Perceived sexual satisfaction and marital happiness of bisexual and heterosexual swinging husbands

This study compared the sexual satisfaction and marital happiness of 50 bisexual and 50 heterosexual married male volunteers. All participants chosen were in swinging marriages. Age, length of current marriages, and socioeconomic status were matched and controlled between samples. The bisexual sample reported: (a) significantly more frequent orgasms with females, from masturbation, and from all sexual activities combined; and (b) a significantly greater incidence of orgasms from fantasies or dreams. Although both samples gave high ratings to their sexual satisfaction and marital happiness, both measures were rated significantly higher by the heterosexual males.     

Caregiver stressors and depressive symptoms among older husbands and wives in the United States

Framed by Pearlin’s Stress Process Model, this study prospectively examines the effects of primary stress factors reflecting the duration, amount, and type of care on the depressive symptoms of spousal caregivers over a2-year period, and whether the effects of stressors differ between husbands and wives. Data are from the 2004 and 2006 waves of the Health and Retirement Study and we included community-dwelling respondents providing activities of daily life (ADL) and/or instrumental activities of daily life (IADL) help to their spouses/partners (N = 774). Results from multivariate regression models indicate that none of the primary stressors were associated with depressive symptoms. However, wives providing only personal care had significantly more depressive symptoms than wives providing only instrumental care, while husbands providing different types of care showed no such differences. To illuminate strategies for reducing the higher distress experienced by wife caregivers engaged in personal care assistance, further studies are needed incorporating couples’ relational dynamics and gendered experiences in personal care.     

Gender role equity and marital satisfaction among Korean couples

This study examines gender role behaviors and attitudes related to marital satisfaction. Nontraditional attitudes and behaviors are expected to affect negatively marital satisfaction due to the lack of guidelines and due to the other positive alternatives to marital roles. DAta, collected from a survey of 291 married couples in Seoul, Korea in 1991, largely support the hypotheses, which are fairly consistent with the results of studies of American couples. Nontraditional gender role attitudes and wife's employment are related to lower marital satisfaction. However, the housekeeper role has changed somewhat more than the male provider role, so that nontraditional tendencies, in attitudes and behaviors, with respect to the housekeeper role have been related to higher marital satisfaction. Findings of this study show that measures of actual division of household labor are better related to marital satisfaction than are measures of perceived division of household labor. The consistent trends in marital satisfaction in Korea compared with those in the US suggest a further high marital instability in Korea.     

Do husbands and wives agree? Fertility attitudes and later behavior

Analysis of the extent to which husbands and wives agree in their attitudes toward a number of key issues that may affect fertility behavior shows that although aggregate views of men and women are remarkably similar, marital couples are frequently in disagreement, particularly if measures discounting for chance agreement of responses are employed. In other words, we cannot accept either the husband or the wife as a surrogate respondent. These conclusions are based on data from cross-sectional surveys in a developing society, Taiwan, of 2000 couples in which the wife was of childbearing age. The impact on fertility of such marital disagreement varies with the attitude in question. Followup birth data over a four-year period indicate that, when there is disagreement, it is the wife's attitude that has more influence on fertility, particularly if she has the stronger belief about the future security and status to be derived from a large family and from sons.The data for this paper were collected by the Taiwan Provincial Institute of Family Planning under the direction of T.S. Sun, in collaboration with the University of Michigan Population Studies Center and with the financial assistance of the Population Council. Grants from the Center for Population Research of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the Ford Foundation provided support for the analysis. We wish to acknowledge the assistance of James B. Rogers in the computer work and of Ronald Freedman in comments on an earlier version of this paper.     

Linked lives,dependent demise? Survival analysis of husbands and wives

Past research has found that married individuals have substantially lower risks of mortality than their single counterparts. This paper examines how household characteristics affect spouses’ risks of mortality. A paired hazard rate model is estimated and tests are made to ascertain whether the estimated coefficients associated with risk factors differ between husbands’ and wives’ equations. Cigarette smoking, risk-avoidance behavior, poverty, and children are found to affect wives’ and husbands’ mortality in similar ways. Divorce, which can be interpreted as the termination of this shared household environment, is found to affect spouses differently.     

The marital satisfaction of differently aged couples

We investigate how the marital age gap affects the evolution of marital satisfaction over the duration of marriage using household panel data from Australia. We find that men tend to be more satisfied with younger wives and less satisfied with older wives. Interestingly, women likewise tend to be more satisfied with younger husbands and less satisfied with older husbands. Marital satisfaction declines with marital duration for both men and women in differently aged couples relative to those in similarly aged couples. These relative declines erase the initial higher levels of marital satisfaction experienced by men married to younger wives and women married to younger husbands within 6 to 10 years of marriage. A possible mechanism is that differently aged couples are less resilient to negative shocks compared to similarly aged couples, which we find some supportive evidence for.     

