Long-Term Prediction of Relationship Satisfaction and Stability by Stress,Coping, Communication,and Well-Being

In this 10-year longitudinal study, long-term relationship satisfaction and stability were predicted from communication behavior, stress level, physical and psychological well-being, and individual and dyadic coping skills. The predictors were assessed at the beginning of the study. Significant predictors of relationship satisfaction (n = 103 couples) for both men and women were relationship satisfaction in the beginning, and for men additionally their dyadic coping competencies. Significant predictors of relationship stability (N = 162 couples) were relationship length, relationship satisfaction of both men and women, as well as women’s positive communication. The percentage of correct classifications (stable or unstable relationship) over a period of 10 years was 80.3%. Implications for research and prevention as well as the importance of coping skills for relationship outcome are discussed.     

Fire and Ice in Marital Communication: Hostile and Distancing Behaviors as Predictors of Marital Distress

This study examined the relationship between partner hostile responsiveness, as well as three types of withdrawing responses (intimacy avoidance, conflict avoidance and angry withdrawal) and both concurrent and prospective marital satisfaction in a community sample of couples. The primary predictor of marital outcomes for wives was partner hostile responsiveness, whereas for husbands it was partner withdrawal. Wives' intimacy avoidance contributed unique variance to the prediction of husbands' marital distress; husbands' conflict avoidance provided a buffering effect for wives in the context of high husband hostile responsiveness. Results underscore the importance of differentiating hostile and distancing behaviors and, further, assessing withdrawal outside of the context of marital conflict.     

Is Early Exposure to Pornography a Risk Factor for Sexual Compulsivity? Findings from an Online Survey among Young Heterosexual Adults

ABSTRACT

The aim of this retrospective study was to assess the relationship between early exposure to pornography and sexual compulsivity among Croatian young adults. Using online survey data on pornography use and sexual behavior among 1,528 heterosexual women and men aged 18–25, we tested a hypothesis that pornography use at the age of 14 is a marker for sexual compulsivity in late adolescence and young adulthood. After satisfactory reliability of a four-item subscale of the Sexual Compulsiveness Scale (Kalichman & Rompa, 1995 Kalichman, S. C. and Rompa, D. 1995. Sexual sensation seeking and sexual compulsivity scales: Reliability, validity, and predicting HIV risk behavior. Journal of Personality Assessment, 65: 586–601. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) was confirmed in this sample, construct validity of this composite indicator focused on out of control sexual thoughts and behaviors was assessed. High sexual compulsivity was associated with sexual risk taking, though mainly among women, decreased levels of relationship intimacy and lesser sexual contentment. However, we found no significant association between early exposure to pornography and high sexual compulsivity either among men or women.     

Marital Relationships Following the Korean Economic Crisis: Applying the Family Stress Model

In response to the recent economic crisis in Korea and its negative effects on families, the current study examined the interrelationships among economic pressure, emotional distress, marital conflict, and marital satisfaction for 236 Korean couples. The family stress model ( Conger & Elder, 1994 ; Conger, Rueter, & Conger, 2000 ; Conger, Rueter, & Elder, 1999 ) was tested using structural equation modeling. The results generally supported the theoretical model, showing that economic pressure negatively affects marital satisfaction via emotional distress and marital conflict. The results also implied cultural differences in the process of family stress. Korean husbands' emotional distress did not affect marital conflict or marital satisfaction, suggesting that Korean husbands may differ from their wives in their reaction to emotional distress from economic pressure.     

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.     

Emotional Expressiveness and Marital Adjustment in Ecuador

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between emotional expressiveness and dyadic adjustment in a sample of adults from Guayaquil, Ecuador. Hypotheses were explored and tested in the following areas: the factor structure of emotional expressiveness and marital adjustment items, gender differences in emotional expressiveness, and the relationship between emotional expressiveness and marital adjustment. The factor structure in the current sample shows similar structures as a previous Latin American sample, but differing from the structures identified in U.S. samples. Women were not found to report a difference in expressiveness compared to men. Emotional expressiveness showed a strong relationship with marital adjustment, illustrating the importance of sharing positive emotions while suppressing negative ones (expression of sadness was not significant). Implications for practitioners in cross-cultural work, and possible explanations for cultural differences are discussed.     

Predictors of Marital Satisfaction Among Korean Immigrant Spouses in the United States

ABSTRACT

This study investigated marital satisfaction among Korean immigrant spouses. Level of acculturation, the number of years of U.S. residence, status inconsistency, annual income, educational level, decision making, division of household tasks, and communication problems were hypothesized to be predictors of marital satisfaction. A snowball sampling strategy yielded 304 respondents. Results showed that level of acculturation was significantly associated with marital satisfaction for Korean immigrant husbands, but not for Korean immigrant wives. Marital decision making was significantly related to marital satisfaction for Korean immigrant wives but not for Korean immigrant husbands. Both acculturation and marital decision making accounted for only 3% of the variance in marital satisfaction. For both spouses, conjugal communication problems were the best predictor of marital satisfaction (16% and 37% of variance explained for husbands and wives, respectively).     

