Conflict Patterns and Family of Origin Conflict in Newly Initiated Remarriages

ABSTRACT

The poor marriage material hypothesis explains the high divorce rate in remarriages as a function of the qualities of people who have previously been divorced. This study sought to test whether conflict in the family of origin and in the present marriage could substantiate the poor marriage material hypothesis by discriminating between couples in their first marriage versus those in a marriage with a history of divorce. A sample of 66 newlywed married couples, half in first marriages and half in remarriages, were recruited through marriage licenses and student referrals. Family of origin conflict discriminated between first and remarried couples. Namely, wives' exposure to interparental conflict significantly increased the odds that they were presently married to a husband who had previously been divorced. Differences between first and remarried couples' own conflict patterns were largely unremarkable with the exception of remarried couples seeing their partners as being more compliant and unassertive relative to those in first marriages.     

Marriage Form and Son Preference in Rural China: An Investigation in Three Counties*

Abstract Using data from two surveys in three counties among which the prevalence of uxorilocal marriage varies greatly, this paper analyzes effects of marriage form, as well as individual, family, and social factors on son preference in the context of strict birth control in rural China. It is shown that, under the Chinese patrilineal joint family system, son preference can be inferred from the reproductive behavior of couples in virilocal marriage but not from that of couples in uxorilocal marriage. However, the negative effect of uxorilocal marriage on son preference is likely to depend on other factors. For all three counties, women married after the 1990s are less likely to have preference for sons; in regions with low prevalence of uxorilocal marriages, son preference is stronger for virilocally married couples with more sisters or having first birth at older age, and for couples whose marriages were arranged by others; in regions with high prevalence of uxorilocal marriages but under-developed economies, higher educated women in uxorilocal marriages have stronger son preference. Son preference differs greatly among the three counties and increased prevalence of uxorilocal marriage may significantly weaken son preference. These findings relate to changes in rural family and marriage customs during the current demographic and social transition, and suggest new approaches to weakening son preference while maintaining low fertility in rural China.     

Individualized Marriage and the Integration of Resources

In individualized marriages, spouses maintain independence in their relationship. In individualized marriages, do married couples manage their money in pooled accounts or do they keep separate accounts? We answer this question with the 2002 International Social Survey Programme (N = 18,587;31 country contexts) and examine how variation in the individualization of marriage is related to variation in resource integration within marriage. We make two contributions. First, we found that individualization matters. When couples understood and practiced individualized marriage, they were more likely to keep their money separate. The presence of individualized approaches to marriage and individualized alternatives to marriage within a country were also related to a higher likelihood of couples keeping money separate. Second, we found that integrating resources remained a constitutive part of marriage. Despite trends toward individualization and growing alternatives to marriage, most married couples continued to pool their money.     

Families in the future: the pursuit of personal autonomy

There have been substantial changes in the demography of the family since the early 1970s in Australia. Age at 1st marriage has risen substantially. In 1986, 6.1% of heterosexual couples in Australia were living together. In 1 in 3 marriages today, 1 or both partners have been married before. The percentage of marriages ending in divorce based on annual data increased from 14% in 1971 to 35% in 1986. The birth rate has declined substantially since 1971. In 1986,, 77% of all households were family households, 4% were group households, and 19% were 1-person households. Over 1 in 3 Australian children being born today will spend some time in a 1-parent family before they reach majority. The important measure, however, may not be family structure but the extent of support, both economic and emotional, that the child receives from his or her parents. Similar arguments may be applied to the aged. A 1982 survey showed that among persons aged 15-64 years who had a parent living elsewhere, over 50% had contact with that parent at least once a week. The same survey showed that among aged people requiring help, they were 5 times more likely to receive that help from a family member than from a government agency or from a voluntary agency. A focus on how families function draws attention to the changes in the lives of married women. Labor force participation rates for married women have been steadily increasing for over 50 years. Even in couple families with a child under 5 years old, 40% of the women were in the labor force in 1986. The family changes described above can all be interpreted in terms of the movement to personal autonomy which has characterized the last 20 years. This is especially the case with the increase in age at marriage, the decline of teenage pregnancy, and the rise in the divorce rate. The trend for young couples to live together rather than marry can be seen as an experiment in the pursuit of personal autonomy. The author hypothesizes that people choosing to live together before marriage are seeking personal autonomy, and it is the conflict between personal autonomy and family life that leads ultimately to their higher break-up rates.     

PERCEIVED EQUITY AND INTIMACY IN MARRIAGE

The extent to which perceived inequity is related to perceived marital intimacy was examined. Sixty-six couples married five years or less were randomly selected from marriage license records in a western rural community. Equity/inequity was assessed using the Walster global measure of equity. Levels of overall intimacy, conflict resolution, affection, cohesion, sexuality, identity, compatibility, autonomy, and expressiveness were measured using the Waring Intimacy Questionnaire (WIQ). Inequity was associated with lower levels of overall intimacy, compatibility, identity, and expressiveness among the wives. Among the husbands, inequity was not associated with any types of intimacy. When comparing husbands in inequitable relationships to wivwes in inequitable relationships, the wives reported lower scores for only one kind intimacy- identity . Explanations and implications for marriage therapy are discussed.     

