Editor's Comments

There are two purposes of this marriage education marketing study: (1) to compare the self-reported intra- and interpersonal qualities of 121 married couples (n = 242 individuals) attending a marriage education program with 46 married couples (n = 92 individuals) who were contacted through marketing promotional materials to attend the program but did not participate and (2) to determine if intra- and/or interpersonal qualities would predict the likelihood of marriage education attendance versus nonattendance. Results showed that compared with program nonparticipants, program participants reported lower levels of self-esteem, marital communication quality, marital commitment, marital satisfaction, family strengths, less consensus and intimacy, less fulfillment of marriage expectations, and increased levels of marital conflict. Levels of religiosity and fusion were the same for participants and nonparticipants. Wald logistic regression analysis indicated communication was the only significant predictor of marriage education participation. Implications for marriage education programming and practitioners are outlined.     

Gender and Socioeconomic Status Differences in First and Second Marriage Formation

In this article, we address how first and second marriages are formed by asking whether SES has similar effects on first and second marriage entry. Like many studies of first marriage, we focus on gender, socioeconomic characteristics (education, income, and employment status), and gender differences in the effect of SES. To examine this question, we use the NLSY79 (n = 12,231 never‐married and 3,695 divorced persons), discrete‐time logistic regression, and heterogeneous choice models to test for statistically significant differences by gender and between first and second marriages. Our models show gender differences in first and second marriage entry, that the effect of SES on marriage entry differs between first and second marriage, and that the interaction between gender and SES has a unique association with marital entry for never‐ and previously married individuals. Our results have implications for understanding marriage formation, stratification across the life course, and the well‐being of divorced persons who remarry.     

Marriage,Money, and African American Mothers’ Self‐Esteem

This study examined the effects of marital status and family income on the self‐esteem of 292 African American mothers. Counter to previous studies with European American mothers, family income moderated the effects of marital status. Those mothers with higher family income had higher self‐esteem, regardless of their marital status. For those with less family income, married mothers had much higher self‐esteem than unmarried mothers. Low‐income married mothers had the same levels of self‐esteem as high income mothers. It was concluded that financial resources can buffer the effects of being single, and being married can buffer the effects of being low income. Policy initiatives that focus on reducing the financial hardship on single mothers and increasing the marriage rate among lower income parents were also discussed.     

The Social Context of Marital Happiness in Urban Indian Couples: Interplay of Intimacy and Conflict

This research examines the happiness of 182 married, urban Hindu husbands and wives. Prior research emphasizes that the processes mediating well-being diverge across cultures with personal desires not impacting the happiness of non-Western couples. However, with globalization as self needs become important, barometers of happiness such as intimacy and conflict in a relationship assume a critical role in the quality and longevity of marriage, even for non-Western marriages in a contemporary India. Participants were 91 Indian couples, married an average of 11 years, from three socioeconomic classes, three family structures, and arranged and love marriages. Results reveal that happy couples, compared with unhappy couples, reported agreement, empathy, validation, support, and fulfilled expectations. Couples' experience and expression of intimacy, affected by social context, also predicted enhanced levels of happiness in marriage while conflict had a negative effect on marital happiness. This research suggests how personal desires may be transforming cultural practices.     

Marital Quality,Gender, and Markers of Inflammation in the MIDUS Cohort

Marital quality is an important factor for understanding the relationship between marriage and health. Low‐quality relationships may not have the same health benefits as high‐quality relationships. To understand the association between marital quality and health, we examined associations between two indicators of marital quality (marital support and marital strain) and two biomarkers of inflammation (interleukin‐6 and C‐reactive protein) among men and women in long‐term marriages using data from the Survey of Midlife in the United States (N = 542). Lower levels of spousal support were associated with higher levels of inflammation among women but not men. Higher levels of spousal strain were weakly and inconsistently associated with higher levels of inflammation among women and men; the effects were diminished with the addition of psychosocial and behavioral covariates. These findings suggest marital quality is an important predictor of inflammation, especially among women.     

