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Most research has shown that sexual satisfaction in long-term relationships tends to decline over time. Studies showing the average trajectory, however, are limited by only assessing one slope. With longitudinal data from the Flourishing Families Project, Marital Instability Dataset, and the Iowa Youth and Families Project, we utilized growth mixture modeling to assess what trajectories of sexual satisfaction exist in midlife marriages. In the three samples (one individual, two dyadic), we found clear evidence for heterogeneous sexual satisfaction trajectories, for both wives and husbands. Through the datasets, we found some trajectories did decline over time. We also found stably high, stably medium, stably low, and some trajectories that showed an increase in sexual satisfaction over time. Overall, trajectories were similar for wives and husbands, though some classes had one partner with variability while the other was stable, some classes had trajectories with wives having higher sexual satisfaction than husbands, and some classes had trajectories with husbands having higher sexual satisfaction than wives. Demographic variables were not strong distinguishers of these differing trajectories. Both marital satisfaction and perceived marital stability trajectories (based on sexual satisfaction classes) generally had similar patterns to sexual satisfaction trajectories, with a few exceptions. Both marital satisfaction and perceived marital stability were less likely to significantly change over time, have discrepancies between wives and husbands, and have either low marital satisfaction or high perceived marital instability, even if sexual satisfaction was low. These data can help couples recognize various possibilities for sexual satisfaction over time, perhaps helping them to avoid cultural myths of inevitably declining sexual satisfaction.

Suicide rates have increased over the past decade, and screen media (and social media in particular) are often blamed for this marked increase. However, there is little longitudinal research on this topic. The current study examined the link between various types of screen media use over a 10-year period (from adolescence to emerging adulthood) to suicide risk in emerging adulthood. Participants included 500 adolescents (51% female) who were first surveyed in 2009, when they were an average of 13.82 years old (range 12-15 years). For girls, a high level of social media or television use in early adolescence followed by a marked increase over time was most predictive of suicide risk in emerging adulthood. Additionally, video game use that increased over time was also associated with a higher risk for developing suicide risk for girls. A passive sensing measurement was also included at the final wave of data collection to obtain a more accurate and complete picture of phone use in particular. The use of entertainment apps was risky for girls while reading apps were risky for boys. Additionally, video game use (for boys) was associated with suicide risk when cyberbullying was also high. Identifying nonnormative patterns of media during adolescence may be instructive in terms of suicide prevention efforts.