Equity Dynamics in the Perceived Fairness of Infant Care

How is the perceived fairness of infant care affected by spouses' relative contributions to it and to other domains of their relationship? Longitudinal data on 178 couples expecting the birth of their first child were collected during a period spanning approximately the first year of the child's life. Overall, wives were more likely than husbands to see infant care as fair to the wife. Net of fathers' contributions to infant care, spouses were more likely to see infant care as fair to wives the more the father worked in paid labor and did housework and the more wives benefited in the sexual relationship. Fathers' contributions to infant care had a stronger effect on fairness when the child was a son. The findings are consistent with equity predictions in that fathers' compensatory contributions to other domains of marriage counterbalance an unequal workload in the arena of family work.     

Dual life of seafarers’ families: descriptive study of perspectives of seafarers’ partners

ABSTRACT

Although the dual life of a seafarer’s family is recognized as a unique life, a systematic approach to the perspectives of seafarers’ partners is lacking, especially in the case of long-term separation. Therefore, we have adopted a qualitative approach to gain systematic and deeper insight into the features of the seafarers’ occupation which are reflected positively or negatively in their partners’ lives. By means of an online survey, we collected data from 647 partners of Croatian seafarers. The data obtained, relating to open-ended questions, were analysed by thematic analysis. Negative effects of separation emerged as the most strongly-represented theme, wherein a range of different aspects relating to separation is identified (loneliness, overload with domestic duties and care for children, etc.). Other negative aspects relate to fear caused by risks and stressors in seafaring, subordination of one’s own job/career, and lack of understanding and support from family and friends. Still, participants reported a range of positive aspects of the dual life, such as financial security, growth of the loving relationship, full commitment from their partner during days off, the benefits of the seafarer's job satisfaction for the relationship, and having time for one’s own growth during the partner’s absence.     

Gay and Bisexual Married Men's Attitudes and Experiences

Abstract

In this study, 20 gay or bisexual men's experiences of coming out to wives were explored. Specifically, their attitudes and behaviors before, during, and after marriage were examined. Findings were provided about upbringing, reasons for entering marriage, and the coming out process. Through semi-structured interviews information was obtained about the factors which led up to the revelation of homosexuality or bisexuality and about how these men experienced their relationships with their wives and family after coming out. The interviews revealed the fears which prevented these men from coming out earlier in their lives. The most common reason for entering marriage was due to social and family pressure and because of the desire to have a normal, healthy life. Attitudes toward gays and lesbians were negative before marriage and worsened following disclosure.     

Living and loving with dementia: Negotiating spousal and caregiver identity through narrative

In this paper, we examine how Alzheimer's disease and related disorders (ADRD) affect caregivers' perceptions of change in the identity of their afflicted spouse and the ways in which accompanying changes in caregiver identity influence intimate relations. We also explore how gender shapes the ADRD caregiving experience among married couples, specifically, the extent to which intimate relations are also gendered relations. The study group was comprised of spousal caregivers recruited from support groups in the two Midwestern states and from the Alzheimer's Disease Center (ADC) at a large Midwestern university hospital. In-depth interviews were conducted with 13 men and 15 women whose spouses had ADRD. The intensive interviews confirmed that identity change on the part of sick spouses had important implications for intimacy, although not always in adverse ways. The majority of caregiver husbands and wives reported diminished intimacy as a result of the ADRD. Many men and women believed they would retain feelings of closeness to their afflicted spouses as long as they were alive. Wives were more likely than husbands to report that changes in their spouses' identity altered how they identified themselves within their marriage. This has important implications for intimate relations between people with ADRD and those who care for them. Our findings suggest that caregiving and intimacy are very different experiences for men and women, and point to the need for caregiver education and support.     

Does similarity breed marital and sexual satisfaction?

This study examined the effect of socioeconomic-cultural homogamy on the marital and sexual satisfaction of Hong Kong Chinese couples. Using a representative, territory-wide sample of 1,083 first-time married heterosexual couples, this study found that wives were generally less satisfied than their husbands with their marital and sexual relationships. Husbands were more likely to be satisfied with their marriages when they were two to four years older than their wives than when they were of similar age to their wives (i.e., within one year of each other), but they were less likely to be satisfied with their marriages when only their wives were employed than when both partners were employed. In addition, they were less likely to be satisfied with both their marital and sexual relationships when their wives were five or more years older. Wives with an older husband were more likely to be sexually satisfied than wives of the same age as their husband, but they were less likely to be satisfied with their marriages when they were better educated than their husbands. The implications of the findings are discussed.     