Childhood parental loss and adult depression

Previous research demonstrates convincingly that childhood parental deaths and parental divorces have implications for adult well-being as defined by levels of depression, educational attainment, early age at marriage, and risk of divorce. What this research has failed to examine are the interconnections among these outcomes. Specifically, are the socioeconomic and marital outcomes of parental loss implicated in the observed higher levels of depression? This analysis takes a first step in answering this question. Using data from a sample of 1,755 married men and women, I estimated regression models which examine the extent to which adult socioeconomic status and current marital quality mediate and/or modify the loss-depression relationship. Parental divorce was strongly related to socioeconomic and marital outcomes. Furthermore, current marital quality contributed importantly to understanding the higher levels of depressed mood observed among persons from divorced homes. Parental death was much more weakly related to socioeconomic and marital outcomes, and these outcomes played little role in explaining its relationship to depression. Finally, all of these relationships were stronger among women than men. These findings support the utility of life-course approaches to understanding adult mental health.     

Marital Status,Spousal Characteristics,and the Use of Preventive Care

In this article, we investigated the effects of marriage and spousal characteristics on the use of preventive care. We accounted for the endogeneity of marriage by combining propensity score estimation techniques with marriage transitions observed in longitudinal data. Results indicated that marriage increases the probability of dental check-ups and physical examinations for both sexes and mammograms and Pap smears for women. Next, we examined whether spousal characteristics affect the use of preventive care. Spousal education, income, health conditions, and preferences for risk and health care all affected use of preventive care in expected directions. Taken together, we conclude that marriage increases the use of preventive care; however, the net marital effect masks a heterogeneity that results from the characteristics of the spouse an individual marries.     

Trajectories of Conflict Over Raising Adolescent Children and Marital Satisfaction

The present study examined trajectories of marital satisfaction among couples with adolescent children and evaluated how changes in parents' conflict over raising adolescent children were associated with changes in marital satisfaction over 4 years. Using a prospective, longitudinal research design and controlling for family socioeconomic status, dyadic growth curve analysis from a sample of 431 couples with adolescent children indicated that marital satisfaction decreased over time for parents with adolescent children and that the trajectories for mothers and fathers were substantially linked. More importantly, the study demonstrated that increases or decreases in parents' marital conflict over raising adolescent children were associated with corresponding decreases or increases in marital satisfaction for both mothers and fathers.     

Changes in Wives' Income: Effects on Marital Happiness,Psychological Well‐Being,and the Risk of Divorce

We investigate the effects of increases in married women's actual income and in their proportion of total family income on marital happiness, psychological well‐being, and the likelihood of divorce. We use data from a sample of 1,047 married individuals (not couples) in medium‐duration marriages, drawn from a five‐wave panel survey begun in 1980 and continuing to 1997. Structural equation modeling is used to assess the impact of increases in married women's absolute and relative income from 1980 to 1988 on the marital happiness and well‐being of married men and women in 1988. Event history analysis is used to determine how these changes affect the risk of divorce between 1988 and 1997. We find that increases in married women's absolute and relative income significantly increase their marital happiness and well‐being. Increases in married women's absolute income generally have nonsignificant effects for married men. However, married men's well‐being is significantly lower when married women's proportional contributions to the total family income are increased. The likelihood of divorce is not significantly affected by increases in married women's income. Nevertheless, increases in married women's income may indirectly lower the risk of divorce by increasing women's marital happiness.     

Partner Choice and the Differential Retreat From Marriage

The contemporary retreat from marriage in the United States has had a differential impact across socioeconomic and racial groups. Here, 1990 marriage rates and propensities for Virginia, North Carolina, and Wisconsin are analyzed regarding (a) the likelihood that persons in different groups ever marry and (b) patterns of partner choice with respect to race and educational level. Marriage remains strong in most race‐education groups but is substantially lower among Blacks and among those with less than 12 years of education. Patterns of partner choice have shifted to show greater symmetry between the educational levels of brides and grooms. Changes have been modest with regard to the level and pattern of interracial (Black‐White) marriage. Marriage is increasingly a union of equals, but a union chosen more by Whites than by Blacks and more by the well educated than by the poorly educated.     

