Source‐Country Gender Roles and the Division of Labor Within Immigrant Families

The authors examined the relationship between source‐country gender roles and the gender division of paid and unpaid labor within immigrant families in the host society. Results from Canadian Census of Population (N = 497,973) data show that the 2 indicators of source‐country gender roles examined—female/male labor activity ratio and female/male secondary education ratio—are both positively associated with immigrant wives' share in their family labor supply and negatively associated with their share in housework. The association between source‐country gender roles and women's share in couples' labor activities weakens over time. Moreover, the relationship between source‐country female/male labor activity and immigrant couples' gender division of labor is reduced when immigrant women have nonimmigrant husbands, indicating that husband's immigration status matters.     

Checking up on Couples—A Meta‐Analysis of the Effect of Assessment and Feedback on Marital Functioning and Individual Mental Health in Couples

The primary aim of the current meta‐analysis was to investigate the overall effect of a relationship checkup (RC), a couple‐oriented assessment, and feedback intervention. Systematic literature searches revealed 12 eligible randomized trials published between 1995 and 2015. Results showed significant overall pre–post effect of an RC on marital functioning (Hedge's g = 0.20) and individual mental health (g = 0.44). The between‐group controlled effect size was significant at postassessment (g = 0.23) and up to six‐month follow‐up (g = 0.23). Characteristics of the RC format, therapist‐guided versus self‐directed, or the study samples, distressed versus healthy, did not moderate the overall effect of the RC. Thus, our results suggest an RC to improve couples' marital functioning up to six‐month follow‐up, while the effect on individual mental health and repeated delivery of a RC awaits further research.     

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.     

Gender attitudes,sexual violence,and HIV/AIDS risks among men and women in Cape Town,South Africa

This study examined gender attitudes and sexual violence‐supportive beliefs (rape myths) in a sample of South African men and women at risk for HIV transmission. Over 40% of women and 16% of men had been sexually assaulted, and more than one in five men openly admitted to having perpetrated sexual assault. Traditional attitudes toward women's social and gender roles, as well as rape myths, were endorsed by a significant minority of both men and women. Multivariate analyses showed that for men, sexual assault history and rape myth acceptance, along with alcohol and other drug use history, were significantly related to cumulative risks for HIV infection. In contrast, although we found that women were at substantial risk for sexually transmitted infection (STI), including HIV, women's risks were only related to lower levels of education and alcohol use history. We speculate that women's risks for STI/HIV are the product of partner characteristics and male‐dominated relationships, suggesting the critical importance of intervening with men to reduce women's risks for sexual assault and STI/HIV.     

Social Network Typologies of Black and White Married Couples in Midlife

Although research shows that conjoint social networks are associated with well‐being among newlyweds, little is known about how these network types are linked to marital quality and psychological well‐being for long‐term married couples and about potential race differences in their configurations and associations. Using a pattern‐centered approach to examine the social networks of 91 White and 62 Black couples in their 16th year of marriage, this study revealed four couple network types (friend‐focused, wife family‐focused, bilateral family‐focused, and diverse). Results suggested that spouses in the wife family‐focused network type (characterized by above‐average contact with the wife's family and below average contact with the husband's family and with nonkin) reported the lowest positive marital quality and highest negative marital quality. The association of network type with negative marital quality was also moderated by gender and race. The findings highlight the importance of considering the meaningful complexity within couples' shared networks.     

Silenced Reality: Power Relations between Marital Blueprints in Israeli Marriages

In this study we examined the effect of job insecurity on couples' relationships in the context of recent macro‐level economic changes in Israel. Based on Hajer's discourse interaction approach, we conceptualized marital relationships and particularly the marital conversation as contested terrain reflecting power relations between social forces and their related discourses. We interviewed seventeen couples in which at least one of the partners suffered from job insecurity in order to trace forms of emotion work and silence in their marital interaction. We found that couples experienced a decreased ability to speak with each other. In their accounts of this experience, gendered “story lines” that we interpreted as “new” to the relationship emerged. Women's emotion work was indicative and halted change‐directed marital negotiation. The possibility that authoritative gendered relationships are reinforced in Israeli marriages during times of job insecurity is thus supported.     

“The Way That I Look at Things [Is] Different Because It's Me”: Constructing and Deconstructing Narratives About Racialized Sexual Selves

Many gender scholars have abandoned the notion that we can explore women's experiences without attention to other identities such as race, class, and/or sexual orientation. Until now, the ways race influences the development of sexual selves has been underexplored. In this paper, I focus on heterosexual women's accounts of the interplay of race, gender, and sexualities. Based on in‐depth interviews with sixty‐two white and African American heterosexual women between the ages of twenty and sixty‐eight, I examine the ways in which narrative work tells a story about the presentation of public sexual selves. I also explore how women's personal narratives are impacted by larger cultural narratives about race. Specifically, through a study of sexuality, I focus on the social construction of “postracialism.”     