Does Similarity Breed Marital and Sexual Satisfaction?

This study examined the effect of socioeconomic–cultural homogamy on the marital and sexual satisfaction of Hong Kong Chinese couples. Using a representative, territory-wide sample of 1,083 first-time married heterosexual couples, this study found that wives were generally less satisfied than their husbands with their marital and sexual relationships. Husbands were more likely to be satisfied with their marriages when they were two to four years older than their wives than when they were of similar age to their wives (i.e., within one year of each other), but they were less likely to be satisfied with their marriages when only their wives were employed than when both partners were employed. In addition, they were less likely to be satisfied with both their marital and sexual relationships when their wives were five or more years older. Wives with an older husband were more likely to be sexually satisfied than wives of the same age as their husband, but they were less likely to be satisfied with their marriages when they were better educated than their husbands. The implications of the findings are discussed.     

Stress from infertility, marriage factors, and subjective well-being of wives and husbands

Stress associated with the inability to have a child is linked to four aspects of marriage and to five dimensions of life quality. Data come from 157 couples who met a standard medical definition for infertility. Wives and husbands were interviewed independently, and most of the following findings apply to both. A causal model suggests that fertility problem stress has direct effects that increase marital conflict and decrease sexual self-esteem, satisfaction with own sexual performance, and frequency of sexual intercourse. Also, fertility problem stress has both direct and indirect effects (via the marriage factors) that decrease evaluations of life-as-a-whole, self-efficacy, marriage, intimacy, and health. The negative effects on life quality are stronger for wives than for husbands. The model suggests that the life quality of couples with fertility problems could be improved if health care providers and couples themselves took steps to reduce such stresses and/or reduce their impact on the marriage factors.     

Intimate mobilities—International (transnational) marriage and migration: Japanese marriage migrants floating between Japan and Korea

In the past decade, intense mobility within Asia has led to increased international marriage (kokusai kekkon) in the region. A growing number of scholars have explored this phenomenon—called the intimate part of Asia—with a focus on foreign brides from emerging economies. Concerning international marriage between Japanese and Koreans, most research focuses on the Korean wives of Japanese husbands who reside in Japan, and little research has been conducted on the Japanese wives of Korean husbands. In this study, the postmigration experiences of Japanese marriage migrant women in South Korea are explored. Semistructured interviews were conducted in Korea with 13 participants. Drawing on the interview data, this article elucidates the trajectories of Japanese marriage migrants, focusing on subjective elements. The participants' accounts demonstrate that their experiences were intertwined with the media, politics, gender roles, parenting ideologies, and family relations. Their various emotional responses underline the ways such factors have shaped their lives.     

The meanings of migration,remittances and gifts: views of Honduran women who stay

In this article we examine the non‐economic, emotional meanings that men's economic migration has for the wives and mothers who stay in two rural communities in Honduras. Combining the literature on economic sociology and on the social meanings of relations within transnational families, we identify three areas that allow us to capture what the men's migration means for the women who stay – communication between the non‐migrant women and migrant men, stress and anxiety in women's personal lives, and added household responsibilities. Through interviews with 18 non‐migrant mothers and wives and qualitative fieldwork in Honduras, we find that women's interpretations of men's migration are not simple, black‐and‐white assessments. Instead, these are multifaceted and shaped by the social milieu in which the women live. Whereas the remittances and gifts that the men send improve the lives of the women and their families, these transfers also convey assurances that the men have not forgotten them and they become expressions of love.     

