gay/lesbian couples are less impacted by negative conflict, using more affection and humor in their startups, responding more positively to partners raising issues, and taking negative comments less personally, both at the time of the argument and after the argument. Gottman offers gay and lesbian couples may be better able to accept some level of negativity in their relationships. "This trend suggests that gay and lesbian partners have a tendency to accept some degree of negativity without taking it personally"

gay/lesbian couples argue more constructively, using fewer controlling and hostile tactics compared to straight couples, suggesting "fairness and power-sharing between the partners is more important and more common in gay and lesbian relationships than in straight ones."

when gay and lesbian couples are having difficulties, they show lower levels of physiological arousal and can calm themselves to prevent over-reaction or emotional shutdown. Straight couples tend to stay worked up after a conflict, while gay and lesbian partners were better able to soothe each other and reconnect.

From the CDC Study study:
the probability of a relationship ending within 5 years is 20% for marrieds, 49% for cohabitators; after 10 years is 33% for married, 62% for cohabitators
75% of Black women are likely to marry at some point in their lives, compared to 91% of White women
the percentage of cohabitations that turn to marriage within 5 years are 75% for White women, 61% for Hispanic women, and 48% for Black women
cohabitation being more likely to lead to marriage in prosperous areas (27% more likely for White women, 13% more likely for Black women)
54% of divorced women remarry in 5 years (58% for White women, 44% for Hispanic women, and 32% for Black women)
cohabitation is less likely to turn to marriage if the woman has ever been raped (34% vs 17% for all women, 60% vs. 40% for White women, 59% vs. 54% for Black women), and history of rape leads to slightly lower likelihood of cohabitating and marrying again, and re-divorce after 5 years (29% vs. 20% for all women)

From Amato (1996)
cohabitation prior to marriage was 4%, 9%, and 17% more likely if the husband's, wive's, or both partners' parents had divorced, and 59% more likely to predict divorce

From Margolin (1992)
over 80% of child abuse in his study occurred in single-parent families.
the boyfriend typically provided only 16% of all childcare, but was responsible for 69% of all abuse reports, with 59% of the abuse happening while the mother was in the home
male caretakers perpetrate 4.2 times more abuse than we would predict based on their child contact
unrelated male caretakers are 4 times more likely to abuse than related male caretakers
20% of the abusive boyfriend incidents in Amato's study were preceded by a child "legitimacy comment" and disobedience, while other studies show only 4% of parental child abuse is preceded by direct disobedience
almost 35% of the abusive boyfriend incidents happened after the mother intervened in boyfriend-children arguments, or the children intervened in mother-boyfriend arguments.

From Ackerman
children from single parent families were more likely to act out due to greater economical strain and less authoritative parenting and limit setting. Boys especially are at risk perhaps due to insecurity around other male attachment figures. 28% of cohabitating mothers had serial male partners, and this predicted acting out in first grade