Educational Assortative Mating and Income Dynamics in Couples: A Longitudinal Dyadic Perspective

The question of how educational assortative mating may transform couples' lives and within‐family gender inequality has gained increasing attention. Using 25 waves (1979–2012) of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 and longitudinal multilevel dyad models, this study investigated how educational assortative mating shapes income dynamics in couples during the marital life course. Couples were grouped into three categories—educational hypergamy (wives less educated than their husbands), homogamy, and hypogamy (wives more educated than their husbands). Results show that change in husbands' income with marital duration is similar across couples, whereas change in wives' income varies by educational assortative mating, with wives in educational hypogamy exhibiting more positive change in income during the marital life course. The finding that husbands' long‐term economic advancement is less affected than that of wives by educational assortative mating underscores the gender‐asymmetric nature of spousal influence in heterosexual marriages.     

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.     

Marital Well‐being and Religiousness as Mediated by Relational Virtue and Equality

This study investigated religiousness and couple well‐being as mediated by relational virtue and equality. Relational spiritual framework theory posits that religiousness is associated with couple well‐being through relational virtues (e.g., forgiveness, commitment, and sacrifice). Theories of relational inequality postulate that religion decreases couple well‐being and indirectly lessens couple well‐being. Data from a 3‐year longitudinal community sample of 354 married couples were used. The authors found that religiousness's relationship to couple well‐being was fully mediated by relational virtue but was not connected to relational inequality. They also found that relational inequality was associated with women's conflict, men's conflict, and marital instability. They did not find that higher religiousness benefits marital outcomes directly. Although these findings do not support the idea that religious activities are directly associated with stronger relationships, the data did show that religiousness can contribute to expressed relational virtue, and relational virtue in turn is associated with marital well‐being.     

Diversity in Work: The Heterogeneity of Women's Employment Patterns

Employment patterns are gender‐driven, yet analyses of women's employment have yet to explain this diversity across time. This article examines the variation in women's employment patterns across time and across countries. It focuses on the effects of individual differences in educational level, marital status and motherhood in The Netherlands, Germany and the UK across four birth cohorts for the period 1992–2002. The results from a quantitative study using panel data confirm the diversity in women's employment. At the same time, cross‐country variation is evident. While the results of this study confirm the diversity evident in women's employment patterns, they also attempt to explain the nature of this diversity. The analyses presented in this article demonstrate that the diversity in women's employment is persistent, yet dynamic. Furthermore, the diversity in employment is clearly marked by the division between parental and non‐parental employment, which has important implications for our theoretical understanding of women's employment.     

Working Hard and Hardly Working: Domestic Labor and Marital Satisfaction Among Dual‐Earner Couples

This article examines the effect of domestic labor, gender ideology, work status, and economic dependency on marital satisfaction using data obtained from self‐administered questionnaires for 156 dual‐earner couples. Analytic distinctions were drawn among three aspects of domestic labor: household tasks, emotion work, and status enhancement. The effects of each of these elements of the division of domestic labor on marital satisfaction were tested. We also tested the effects of a respondent's satisfaction with the couple's division of domestic labor on marital satisfaction. Finally, we tested the effects of gender ideology, hours spent in paid work each week, and economic dependency on marital satisfaction. For women, satisfaction with the division of household tasks and emotion work and their contributions to household and status‐enhancement tasks were the most significant predictors of marital satisfaction. Satisfaction with the division of labor around both emotion work and housework were significant predictors for men's marital satisfaction. Partner's status‐enhancement work was also predictive for men. Economic dependency, paid work hours, gender ideology, partner's hours spent on housework, contributions to emotion work, and number of children and preschool‐age children had only indirect effects on women's marital satisfaction. For men, hours spent on housework, contributions to emotion work, partner's emotion work, hours spent in the paid labor force, and number of preschool children had an indirect effect on marital satisfaction.     

Changing Gender Norms and Marriage Dynamics in the United States

Using a regional measure of gender norms from the General Social Surveys and marital histories from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, this study explored how gender norms were associated with women's marriage dynamics between 1968 and 2012. Results suggested that a higher prevalence of egalitarian gender norms predicted a decline in marriage formation. This decline was, however, only true for women without a college degree. For college‐educated women, the association between gender norms and marriage formation became positive when gender egalitarianism prevailed. The findings also revealed an inverted U‐shaped relationship between gender norms and divorce: An initial increase in divorce was observed when gender norms were predominantly traditional. The association, however, reversed as gender norms became egalitarian. No differences by education were found for divorce. The findings partially support the gender revolution framework but also highlight greater barriers to marriage for low‐educated women as societies embrace gender equality.     

