This article focuses on the association between couple disagreement and partnership stability. In particular, we explore the mediating role of macrostructural gender inequality on the effect of couple disagreements on partnership stability in a cross-national comparative perspective. We analyzed data from two waves of the Gender and Generations Survey (fielded between 2004 and 2011) to explore the varied effects of couple disagreements on thoughts about breaking up and on the dissolution of cohabiting unions. As we expected, the effect of disagreements on thoughts about dissolution was present in all of the countries, but its strength varied significantly. Surprisingly, only moderate effects were found on dissolution itself. The second step of our analysis showed that the strength of the link between disagreement and stability does not decrease systematically with the level of gender inequality in a given country. This means that an egalitarian environment does not play a mitigating role in the process of transforming conflict into a decision to divorce. Our findings support the argument of gender revolution theory that the unfinished and stalled transformation of gender roles increases rather than relieves the tensions in intimate lives.

本文重点关注夫妻分歧与伴侣关系稳定性之间的关系。特别是，我们从跨国比较的角度探讨了宏观结构性别不平等对夫妻分歧对伙伴关系稳定性影响的中介作用。我们分析了两轮性别和世代调查（2004 年至 2011 年间进行）的数据，以探讨夫妻分歧对分手想法和同居关系解体的各种影响。正如我们所料，分歧对解散思想的影响在所有国家都存在，但其强度差异很大。令人惊讶的是，仅发现对溶解本身的中等影响。我们分析的第二步表明，分歧与稳定之间的联系强度不会随着特定国家的性别不平等程度而系统地降低。这意味着平等主义环境在将冲突转化为离婚决定的过程中并没有起到缓解作用。我们的研究结果支持性别革命理论的论点，即性别角色的未完成和停滞的转变增加而不是缓解亲密生活中的紧张局势。