Positive Marital Quality,Acculturative Stress,and Child Outcomes Among Mexican Americans

Previous research suggests that the quality of parents' relationships can influence their children's adjustment, but most studies have focused on the negative effects of marital conflict for children in White middle‐class families. The current study focuses on the potential benefits of positive marital quality for children in working‐class first generation Mexican American families using observational and self‐report data. This study examined the links between positive marital quality and child internalizing and externalizing behaviors 1 year later when the child was in sixth grade (N = 134 families). Positive marital quality was negatively correlated with child internalizing behaviors. Parent acculturative stress was found to mediate the relationship between positive marital quality and child internalizing behaviors in sixth grade.     

The Relationship Between Cohabitation and Marital Quality and Stability: Change Across Cohorts?

The relationship between premarital cohabitation and marital dysfunction was examined with a total sample of 1,425 spouses in two U.S. marriage cohorts: those married between 1964 and 1980 (when cohabitation was less common) and those married between 1981 and 1997 (when cohabitation was more common). Spouses in both cohorts who cohabited prior to marriage reported poorer marital quality and greater marital instability. When selection factors for cohabitation and subsequent marital instability were included in the statistical model, cohabitors in both cohorts continued to exhibit poorer marital quality and greater marital instability. These findings lend stronger support to an experience of cohabitation perspective than to a selection perspective as an explanation for why couples who cohabit before marriage tend to have more troubled relationships.     

Predictors of Divorce Adjustment: Stressors,Resources, and Definitions

We used data from 208 individuals who divorced during a 17‐year longitudinal study to examine factors that predict adjustment to marital disruption. Using stress and coping theory as a guide, we hypothesized that adjustment would be associated with variables reflecting stressors, resources, and people's definitions of the divorce. Contrary to expectations, we found little evidence that stressors (large declines in per capita income, losing friends, or moving) affected divorce adjustment, except among individuals who were not employed. Adjustment was positively associated with income, dating someone steadily, remarriage, having favorable attitudes toward marital dissolution prior to divorce, and being the partner who initiated the divorce. In addition, older individuals showed some evidence of poorer adjustment than did younger individuals.     

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.     

The Interpersonal Relationships and Social Perceptions of Adolescent Perfectionists

This study investigated the relationship between multidimensional perfectionism, self‐reported interpersonal relationships, and peer‐reported prosocial, disruptive, and academic behaviors among a general sample of 984 9th‐grade adolescents. Cut‐scores from the Almost Perfect Scale‐Revised (APS‐R; Slaney, Rice, Mobley, Trippi, & Ashby, 2001 ) classified adolescents as adaptive perfectionists, maladaptive perfectionists, and nonperfectionist. Adaptive perfectionists reported significantly higher levels of positive interpersonal relationships than maladaptive perfectionists or nonperfectionists. Further, peers rated both perfectionism groups as more prosocial and less disruptive than nonperfectionists. Adaptive perfectionists were more liked than maladaptive perfectionists. Implications of these findings, particularly as they pertain to the nomothetic understanding of multidimensional perfectionism among older, school‐aged adolescents conclude the paper.     

Associations Between Family of Origin Climate,Relationship Self‐Regulation,and Marital Outcomes

Using dyadic data from 961 married couples from the Relationship Evaluation Questionnaire project, the current study explored the direct association between family of origin climate and marital outcomes and the indirect association via relationship self‐regulation (RSR). Results from the actor–partner interdependence model analysis indicated that family of origin climate was positively associated with marital stability directly and indirectly via the effects of RSR and marital satisfaction for both men and women. Results suggest that the experience one has in their family of origin is associated with their marital outcomes through their RSR. Actor–partner direct and indirect effects indicate that spouses' RSR may have important consequences for both partner's evaluation of the marriage. Implications for intervention and future research are discussed.     

Integrative and Masking Emotion Work: Marital Outcomes Among Dual-Earner Couples

This study redresses a gap in the literature concerning the outcomes of emotion work by exploring how both integrative and masking emotion work relate to marital quality and marital conflict. Using data from a random sample of dual-earner couples in a northeastern city in an upper Midwestern state (n = 99 couples), this study explores the emotion-work performance of each partner. The findings show that men’s integrative emotion work is only significantly associated with men’s marital quality, whereas men’s masking emotion work significantly predicts their partner’s marital quality, men’s marital quality, and men’s marital conflict. Women’s integrative emotion work is significantly associated with women’s marital quality and their partner’s marital conflict, whereas women’s masking emotion work predicts women’s marital quality and marital conflict. Altogether, the findings suggest that considering both masking and integrative emotion work helps gain a fuller understanding of how emotion work shapes marital outcomes.     