Greedy Spouse,Needy Parent: The Marital Dynamics of Gay,Lesbian, and Heterosexual Intergenerational Caregivers

It is well established that married heterosexual women do more intergenerational caregiving for aging parents and parents‐in‐law than married heterosexual men do. However, gay men and lesbian women's recent access to marriage presents new questions about the gendered marital dynamics of intergenerational caregiving. We use dyadic data with gay, lesbian, and heterosexual spouses to examine the marital dynamics of intergenerational caregivers. Results show that gay and lesbian spouses provided intensive time and emotional support for an intergenerational caregiver. In contrast, heterosexual women described their intergenerational caregiving as rarely supported and at times even undermined by their spouse. Dyadic data on heterosexual men corroborate women's accounts; heterosexual men rarely reported providing intergenerational caregiving, and thus heterosexual women rarely described providing spousal support. These findings provide new insight into the intermingled roles of “greedy” marriages and “needy” parents, wherein marital negotiations around caregiving vary by gender for gay, lesbian, and heterosexual marital dyads.     

Women's self‐defense and sexual assault resistance: The state of the field

Public attention to sexual assault has increased dramatically over the last decade, spurring questions about how it can be prevented. One approach that has received scant attention is women's self‐defense training (sometimes known as sexual assault resistance training). This neglect is curious because empowerment‐based women's self‐defense (ESD) training is so far the only approach that has produced substantively significant decreases in victimization rates. In this article, I review the research evidence on women's self‐defense training. Does resisting a sexual assault affect the outcome of sexual violence? Does self‐defense training further reduce women's risk of violence? What are the other consequences of self‐defense training? How does self‐defense work for different groups of women—for example, those who have survived prior victimizations? Are the critiques of women's self‐defense training valid? Finally, what do we still need to learn about women's self‐defense? Overall, I argue that this evidence presents a compelling case that women's self‐defense training should be central to any efforts to prevent sexual violence.     

Economic Circumstances and Family Outcomes: A Review of the 1990s

This review documents the economic context within which American families lived in the 1990s. Despite nearly full employment and growing income and wealth for many Americans, problem areas included persistent racial gaps in economic well‐being, growing inequality, and declining wages for young men. Women showed stronger income growth than men in the decade, and 2‐earner households became increasingly associated with advantage. We review the consequences of these trends and of economic well‐being generally on 4 dimensions of family outcomes: family formation, divorce, marital quality, and child well‐being. Despite hypotheses suggesting that women's earnings might have different effects on family outcomes than men's earnings, generally the review supports the expectation that both men's and women's economic advantage is associated with more marriage, less divorce, more marital happiness, and greater child well‐being. Important issues regarding measurement, reciprocal relations between family structure and economic well‐being, and race and gender effects remain unresolved.     

‘Pain on Top of Pain,Hurtness on Top of Hurtness’: Social Discrimination,Psychological Well-Being,and Sexual Risk Among Women Living With HIV/AIDS

ABSTRACT

This qualitative study explored how a subsample (n = 26) of participants in Protect and Respect (N = 184), a safer-sex intervention for women living with HIV/AIDS (WLH/A), discussed their experiences of social discrimination and the impact of discrimination on their lives, psychological well-being, and risk behaviors during group intervention sessions. The majority of participants was Black (83%), earned less than $10,000 per year (80%), and acquired HIV through heterosexual sex (58%). Analyses demonstrated that social discrimination manifested in the women's lives as poverty, HIV/AIDS-related stigma, and gender inequality. These experiences caused intense psychological distress and limited WLH/A's ability to implement the safer-sex skills that they learned during the intervention. We discuss the applied and theoretical implications of our findings, advocating for HIV and sexual risk-reduction interventions that are based on an ecological framework that addresses holistically the individual, relational, and sociostructural factors that affect women's sexual risk behaviors.     

Deciding Not to Un–Do the “I Do:” Therapy Experiences of Women Who Consider Divorce But Decide to Remain Married

This study explores women's experience of marital therapy while they navigated decision making around divorce. A qualitative method was used to gain a deeper understanding of the participants' therapy and relationship decision‐making experiences. How are women's decisions whether or not to exit their marriage affected by therapy? The researchers interviewed 15 women who had considered initiating divorce before they turned 40 and had attended at least five marital therapy sessions but ultimately decided not to divorce. In general, participants reported that the therapy was helpful to them, their decision‐making process and their marriages. Five main themes emerged from the interviews: Women Initiated Therapy, Therapist Was Experienced as Unbiased, Therapy was Helpful, Importance of Extra‐therapeutic Factors, and Gradual Process.     

Women's family power and gender preference in Minya,Egypt

Structural and ideational theories are adapted to explore the influence of women's resources and ideational exposures on their family power and gender preferences in Minya, Egypt. Data from a household survey of 2,226 married women aged 15–54 years show that residence with marital kin decreases women's family power. Women in endogamous marriages have greater family power than women in nonendogamous marriages but still tend to prefer sons. Educated women report weaker son preference and greater influence in decisions but still tend to prefer sons. The positive association of women's education, paid work, and urban residence with a variable measuring girl or equal preference and family power suggests that selected resources and ideational exposures may improve girls’ well‐being in Minya.