical findings, the importance for relationship quality of partners' similarity in values increases with the duration of the partnership.