Coparenting and Father Involvement in Married and Unmarried Coresident Couples

Children can benefit from involved fathers and cooperative parents, a benefit which may be particularly important to the growing population of children born to unmarried parents. This study observes father involvement and coparenting in 5,407 married and unmarried cohabiting couples with a 2‐year‐old child in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Birth Cohort (ECLS‐B). A link was found between cooperative coparenting and father involvement for all couples. Compared with married couples, couples who married in response to the pregnancy and couples who remained unmarried showed higher levels of father involvement and more cooperative coparenting, indicating a potentially greater child focus.     

Passionate and Companionate Love in Courting and Young Married Couples

Sociological and social psychological discourse on love posits the existence of two distinct love types: passionate and companionate love. Little research, however, has been conducted to document the presumed theoretical differences between these two varieties of love. The primary purpose of this study was to examine empirically the extent to which passionate and companionate love differ on three major dimensions. Passionate love, to a greater degree than companionate love, was hypothesized (1) to be sexualized, (2) to be associated with intense positive and negative emotional experiences, and (3) to decline with the passage of time. These hypotheses were tested with data collected from a sample of 197 couples representing different stages of the courtship process and transition to marriage. Support was found for the first and third hypotheses; however, little support was found for the second. The degree to which passionate and companionate love were related to satisfaction and commitment were also examined. Passionate and companionate love were associated with satisfaction and commitment, although companionate love was more highly associated than passionate love with satisfaction.     

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.     

Insurance Arrangements Among Married Couples: Analysis of Benefit Substitution and Compensating Differentials

Data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey indicate that for couples in which both spouses are employed, 36% of privately insured couples are characterized by an arrangement in which the husband and wife are enrolled in separate plans. This paper empirically investigates several aspects of spouses’ decisions to enroll in separate insurance plans. Results indicate that each spouse’s probability of being offered employer-provided insurance is related to the probability that his or her partner is also offered employer-provided insurance. Furthermore, married couples appear to pay for various insurance arrangements through lower wage earnings.     

Matching in Sexual Experience for Married,Cohabitating, and Dating Couples

This study examined heterosexual romantic partners' number of intercourse partners prior to the initiation of their relationship to determine if a significant positive correlation (matching) occurred between partners, and if this matching was associated with their level of love and satisfaction with and commitment to the relationship. One hundred and six couples who were dating, cohabitating, or married participated in this study. Results indicated that, with the exception of cohabitating couples, romantic partners showed a significant level of matching in the prior number of intercourse partners. Further, among the married couples, a higher discrepancy between men's and women's number of previous intercourse partners was related to lower levels of love, satisfaction, and commitment in the relationship.     

All Shook Up: Sexuality of Mid- to Later Life Married Couples

The authors integrate theoretical work on the performance of gender with a life course perspective to frame an analysis of in-depth interviews with 17 long-term married couples. The findings indicated that couples' sexual experiences are characterized by change over time, yet that change is shaped by the intersection of gender and age. Midlife couples (ages 50 - 69) were distressed by changes in their sex lives likely because they impede couples from performing gendered sexuality. The source of this distress stems from age-related physical changes; however, it manifests in different ways for husbands and wives. In contrast, later life couples (ages 70 - 86) were more likely to emphasize the importance of emotional intimacy over sex as they age. Marital sex is a source of conflict for many midlife couples because of husbands' and wives' incongruent experiences, but later life husbands and wives tend to have more congruent experiences of marital sex.     

Sibling Configuration and Coresidence of Married Couples with an Older Mother in Japan

Abstract This study aims to clarify the effects of sibling configuration on both current and prospective coresidence of married male household heads with their older mother or mother-in-law. Multinomial logit analysis is applied to the data from the 1985 national household survey conducted by the Institute of Population Problems in Tokyo. The analysis is restricted to those heads whose mother and mother-in-law are both aged 60 or older and who do not live or plan to live with both mothers. The results of multinomial logit analysis of current living arrangements show a positive effect of the head's eldest-son status on coresidence with his mother and a positive effect of the wife's eldest-daughter status (in the absence of brothers) on coresidence with her mother, which supports the Heir Priority Hypothesis. The positive effects of the wife having older brothers or older sisters on coresidence with the head's mother also supports this hypothesis. On the other hand, the negative effects of the head having younger brothers or younger sisters and the wife being the youngest child, as well as the positive effect of the wife being the oldest child, on coresidence with the head's mother seem to support the House Crowding Hypothesis. The results of multinomial logit analysis of plans for future living arrangements, controlling for the current living arrangements, also show a similar (positive) effect of the head's eldest-son status on planned coresidence with his mother, supporting the Heir Priority Hypothesis. The reversed effect of the head having younger sisters on planned coresidence with his mother seems to be consistent with the Gender Role Crowding Hypothesis.     

Family‐of‐Origin Experiences and Adjustment in Married Couples

Within this article a model is tested that examines the relationship between married individuals' experiences in their family of origin and patterns of marital adjustment. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling procedures, making the couple the unit of analysis. This allowed for an exploration of how one partner's family‐of‐origin experience and the other partner's family‐of‐origin experience uniquely influence each of the partner's experiences of the marriage. Two aspects of the results stand out. First, both husbands' and wives' family‐of‐origin experiences emerged as significant influences on marital adjustment. Second, the data suggest that wives' experiences within their family of origin are more strongly related to both their own accounts of their marriages and their husbands' accounts of their marriages than are husbands' family‐of‐origin experiences.     