Language Acculturation,Acculturation‐Related Stress,and Marital Quality in Chinese American Couples

The current study examines the longitudinal indirect pathways linking language acculturation to marital quality. Three waves of data were collected from 416 Chinese American couples for 8 years (M_age.wave1 = 48 for husbands, 44 for wives). Actor–partner interdependence model analyses revealed that for both husbands and wives, lower levels of language acculturation were associated with higher levels of stress over being stereotyped as a perpetual foreigner. Individuals' foreigner stress, in turn, was directly related to greater levels of their own and their partners' marital warmth, suggesting that foreigner stress may have some positive relational effects. However, individuals' foreigner stress also was associated with increases in their own depressive symptoms, which predicted higher levels of marital hostility in the partner. Overall, these results underscore the complexity of how language acculturation and foreigner stress relate to marital quality and the importance of considering the interdependence of the marital system.     

Marital Quality Assessment: Reviewing the Concept,Instruments, and Methods

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate which instruments have been used in marital quality research since 2005, and the concepts underlying each measure. We conducted a literature review in the following databases: PsycINFO, PubMed, Web of Science, and BVS. The review included 91 studies investigating 21 instruments. Half of the scales were multidimensional, but the most used instruments were unidimensional, except for the DAS. Most measures had exploratory evidence of construct validity and did not provide a definition of the construct under evaluation. Theoretical development is needed to address the problem of largely subjective, empirically based measures. We suggest network models can help to develop new measures and to provide a fresh understanding of the construct and the dynamics of marital relations.     

Father–Daughter Incest: Data from an Anonymous Computerized Survey

Retrospective data were entered anonymously by 1,521 adult women using computer-assisted self-interview. Nineteen were classified as victims of father–daughter incest, and 241 were classified as victims of sexual abuse by an adult other than their father before reaching 18 years of age. The remaining 1,261 served as controls. Incest victims were more likely than controls to endorse feeling damaged, psychologically injured, estranged from one or both parents, and shamed by others when they tried to open up about their experience. They had been eroticized early on by the incest experience, and it interfered with their adult sexuality. Incest victims experienced coitus earlier than controls and after reaching age 18 had more sex partners and were more likely to have casual sex outside their primary relationship and engage in sex for money than controls. They also had worse scores on scales measuring depression, sexual satisfaction, and communication about sex than controls.     

Relative Contributions of Treatment-Related Changes in Communication Skills and Dyadic Coping Skills to the Longitudinal Course of Marriage in the Framework of Marital Distress Prevention

Most prior studies of skill-based preventive interventions for couples compare changes in problem-solving behaviors made by treated couples with those made by control couples. Unexpected findings in these studies highlight the need to examine within-group variability in behavior change among treated couples, alternative behavioral domains, including dyadic support and coping, and partners' intended and actual use of strategies taught in the interventions. A 24-month longitudinal study of 109 couples participating in an 18-hour intervention designed to enhance communication and dyadic coping revealed that marital outcomes are enhanced to the extent that (a) wives increase their positive problem-solving behavior and husbands decrease their negative problem-solving behavior over the course of the intervention, and (b) wives and husbands increase their positive dyadic coping behaviors, and husbands decrease their negative dyadic coping behaviors. Moreover, greater postintervention use of strategies taught in the intervention program produced better outcomes, and wives' improvements in positive and negative dyadic coping strengthened associations between strategy use and relationship satisfaction. Discussion emphasizes the importance of devising interventions that target key interpersonal processes and that motivate participants to display newly acquired behaviors.     

Finding the Love Guru in You: Examining the Effectiveness of a Sexual Communication Training Program for Married Couples

One specific area of communication that has the potential to elicit a wide range of outcomes, such as enhancing a couple's feelings of intimacy, offending one or both partners causing conflict, improving the communication climate within the relationship, or embarrassing the partners involved, is the discussion of sex. The current project theorized how to initiate and maintain sexual coaching conversations, taught participants the components of skillful and unskillful messages in an online training program, and then evaluated the overall effectiveness of said program. Forty couples participated in an online sexual coaching training program and completed several pretest and posttest measures. Results reveal that participation in the training program led to an increase in sexual and relationship satisfaction, a decrease in sexual communication apprehension, and an increase in sexual coaching knowledge and skill. These results, along with the value of interventive research and the implications of this training program, are discussed.     

Love and Money: Reducing Stress and Improving Couple Happiness

A love and money curriculum was developed to guide couples through conversations about the role money plays in their relationships. Thirteen couples participated in the 5-week study. Physiological stress was measured during each of the five meetings. Couples’ satisfaction, attitudes, and behaviors were evaluated with pre-and post-surveys. Findings indicate that couples experienced a reduction in the stress finances put on their relationship and increased happiness with their financial situation, communication, and household responsibilities. Implications for more wide-spread application of the curriculum are provided as a way of talking about money with couples.     