Marital Quality and Spouses' Marriage Work With Close Friends and Each Other

Through in‐home interviews with 142 married couples, we explored how husbands' and wives' marriage work with close friends and one another was linked to their perceptions of marital quality. Results showed that husbands engaged in more marriage work with their wives than with close friends, whereas wives engaged in similar levels of marriage work with their close friends and husbands. For wives, marriage work with their spouses was found to moderate the relationship between marital quality and marriage work with friends. At low levels of marriage work with their spouses, wives' marriage work with friends was negatively related to their reports of marital love and positively related to reports of ineffective arguing. In contrast, at high levels of marriage work with their husbands, no significant relationship was found between wives' marriage work with friends and marital quality for wives. Findings underscore the role of spouses' friendships and suggest that the strength of spouses' ties to one another is linked to the social context they and their close friends create.     

Male Honor and the Ruralization of HIV/AIDS in Michoacán. A Case of Indigenous Return Migration in Mexico

The purpose of this text is to analyse the motives of seasonal migrant workers for attempting to get their wives pregnant when they return to Mexico. The meanings attributed to paternity, pregnancy and rearing are analysed from the perspective of the migrant worker and his wife. Ethnographic research was conducted in several Purépecha communities in Michoacán, supported by interviews with indigenous, who travelled to the United States for periods of up to three years, and with their wives, who stayed in Mexico. The migrant workers interviewed consider pregnancy and the paternity derived from it as an important means of male legitimization and sexual control of their wives, particularly valid in their rural communities of origin, where they know they are absentee males. When they return to Mexico they seek sexual relations for reproductive purposes, since they fear their wives will have extramarital relations in their absence. From these findings, it was considered necessary to implement sexual and reproductive health policies with pluri‐ethnic and gender approaches that take into account male beliefs and practices regarding paternity and pregnancy in a rural context. The development of sensitizing policies aimed at migrant males during their stays in Mexico is recommended.     

Ambivalences of the emotional logics of migration and family reunification: emotions,experiences and aspirations of Bangladeshi husbands and wives in Italy

This article analyses the relational and emotional logics of migration, separation and reunification of Bangladeshi families in Italy. Migrant husbands are separated from their wives, with whom they have had little family life due to their migration, and seek family reunification. Wives’ migration due to family reunification, however, means separating them from their familiar environments and social networks. For this reason, some wives press for onward migration to the UK, where they hope that a larger Bangladeshi community and more social and cultural opportunities may provide a more fulfilling life compared to what they experienced in Italy. However, this means uprooting their husbands once again. The article observes the emotionally divergent dimensions among men and women as an element that can transform and redefine biographical projects and the migration trajectories in Europe of Bangladeshi families in Italy.     

The Performance of Desire: Gender and Sexual Negotiation in Long-Term Marriages

We integrate theoretical traditions on the social construction of gender, heterosexuality, and marriage with research and theory on emotion work to guide a qualitative investigation of how married people understand and experience sex in marriage. Results, based on 62 in-depth interviews, indicate that married men and women tend to believe that sex is integral to a good marriage and that men are more sexual than women. Moreover, husbands and wives commonly experience conflict around sex and undertake emotion work to manage their own and their spouse's feelings about sex. We refer to this emotion work as "performing desire" and show how it is linked to gendered experiences in marriage and to competing cultural discourses around gender, heterosexuality, and marriage.     

The Context of Spouse Migration to Australia

The article discusses five types of spouse migration. Data on the country of origin of migrant spouses and their sponsoring partners suggest that the largest component of spouse migration is chain migration for marriage, with previous immigrants sponsoring partners from their former home country. Other smaller components are sponsorship of spouses by the second generation from the parents' country of origin; sponsorship of foreign spouses by Australians for intermarriage; and family reunion of spouses separated by refugee movements. Spouse migration from English‐speaking or European countries is often motivated by a preference for Australia's climate or lifestyle rather than marriage to an Australian partner, unlike spouse migration from other parts of the world where the process is more closely related to marriage.     

A Model for Assessing the Impact of Combat-Related Deployments on U.S. Army Spouses

Cognitive appraisal and coping theory were used to examine parental stress, family stress, and personal stress among wives of deployed soldiers. A random sample of wives of U.S. Army personnel deployed to Iraq provided evidence that length of deployment, rank of deployed soldier, and number of previous deployments, impacted these wives during deployments. Results suggest that rank of deployed soldiers and number of deployments influenced the spouse's perception of family stress; whereas rank and length of the deployment influenced her experience of parental stress. All three factors served as indicators of the personal stress experienced during deployments by these wives.     