Perceptions of parenthood and childlessness: A comparison of mothers and voluntarily childless wives

Fifty mothers and 50 voluntarily childless wives selected from an adjective checklist the personality traits most typical of parents and intentionally childless persons. Both groups of women described parents as "concerned." "loving." "hard-working," "conventional." and "patient," while voluntarily childless wives were more likely to choose the traits "conventional" and "restricted." Voluntarily childless persons were described by a strikingly different set of attributes. They were perceived as "nonconforming," "self-fulfilled" "materialistic," "intelligent," and "individualistic." Voluntarily childless wives in describing the childless chose more often than mothers traits like "intelligent," "individualistic," "practical," and "well-adjusted." and cited less often than mothers the attributes "materialistic" and "ambitious." On the other hand, analysis of the positive and negative comments made about childless persons revealed that the intentionally childless were regarded as selfish, unusual persons, more likely to be pitied than applauded for their alternative social reality.     

The importance of fairness and equity for the marital satisfaction of older women

In all societies, people are concerned with social justice. "It's just not right" is a fairly common lament. In these two studies, we interviewed 240 older women, who ranged in age from 50 to 82. We found that most older women (85%) considered their marriages to be fair and equitable. Older women were less concerned about existing inequities than their younger peers. Nonetheless, they were somewhat concerned with how rewarding and how fair and equitable their relationships were perceived to be. Those who felt over-benefited, for example, felt more guilty than did their less advantaged peers; those who felt under-benefited felt far more angry than did their privileged peers. Stressful life events--such as the arrival of children, retirement, serious illness, or the awareness impending death--often brought to awareness long simmering resentments over issues of fairness.     

The effect of couples education on marital satisfaction in menopausal women

ABSTRACT

Inviting husbands to come to terms with women’s adaptation to the phenomenon of menopause is beneficial. The aim of this research was to uncover the effect of couples education on marital satisfaction. This study was performed on 80 menopausal women accompanied by their husbands. The intervention group received four sessions of couples education. The results showed that the mean increase in the rate of marital satisfaction after couples education in the intervention group was significantly higher than the control. Short-term couples education has a significant positive effect on marital satisfaction. Therefore, this counseling strategy can be integrated into health-care programs.     

The effect of marital status at first birth on marital dissolution among adolescent mothers

The sequencing of marriage and first birth was expected to play an important role in the stability of marriage among adolescent mothers. We hypothesized that adolescent women who married prior to conception would have the lowest rates of marital disruption, followed by those who married between conception and birth. Adolescent women who gave birth prior to marriage were expected to suffer the highest rates of marital dissolution. The results provide partial support for our hypotheses. There is little difference in the probability of separation between adolescent mothers who had a postmarital conception and those who had a premarital conception but married before the birth. Having a premarital birth, however, significantly increases the probability of marital dissolution. We also hypothesized that marital status at first birth would have less effect on the probability of marital dissolution for blacks than for whites. This, too, is generally supported by our findings. Among black females, those with a premarital birth are the first to suffer a marital disruption, but by the end of ten years there is little difference in the probability of separation among the three marital status groups. In contrast, among white females, those with a premarital birth are the first to experience a disruption, and this differential persists over all subsequent marriage duration intervals. Thus, the sequencing of marriage relative to birth has similar short term effects for whites and blacks, but the effect for blacks is evident only in the short term. Ten years after the marriage, black adolescent mothers have similar rates of marital stability regardless of the sequencing of marriage. This is consistent with the findings of previous research and with our hypothesis; with the black family pattern of lower rates of marriage, higher rates of illegitimacy and higher divorce rates, the sequencing of marriage has no long lasting consequences on marital stability. Finally, our predicted decline in the effect of marital status at first birth over historical time also finds partial support. For white females there has been a change in the effect of marriage-first birth sequencing on separation over time. In the period encompassed by the women in our study, white adolescent mothers who married subsequent to the birth have been the most likely to experience a separation at all marriage duration intervals, but this differential narrows as age at interview declines. Among black females there has been no change in the effect of a premarital birth over time.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)     

A joint model of marital childbearing and marital disruption

Married couples with children appear to be less likely to end their marriages than childless couples, especially when the children are young. Although this suggests that children affect the chances that their parents will divorce, the process may not be so simple: the chances that the marriage will last also may affect couples’ willingness to make the commitment to the marriage implied by having children. This paper uses data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) to test the hypothesis that the risk of disruption faced by a married woman affects the chances that she will conceive and bear a child. The model used takes into account the simultaneous relationships between marital dissolution and marital fertility by including the hazard of disruption as a predictor of timing and likelihood of marital conception, and by including the results of previous fertility decisions as predictors of disruption of the marriage. We find that the hazard of disruption has strong negative effects on the hazard of marital childbearing, lengthening the intervals between births and decreasing the chances that a child will be born. This effect appears to be strongest for women who have had at least one child, either before or during the current marriage, although it is also large for childless women. Explicitly including the hazard of disruption in models of marital childbearing has sizable and important effects on many predictors of fertility.     