The Dyadic Effects of Controlling Emotional Abuse on Subjective Emotional Experience in Iranian Older Married Couples

This randomised control trial study examines the impact of an emotional‐focused intervention on emotional abuse and subjective emotional experience in Iranian older married couples. In the study, 57 older couples were randomly assigned into control and experimental groups with the latter taking part in an intervention program over 4 weeks, twice a week, with sessions lasting 90 minutes. In the experimental group, significant improvements were found for reducing emotional abuse behaviours and increasing subjective emotional experience. Dyadic analysis revealed that a partner's ability to control their own emotional abuse significantly effects both his/her subjective emotional experience and that of their spouse.     

Training in Human Relations Skills as a Preferred Mode of Treatment for Married Couples*

While effective communication is recognized as important to marital adjustment, few therapeutic alternatives specifically attempt to teach improved communication skills in a systematic manner. In this study, five couples experiencing marital difficulties participated in a traditional therapy group with emphasis upon cathartic release and problem solving. A similar group of five couples participated in a training group consisting of a systematic didactic and experiential approach emphasizing the ability to discriminate and communicate helpfully. The results of outcome measures assessing gain in interpersonal skills and overall functioning indicate significant improvement in the training as compared to the traditional group.     

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.     

Marital Role Ideals and Perception of Marital Role Behavior in Distressed and Non Distressed Couples

Eighty non-patient couples, 50 couples seeking sex therapy, and 50 couples seeking marital therapy, were asked to report on whom they felt should and who actually does assume responsibility in eight major marital role areas. When the degree of individual “role strain”, that is, the discrepancy between role ideals and role behavior was examined, the marital therapy patients were found to be experiencing the most role strain. Husband-wife discrepancies with respect to who does have the various role assignments were found to be higher in the marital therapy couples. These data are interpreted in terms of their implications for diagnosis and treatment of sexually and maritally distressed couples.     

Volunteer Motivation and Organizational Climate: Factors that Promote Satisfaction and Sustained Volunteerism in NPOs

Keeping volunteers committed and engaged is one of the toughest challenges for NPOs. The aim of the present study is to investigate the individual and organizational factors that promote volunteer satisfaction and, vice versa, foster intentions to quit. Two hundred forty-seven volunteers operating in four different NPOs were asked to fill in a self-report questionnaire that aimed to explore their motivations to volunteer, their degree of satisfaction and their perception of the organizational climate in the NPO they worked with, in addition to providing details of the activities which they were involved in. Results showed that the organizational climate mediates the relationship between autonomous motivation and satisfaction, as well as that between external motivation and intentions to leave an organization.     

Sibling Interactions in Married and Divorced Families:

One hundred twenty-eight sibling dyads, 64 from married families, and 64 from divorced, were observed on two separate occasions while playing a structured and an unstructured game. Half of the sibling dyads within each family form were from higher socioeconomic status (SES) families and half from lower SES families. The frequency of caretaking (e.g., directing, teaching, helping), negative, and positive behaviors were coded. Results revealed that sibling interactions in divorced families are both more negative and less positive than in married families. Siblings in divorced families also engage in more caretaking behavior. Similar differences were detected between lower and higher SES families, yet differences in sibling interactions in married and divorced families were not exacerbated by socioeconomic status. Younger siblings were more likely to be the recipient of caregiving behavior and to be more positive in their interactions. However, both older and younger siblings' behavior was influenced by the game context.     

The Efficacy of Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy and Behavioral Couples Therapy: A Meta‐Analysis

Behavioral couple therapy (BCT) and emotionally focused couples therapy (EFCT) are well‐established treatments to reduce couple distress. This meta‐analysis summarizes the current state of knowledge on the efficacy of these two therapy methods by focusing on randomized controlled trials only. A literature search revealed 33 suitable primary studies (2,730 participants in total), all of them measuring relationship satisfaction. Robust‐variance random‐effects meta‐analysis revealed medium effect sizes at post‐test (overall: g = 0.60; BCT: g = 0.53; EFCT: g = 0.73) and small effect sizes of 6 months after treatment (overall: g = 0.44; BCT: g = 0.35; EFCT: g = 0.66), but these gains were not maintained after 12 months (BCT only: g = 0.06). Between the two therapy methods, no significant effect size differences could be found. Results have to be interpreted with caution due to potential publication bias.     

Dating Infidelity in Turkish Couples: The Role of Attitudes and Intentions

Studies on dating infidelity have mostly been carried out in individualistic, Western cultures and have tended to investigate either attitudes or intentions toward infidelity in isolation from each other. The current study therefore investigated dating infidelity in a more collectivist, predominantly Muslim culture. Informed by the theory of planned behavior, it tested intentions as a potential mechanism that might account for the association between attitudes toward infidelity and reported infidelity. In doing so, the role of gender and infidelity history was also investigated in regard to attitudes and intentions toward infidelity. A sample of 420 college students (292 women) completed the Turkish versions of the Attitudes Towards Infidelity Scale and the Intentions Towards Infidelity Scale. A 2 (gender) × 2 (infidelity history: yes, no) multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) revealed main effects but no interaction effect. Men compared to women and cheaters compared to noncheaters reported more favorable attitudes and intentions toward infidelity. Moreover, intentions toward infidelity fully and partly mediated the association between attitudes toward infidelity and infidelity for women and men, respectively. Findings are interpreted in light of dating infidelity research, with a focus on universal and culturally specific aspects. Recommendations are made for future research.