Hard Living,Perceived Entitlement to a Great Marriage,and Marital Dissolution

Using the two waves of the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH), we examine the effects on marital dissolution of couple's gender attitudes, perceived unfairness, marital disagreements, and relationship alternatives, exploring whether these dimensions of marriage influence marital dissolution, net of serious forms of hardship commonly noted in divorce research. With event history methods, we find that husbands’, but not wives’, perceived disagreements and alternatives are associated with higher odds of marital dissolution, though couples' marital happiness strongly mediates the effects of husbands' dissatisfaction. Wives' traditional attitudes are associated with lower odds and husbands' with higher odds of marital dissolution. We find no significant effects of unfairness perceptions on divorce. A nonviolent relationship is associated with lower odds of marital dissolution, but accumulated assets and debt and husbands' drug or alcohol abuse are not associated significantly with marital dissolution. Our analysis contributes to divorce research by demonstrating the importance of gender attitudes and low physical conflict and by showing that instances of perceived dissatisfaction might not matter for couples as much as marital happiness as an influence on divorce.     

Social change,premarital nonfamily experiences,and marital dynamics

We investigate the effects of nonfamily experiences on marital relationships in a setting characterized by high levels of arranged marriage until recently. Drawing on theoretical frameworks for the study of families and social change, we argue that the expansion of opportunities for nonfamily experiences will increase the likelihood of marital relationships based on an emotional bond between husbands and wives. Using data from 3,724 individuals in rural Nepal, we find consistent effects of educational experiences across multiple dimensions of marriage. These effects point toward the spread of education as a stimulus to marriages characterized by higher levels of love and discussions between spouses, and lower levels of conflict and spouse abuse. Results suggest that studies of marital dynamics in non‐Western settings provide a fruitful avenue for new research on marriage.     

Attitudes Toward Divorce,Commitment, and Divorce Proneness in First Marriages and Remarriages

A random multistate sample of married individuals (N = 1,931) was used to explore whether more positive attitudes toward divorce and weaker commitment to marriage may contribute to the greater instability of remarriages than first marriages. Remarried adults, whether or not they brought children from a previous union into the remarriage, reported marital quality (happiness and conflict) equal to those in first marriages. They also reported more positive attitudes toward divorce, which were associated with higher divorce proneness (i.e., thinking about and taking actions toward divorce). Marriage type interacted with marital quality to predict divorce proneness, such that the association between low marital quality and divorce proneness was stronger for remarried individuals than for those in first marriages. This suggests that remarried adults may be more likely than adults in first marriages to take steps toward divorce when experiencing marital distress, possibly reflecting a weaker commitment to marriage.     

Marital Quality and Health Over 20 Years: A Growth Curve Analysis

Although there is substantial evidence linking marital quality to physical health, few studies have been longitudinal. This study examined data from the Marital Instability Over the Life Course Study; 1,681 married individuals followed for 20 years were included in these analyses. In order to control for life course effects, participants were divided into 2 cohorts: early life and midlife. On the basis of latent growth curve analysis, the results indicated that initial values of marital happiness and marital problems were significantly associated with the initial value of physical health among both cohorts. In addition, the slope of marital happiness was significantly associated with the slope of physical health among the younger cohort, and the slope of marital problems was significantly associated with the slope of physical health among the midlife cohort. These results provide evidence of the significant association between positive and negative dimensions of marital quality and physical health over the life course.     

