A five year, three wave panel study was proposed in 1990 to assess the impact of pre-marital socialization on newly (first) married couples marital role negotiations, and the effects of these negotiation processes on: 1) the couples' individual and collective abilities to cope with or solve the problems and crises which periodically face them; 2) the couples' ability to change or alter their role structure to meet the exigencies of life events; 3) the mental and physical health of the individual spouses and; 4) the couple's commitment to the marriage, their satisfaction and happiness with the marriage, and the marriages' stability over time. Data collection started in 1992 and was completed in 1994.