夫妻权利与婚姻满意度关系研究——基于2006全国综合调查的数据分析

根据2006年全国综合调查（CGSS2006）的数据,本文探讨了夫妻权利运行的三个要素：权力基础（教育差、年收入差）;权利过程（互诉烦恼、对钱不同意见频率）;权利结果（家务差、家庭事务决定权）对婚姻满意度的具体影响。多元回归分析表明：权利过程是影响婚姻满意度最重要的环节,其中配偶向被访者诉说烦恼和对钱不同意见频率都有显著影响：教育差虽也有一定的负向显著度,但其影响程度较小;夫妻年收入差、家务差和家庭事务决定权并无显著性。     

Life satisfaction and family structure among adolescents in Hong Kong

Relationships between family structure and perceived life satisfaction in overall life and five domains of the Brief Multidimensional Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale, family life, friendships, school experience, myself, and where I live were examined among 4,502 Chinese adolescent secondary school students in Hong Kong. Bivariate analyses showed that economic status was not a significant risk factor, but gender, level of study, and migrant status had to be controlled to examine the life satisfaction-family structure relations. Logistic regression analyses found that in overall life, with adolescents living with two parents as standard for comparisons, adolescents living with mother had similar life satisfaction, but those living with father only, and those with no parents, or single parent with other adults had very much higher risk of life dissatisfaction. Specifically, the risks associated with the adverse family structures were most excessive in the domain of ‘family life’.     

Social support and life satisfaction among gay men in Spain

Since the early 1960s, social support has been a topic of interest and study among social psychologists and other professionals investigating social issues. In spite of this growing interest by the scientific community, there are few studies on social support in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, and even fewer on the impact of social support on life satisfaction. In this regard, in Spain, there are very few psychosocial studies on homosexual groups. In the present study, the authors analyze social support data and life satisfaction in a sample of 220 gay residents of Málaga and Sevilla. The results show that friends are the most important source of overall social support, and that, in the family, sisters provide the most support and contribute to increased life satisfaction. On the other hand, social support had an effect on the level of life satisfaction, although the results indicate that factors associated with homosexual identity are the best predictors of life satisfaction. The implications of these results are discussed as well as potential future research.     

Predictors of satisfaction with life among second generation migrants

As a part of a comprehensive study of the psychological acculturation of Portuguese youth born in France, this paper examines the relationship between satisfaction with life and some psychosocial variables. The sample consisted of 519 Portuguese youth resident in Paris (47% were male and 53% female). The following instruments were administered to all subjects: the Satisfaction With Life Scale, the Acculturative Attitudes Scales, the Social Anxiety Scale, two brief measures of (a) loneliness and (b) locus of control as well as a background inventory. As expected no gender differences were found, but there were significant effects on satisfaction with life related to religion, participation in an association, number of Portuguese friends and ethnic identity. Expressed satisfaction with life showed significant negative correlations with perceived difficulties of adaptation, marginalization, social anxiety, and loneliness; and positive correlations with integration and locus of control. Multiple regression analysis used to determine the significant predictor variables of satisfaction with life indicated that the strongest predictors were loneliness and perceived state of health.     

Complex measures of job satisfaction/dissatisfaction among professionals

The present study deals with concepts of work satisfaction/dissatisfaction and occupational commitment among professionals. It examines elements of job satisfaction and individual social background among four professional groups: Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers and Teachers, as well as their differences in level of job satisfaction/dissatisfaction. A two-stage principal components method was applied to data from the longitudinal study ‘Professions in Australia’ to obtain global measures of job satisfaction/dissatisfaction. Although there are some differences between professional groups in terms of work satisfaction/dissatisfaction, stemming, among other things, from the different prestige ascribed to each profession, to a large extent, they face similar ‘problems’ and derive similar ‘satisfaction’ from their professional work.     

Family composition and the labor force activity of American wives

This is a study of the employment patterns of American wives in relation to the composition of their families. The data are taken from the 1960 United States Census, both from published tabulations and the 1/1000 sample. The population studied is non-Negro, non-farm, married, husband present women who are under the age of sixty. The methods of analysis used include the comparison of employment rates among subpopulations and a dummy variable regression technique. Aspects of family composition studied include age of the youngest child (in single years in order to determine whether there are discontinuities in the rates of employment when youngest children enter school, etc.), number of children in the family, and the presence of other relatives in the family. The paper concludes with a discussion of the meaning of family status differentials in employment including differential preferences for employment, differential fertility experience, and differential demands on the mother’s time. Some discussion of the use of cross section data of this sort to infer life cycle patterns of employment is included.     

A specification of marital fertility by parents’ age,age atmarriage and marital duration

The positive association between wife's age at marriage and fertility experienced at the older reproductive ages, cited in recent natural fertility literature, is explored using Mormon birth cohorts from 1840 to 1879. When this relationship is specified by husband's age at marriage and marriage duration, the results indicate that older-aged husbands depress marital fertility only at higher marriage durations. The general decomposition of age-specific fertility utilizing both mother's and father's age is also considered. The results show that mother's aging is the most important factor, while father's aging has a moderately negative effect under a natural fertility regime.