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.     

Divorce and Remarriage in Norway: A Prospective Cohort Study Between 1981 and 2013

ABSTRACT

As the population of divorced adults has increased, the number of remarriages has followed. Previous research has mainly compared first-time marriages with remarriages, whereas this study analyzes 4 different constellations of marriages: first time for both spouses, first time for one and second time for the other, second time for both, and third time or more for at least one member of the couple. The analyses are based on data from all Norwegian 2-sex marriages formed from 1981 to 2013, for a total of more than 770,000 marriages. The findings indicate that remarried couples are considerably more prone to divorce compared to couples married for the first time, particularly marriages in which both partners are remarried and marriages in which at least one of the partners is married for the third time or more. The differences between the various groups of marriages decline with a longer duration of the 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.     

Marrying a Man with “Baggage”

Abstract

Cultural views of previously married men include the assumption that they bring ex-wives and children as “baggage” into subsequent marriages. Analysis of 274 questionnaires of second wives revealed that such baggage was significantly associated with reporting less marital happiness, thinking about divorce, and wishing that they had not married their current husband. Implications for women contemplating marriage to a previously married man include acknowledging the vulnerability of second marriages to marital instability, questioning if living together ensures subsequent marital success, delaying the marriage until issues settle out, and considering moving into a new home or apartment with the new spouse rather than having him move into her home.     

Research on Marital Satisfaction and Stability in the 2010s: Challenging Conventional Wisdom

Although getting married is no longer a requirement for social acceptance, most people do marry in their lifetimes, and couples across the socioeconomic spectrum wish their marriages to be satisfying and long lasting. This review evaluates the past decade of research on the determinants of satisfaction and stability in marriage, concluding that the scholarship of the past 10 years has undermined three assumptions that were formerly accepted as conventional wisdom. First, research exploiting methods such as latent class growth analyses reveal that, for most couples, marital satisfaction does not decline over time but in fact remains relatively stable for long periods. Second, contrary to predictions of behavioral models of marriage, negative communication between spouses can be difficult to change, does not necessarily lead to more satisfying relationships when it is changed, and does not always predict distress in the first place. Third, dyadic processes that are reliably adaptive for middle-class and more affluent couples may operate differently in lower income couples, suggesting that influential models of marriage may not generalize to couples living in diverse environments. Thus, the accumulated research of the past 10 years indicates that the tasks of understanding and promoting marital satisfaction and stability are more complex than we appreciated at the start of the decade, raising important questions that beg to be answered in the years ahead.     

Effectiveness of Group Reciprocity Counseling with Married Couples*

This research examined the efficacy of using a reciprocity procedure with married couples in a group format. Seven couples, enrolled in a non-credit extension course, participated in an eight-week workshop. In-workshop and at-home assignments were completed by the participants. Data were collected using daily marital happiness ratings and a pre-workshop inventory. Results were analyzed using t-tests and multiple baseline procedure. Commitment to and optimism about marriage and ratings on 3 of 9 areas of couple interaction significantly increased over the seven-week period. Introduction of specific reciprocity procedures and increased ratings of marital happiness were related in a contingent manner.     

Emotional and Physical Satisfaction in Noncohabiting,Cohabiting, and Marital Relationships: The Importance of Jealous Conflict

This article examines whether associations between marital status and emotional and physical satisfaction depend on jealous conflict associated with expectations about sexual exclusivity. Using data from a representative sample of 681 women and men drawn from the city of Chicago and its inner suburbs, this study estimated logistic regression models of jealous conflict and ordered logistic regression models of adults' reported emotional and physical satisfaction of their relationships. The results show that marriages are less exposed to jealous conflict than cohabiting and noncohabiting relationships. Regarding emotional and physical satisfaction, their associations with marital status were contingent upon whether individuals reported jealous conflict in their relationships. Specifically, in relationships without jealous conflict, married couples were more emotionally satisfied than noncohabiting couples. Married couples, but not cohabiting and noncohabiting couples, had significantly lower emotional and physical satisfaction when jealous conflict occurred. Cohabitors were not less emotionally or physically satisfied than married respondents. Overall, this research supports the argument that sexual exclusivity expectations are important for understanding the link between marital status and relationship quality.     

A Comparison of High‐ and Low‐Distress Marriages That End in Divorce

We used data from Waves 1 and 2 of the National Survey of Families and Households to study high‐ and low‐distress marriages that end in divorce. A cluster analysis of 509 couples who divorced between waves revealed that about half were in high‐distress relationships and the rest in low‐distress relationships. These 2 groups were not artifacts of the timing of the interview or of measurement error. Irrespective of marital quality, couples who divorced shared many risk characteristics, such as having divorced parents. Individuals in high‐distress marriages reported increases in happiness following divorce, whereas those in low‐distress marriages reported declines in happiness. These results suggest two basic motivations to divorce: poor relationship quality and a weak commitment to marriage.     