Research on the Nature and Determinants of Marital Satisfaction: A Decade in Review

Scientific study of marital satisfaction attracted widespread attention in the 1990s from scholars representing diverse orientations and goals. This article highlights key conceptual and empirical advances that have emerged in the past decade, with particular emphasis on (a) interpersonal processes that operate within marriage, including cognition, affect, physiology, behavioral patterning, social support, and violence; (b) the milieus within which marriages operate, including microcontexts (e.g., the presence of children, life stressors and transitions) and macrocontexts (e.g., economic factors, perceived mate availability); and (c) the conceptualization and measurement of marital satisfaction, including 2‐dimensional, trajectory‐based, and social‐cognitive approaches. Notwithstanding the continued need for theoretical progress in understanding the nature and determinants of marital satisfaction, we conclude by calling for more large‐scale longitudinal research that links marital processes with sociocultural contexts, for more disconfirmatory than confirmatory research, and for research that directly guides preventive, clinical, and policy‐level interventions.     

Patterns of Change in Marital Satisfaction Over the Newlywed Years

Although marital satisfaction starts high and declines for the average newlywed, some spouses may follow qualitatively distinct trajectories. Using eight self-reports of satisfaction collected over 4 years from 464 newlywed spouses, we identified five trajectory groups, including patterns defined by high intercepts and no declines in satisfaction, moderate intercepts and minimal declines, and low intercepts and substantial declines. The groups varied systematically in their 4- and 10-year divorce rates, and wives tended to follow more satisfying trajectories than their husbands. Personality traits, stress, aggression, and communication behaviors assessed shortly after marriage discriminated among groups in expected directions. We conclude by outlining theoretical and practical implications of identifying distinct and predictable patterns of change in relationship satisfaction.     

Sexual Satisfaction and Relationship Satisfaction in Dating Couples

Abstract

This study assessed the merits of an amended Interpersonal Exchange Model of Sexual Satisfaction (IEMSS; Lawrance & Byers, 1992, 1995) that includes a measure of relationship communality, a construct not adequately captured by existing exchange models of sexual/relationship satisfaction. A total of 189 undergraduates (102 female) in sexually active dating relationships completed measures of sexual satisfaction, relationship satisfaction, favorability of sexual exchanges, and the extent to which their romantic relationships were characterized by mutually communal behaviors (i.e., relationship communality). Analyses revealed that relationship communality made a small but unique contribution to sexual satisfaction and a large contribution to relationship satisfaction, even after controlling for sexual satisfaction and favorability of sexual exchanges. Implications for understanding the dynamics of sexually active dating relationships are discussed.     

Couple-Level Patterns of Disclosure Process Beliefs and Their Association with Marital Satisfaction

Abstract

Grounded in symbolic interaction theory, we used latent class analysis (LCA) to investigate the preexisting patterns of belief surrounding the disclosure process in married relationships. With a sample of 131 heterosexual married dyads from the U.S., we found four classes: two classes represented similarity of spouses’ beliefs (Both High Beliefs and Neither High Beliefs), and two classes represented dissimilarity of spouses’ beliefs (where only the wife endorsed high beliefs, Wife High Beliefs, and where only the husband did, Husband High Beliefs). Husbands’ satisfaction was positively associated with membership in the Both High Beliefs class. An interaction between spouses’ satisfaction was found: the impact of wives’ satisfaction on class membership is dependent on husbands’ satisfaction. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Effectiveness of Narrative Therapy on Communication Patterns for Women Experiencing Low Marital Satisfaction

The current study was designed as quasi-experimental with a pretest and post-test evaluating the efficacy of narrative therapy on communication patterns for women experiencing low marital satisfaction. Thirty women experiencing low marital satisfaction were chosen using convenience sampling and were randomly assigned to an intervention and waiting list group. The intervention group was treated individually by narrative therapy in eight 45-minute sessions. Results from repeated measurement ANOVA revealed significant differences between and within the groups and interaction between and within groups. Independent and paired t-test results showed significant improvement in the intervention group in their marital satisfaction, male-demand/female-withdraw, and total demand/withdraw with maintenance at eight weeks follow-up. Results included increased marital satisfaction, reduced male-demand/female-withdraw, and reduced total demand/withdraw. Thus, results show that narrative therapy is effective in increasing the marital satisfaction indicators of male-demand/female-withdraw, total demand/withdraw, and marital satisfaction.     

Relationship of Dyadic Closeness With Work‐Related Stress: A Daily Diary Study

We examined the association between work‐related stress of both spouses and daily fluctuations in their affective states and dyadic closeness. Daily diary data from 169 Israeli dual‐earner couples were analyzed using multilevel modeling. The findings indicate that work stress has no direct effect on dyadic closeness but rather is mediated by the spouses’ negative mood. Evidence was found for spillover of stress from work to mood at home, as well as negative crossover among couples with higher marital quality, resulting in greater distance on stressful days. Such increased distance may reflect either a deleterious effect of work stress on marital relationships or a protective mechanism used by couples in times of stress.