Effects of urbanism,race, and class on happiness and physical health

The joint effects of urbanism, race, and socioeconomic status on self reported health and happiness are studied. Relationships of “neighborhood fear” and unemployment with health and happiness are also studied within different urban/rural race‐class categories. It is hypothesized that 1) lower socioeconomic status (SES) blacks residing in central cities will report the poorest health and lowest happiness and 2) “neighborhood fear” and unemployment will be most strongly related to health and happiness among central city lower SES blacks. The sample is pooled data from the 1972–1983 National Opinion Research Center (NORC) General Social Surveys. Findings indicate that urbanism has a modest negative relationship to happiness, but low SES urban blacks are not uniquely low in happiness. Contrary to the central city hypothesis, neighborhood fear is most strongly related to health among suburban blacks with less than high school or high school graduation attainment. A relative deprivation explanation is advanced. Unemployment negatively relates to the happiness of blacks and whites in a variety of urban‐SES‐race categories.     

African American Marital Satisfaction as a Function of Work-Family Balance and Work-Family Conflict and Implications for Social Workers

African Americans are more likely than any other race/ethnic group to report lower levels of marital satisfaction. Due to numerous benefits of marriage such as better physical and mental health, it is important to identify factors that impact African American marital satisfaction. This study examines the impact of work-family conflict and work-family balance on African American marital satisfaction. The results reveal a negative relationship between work-family conflict and marital satisfaction as well as differences in work-family factors that predict husbands' verses wives' marital satisfaction. The article offers implications for social work.     

“What Happens at Home Does Not Necessarily Stay at Home”: The Relationship of Observed Negative Couple Interaction With Physical Health,Mental Health,and Work Satisfaction

Using data from a sample of 281 couples (the Flourishing Families data set), the authors tested a systemic theoretical model that examined the relationship among observed marital interaction, physical and mental health, and work satisfaction. The results showed that negative marital interaction was associated with significantly lower work satisfaction and poorer health for men. Higher negative marital interaction scores were significantly related to elevated depression scores for both women and men. For both men and women, negative couple interaction was associated with work satisfaction through depression and health. Overall, 34% of the variance in work satisfaction for men and 24% for the women was explained by the model. The results suggest that marriage‐to‐work spillover can be costly for families, organizations, and governments.     

Exercise, health, and aging

The aims of this study were to examine the level of exercise among elderly people with regard to the current Norwegian recommendations, demographic correlates of exercise, and the relationship between exercise and subjective health among elderly men and women. A representative sample of 3,770 Norwegian men and women between 65 and 97 years of age (mean 75 years) completed a questionnaire. The response rate was 83.4 %. Results showed that 6 % of the participants exercise at the level recommended. The oldest old (>80 years), those who have an illness and use medication, and individuals with lower levels of education and income are the least active segments of the sample. After adjusting for age, marital status, income, and education, results showed that exercise at moderate intensity 3-4 days per week is a significant predictor for positive subjective health.     

Are the Negative Effects of Divorce on Well‐Being Dependent on Marital Quality?

We test the so‐called escape hypothesis, which argues that for people from a poor marriage, a divorce has a less negative or even a positive effect on well‐being. In an analysis of two waves of the National Survey of Families and Households (N =4,526), we find only limited evidence. When people divorce from a dissatisfactory or unfair marriage, they experience smaller increases in depression than when they divorce from a less dissatisfactory and less unfair marriage. For marital conflict, we find no interaction. Marital aggression seems to increase the negative effect of divorce, especially among women, suggesting that notions about the accumulation of problems after divorce need to be considered in combination with notions of escape.     

Race/Ethnicity,Attitudes, and Living With Parents During Young Adulthood

Non‐White young adults are more likely to live with their parents throughout their 20s, more likely to return home after going away to college, and less likely to leave again after returning. Scholars have speculated that subcultural differences in attitudes toward marriage and family play a key role in generating racial/ethnic differences in rates of coresidence with parents among young adults. Data from the National Education Longitudinal Survey of 1988 (N = 11,228) were analyzed in order to test this hypothesis. Attitudes toward marriage and family were significantly associated with coresidence, especially among young men, but did not substantially account for racial/ethnic differences in living arrangements. Among young non‐White women and young Black men, higher rates of coresidence were related to differences from Whites in socioeconomic or marital status (and sometimes both) that were largely independent of differences in attitudes toward marriage and family.