Relationship quality in long-term marriages: A comparison of high quality and low quality marriages

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship dynamics in long-term marriages. Proposive samples of marriage enrichment couples and marital and family therapy client couples married for 40 or more years are compared with regard to level of marital quality. Composite case studies are presented to illustrate differences in marital styles of the two groups. A typology is constructed which identifies relationship dynamics variables that differentiate high quality and low quality marriages.The author would like to express appreciation to Anna L. Cole, M.S., who is a Marital and Family Therapist in private practice in Ames, Iowa, for her helpful comments. This research was supported in part by the Iowa State University Home Economics Research Institute during the writing of this paper.     

A study of sexual satisfaction and frequency of sex among Hong Kong Chinese couples

There have been several studies in Western societies on the causes and consequences of sexual satisfaction within marriage. Little is known, however about the marital sexual relationship in Chinese societies. Moreover, most published studies used married individuals rather than married couples as participants. The present study examined data from a well-established knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) survey of 1,124 Hong Kong Chinese couples on martial sexual relationship. A conceptual model was tested using structural equation modeling (SEM). Interest in sex was found to be the strongest predictor of both sexual satisfaction and frequency of sex for both husbands and wives. Among the sociodemographic variables, the following two were significantly associated with lower frequencies of sex: for wives, that of having a full-time job; and for husbands, the factor of age. Theoretical implications for research on the interplay among culture, marriage, and sex in non-Western societies are discussed.     

In Search of Resiliency in Families

Abstract

This study explores the process of relationship development in marriages that foster personal and relationship growth. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twelve individuals/six couples in marriages that promote individual and relationship growth. Grounded theory methodology was employed and “Empowering Connections” emerged as the core theme. Empowering connections are characterised by a process of growth captured by the following categories: “Connecting Emotionally,” “Loving Respectfully,” “Expanding One's Self,” and “Experiencing Empowering Connections.” The results of the study contribute to the understanding of marriage and provide insight to premarital couples, people who want to improve their marriage, and to therapists working with couples.     

Instant Families:

This study focused on "instant families": i.e., marriages between never married men and divorced women who had at least one pre-adolescent child from a former marriage.¹ Based on in-depth interviews with 16 couples, adjustment to remarriage was found to involve the issue of dependence, independence, and interdependence. Consistent with grounded theory, the findings are presented in 15 propositions which can be utilized as the basic hypotheses for future research on these families.     

Unsanctioned births in China

This study hypothesizes that "unsanctioned" births (beyond the limit authorized by the government) in China are more likely among couples who have strong traditional fertility norms and less likely among couples who adopt new family planning norms. The theoretical framework is based on cultural conflict theory as developed by Sellin. Data are obtained from 6654 ever married women aged under 49 years from the 1987 In-Depth Fertility Survey for Guangdong province. Over 30% of the sample were married before 20 years of age. 20% had 1 child, 26.7% had 2 children, about 23% had 3 children, 13.9% had 4 children, and under 10% had 5 or more children. The average number of living children was 2.5. Findings reveal that socioeconomic status was significantly related to unsanctioned births; they were more common in less developed areas and among women of lower socioeconomic status (SES). Persons living in areas with a high monetary contribution per person in family planning efforts at the county level were less likely to have unsanctioned births. Women who lived in urban areas, worked in state enterprises, and had parents with high educational status were less likely to have unsanctioned births. They were more likely among women who married at an early age, lived with parents after the marriage, had female living children, and had failed pregnancies. They were also more likely among women who had arranged marriages, a traditional desire for large family sizes, an early marriage ideal, and a preference for sons. Knowledge of family planning and greater use of abortion were related to a lower incidence of unsanctioned births. Women who talked with their husbands about their family size desires were less likely to have unsanctioned births. Parental educational attainment only had an influence among rural women. Variables impacted on fertility differently in urban and rural areas.     

A Family Matter

Abstract

The 2004 debate over civil marriage for same-gender couples highlights issues faced by mixed-orientation couples after one of the spouses comes out as gay, lesbian, or bisexual. The disclosure becomes a family matter as their spouses and children cope with the new information and antigay attitudes. The majority of couples divorce. A minority stays married for three years or more by developing strategies that enhance the relationship, offset outside pressures, and sustain the family circle. Peers provide the most support, while therapists are often unfamiliar with sexual orientation, mixed orientation couples, or societal attitudes that impact families with a gay, lesbian, or bisexual parent. This article provides that information so that professionals can help these couples improve the quality of their lives and develop skills to create a future in which homosexuality, same-gender relationships, and gay parenting are more widely accepted and legalized. This development would decrease the number of mixed-orientation marriages with closeted spouses and increase the potential for both types of families to form lasting marriages and strong family units.