Not So Great Expectations: Sex and Housewives in Hong Kong

The study explores the life of married women who are being described as having “good,” “normal,” “blessed” sexuality. The case of si-nais (housewives) in Hong Kong shows that we can never assume that married women (or any social category) are privileged by virtue of their status on the sexual hierarchy. The blessings of social respectability apparently enjoyed by these women may work to enable or hinder women's expression of their erotic desires and sexual fulfillment, depending on their special social circumstances. These women's imagination and experience of good sex is composed of a multitude of components. Women may feel good because they can achieve other psychological and social aims that are important in their lives (which could be related to the maintenance of marriage or the peace of the family). Women may feel good because of the erotic satisfaction that they derive from different pursuits including interests, leisure or other intimate relationships, rather than sexual fulfillment in terms of orgasm or physical pleasure. Women may reformulate their pleasures variously at different stages of their lives. Social respectability, orgasm, emotional intimacy, or any other specific element, may all enter or leave the formula for good sex.     

Marriage and the housing careers of naval wives

The analysis of female biography is problematic, straddling as it does the public world of work and the private domain of home. In recent years the development of life course analysis has encouraged a greater awareness of the variability and complexity of most women's lives. Within this context discussions of the home have centred on domestic relationships, on marriage and parenting. Less discussed have been the implications of tenure and accommodation for domestic responsibility and domestic labour. The home is an arena for family life. Housing is the basis of home-making and many of the responsibilities of housework and maintenance devolve on women as home-makers. The interrelationship between housing and the domestic relationships of women was explored in a research project concerned with the wives of Royal Navy personnel. The marriage patterns and housing careers of these women revealed a biographical pattern that was distinctive and largely uniform. This pattern was the product of an occupationally-related structure of housing options and the wider pressures towards home-ownership. This pattern shaped the domestic responsibilities of the naval wives and their relationships with husbands and children and had implications for their patterns of employment and family formation.     

Adult Daughters whose Mothers Come Out Later in Life: What is the Psychosocial Impact?

SUMMARY

When a family member comes out, it is a process not only for that individual lesbian but also for their entire family. Adult daughters whose mothers come out later in life have distinctive paths to navigate. This article reports findings of an interview study with six daughters who were adults when their mothers came out to them. Most daughters felt they emerged from childhood with an open mind about sexual identity, but had no idea about their mother's lesbianism until told by her. Half the participants questioned the role of women in their lives after their mother came out. Five of the six have a very close relationship, or have become closer, with their mother, since her coming out.     

‘The first Taiwanese wives’ and ‘the Chinese mistresses’: the international division of labour in familial and intimate relations across the Taiwan Strait

Abstract For the last two decades, Taiwanese businessmen have gone to China to invest and do business there. While in Taiwan, many have become involved in extramarital affairs with local women, creating an international division of labour in both families and intimate relations. Taiwanese wives are categorized as ‘the first wives’, a term that is largely associated with the conventional duties of a housewife as the primary caregiver for the family. Chinese women are categorized as ‘mistresses’, a label that portrays them as intruders into these Taiwanese families and stigmatizes them with the strong sexual and entertainment implications of their relationships with these men. By using an ethnographic and documentary approach to explore the complex relations among Taiwanese businessmen and their wives and mistresses across the Taiwan Strait, this article reveals an often overlooked connection between the global economy and the challenges it imposes on the international division of labour in the family and on transnational feminism.     

Family Ties and the Discontinuity of Divorce in Black and White Newlywed Couples

This paper explores the relationship of family ties to the marital happiness of husbands and wives from intact and disrupted families of origin and to the likelihood that they will divorce by the 4th year of their marriage. Respondents were 199 Black and 173 White couples interviewed as part of the “Early Years of Marriage” study. Analyses showed differences in family connectedness according to whether the family of origin was disrupted, and some variations by race were also evident. Regression analyses revealed that among all spouses, but especially among wives from divorced families, increased closeness to their husbands' families predicted increased happiness in their marriages. Hazard models showed that when husbands' or wives' parents were divorced or separated, couples' closeness to the husbands' family reduced their risk of divorce. Findings are discussed in the context of family systems theory and gender roles related to the forging of links with kin networks.