Pathways Among Marital Distress,Parental Symptomatology,and Child Adjustment

A community sample of 295 mothers, fathers, and children (M age = 11.14 years, SD = 2.32 years) rated marital distress, maternal and paternal psychological symptoms, and child adjustment. The predicted direct relations between these family and child variables were demonstrated for both fathers and mothers. Tests of pathways among these variables were conducted for separate but complementary mediation models. Maternal and paternal symptoms mediated the association between marital distress and child adjustment. Marital distress mediated the link between fathers’ symptoms and child adjustment, but the direct pathway between mothers’ symptoms and child adjustment remained. Pubertal status was modestly related to higher levels of family stressors. Joint implications of marital distress and parental symptoms for child adjustment are discussed.     

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.     

Interactional Dynamics in Alcohol-Complicated Marital Relationships: A Study From India

This study seeks to understand differences in the interpersonal dynamics of couples living in alcohol-complicated and alcohol-free marital relationships in India. An ex-post facto cross-sectional design was used to compare 150 wives of alcoholics with an equal number of wives of nonalcoholics, who were administered standardized instruments to assess marital adjustment and family interaction pattern. Analyses show that wives of alcoholics have lower levels of marital adjustment and a poorer family interaction pattern across various domains, in consonance with the Western literature on these issues. Covariates analyzed included four variables such as type of family, type of marriage, consanguinity, and wife's occupational status. Implications for de-addiction programs in India are discussed and the need for couple/family-based therapy is emphasised.     

Toward a Greater Understanding of the Cohabitation Effect: Premarital Cohabitation and Marital Communication

The goal of the present study was to examine the relationship between premarital cohabitation experience and marital communication in an effort to understand the robust finding known as the cohabitation effect, whereby couples who cohabit before marriage have greater marital instability than couples who do not cohabit. Observed marital problem solving and social support behavior were examined as a function of premarital cohabitation experience in a sample of 92 couples in the first 2 years of their first marriages. Spouses who cohabited before marriage demonstrated more negative and less positive problem solving and support behaviors compared to spouses who did not cohabit. Sociodemographic, intrapersonal, and interpersonal functioning variables did not account for the association between cohabitation experience and marital communication.     

Infertility-Related Stress within the Marital Relationship

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between infertility-related stress and four aspects of the marital relationship, specifically, the quality of communication, sexual satisfaction, intimacy, and overall dyadic adjustment. Methods: Male and female patients (N = 116) receiving infertility treatment at two infertility clinics in the Western Cape province of South Africa completed self-report questionnaires. Results: Significant correlations were found between infertility-related stress and all four measured aspects of the marital relationship. Conclusions: Interventions should aim at improving the coping, communication, and conflict-resolution skills of each partner in order to assist them in productive problem solving and conflict management.     

Occupational Self‐Direction,Values, and Egalitarian Relationships: A Study of Dual‐Earner Couples

This study examines the associations between husbands' and wives' experiences at work and their attitudes about and behaviors in marriage, using a framework informed by the ideas of Kohn (1969, 1977) . Specifically, it was hypothesized that experiences of self‐direction at work would be associated with greater endorsement of values associated with self‐direction. Further, it was predicted that those who value self‐direction more would both prefer and adopt more egalitarian arrangements in their marriages. These hypotheses were tested with a sample of 167 dual‐earner couples. Results supported the hypotheses and suggested that values mediate the relationships between occupational self‐direction and both attitudes about marital roles and the division of household labor. The pattern of results suggests that this framework is a useful perspective for examining the construct of marital equality.     

Associations Between Prior Deployments and Marital Satisfaction Among Army Couples

Although the experience of deployments has been described as devastating to married life, evidence linking deployments directly to poorer marital functioning has been sparse. The analyses described in this article compare associations between prior deployments and current marital satisfaction across four different ways of measuring prior deployment within a large and representative sample of married Army service members and their spouses. Results indicate that the experience of prior deployments is associated with significantly lower current marital satisfaction among military couples. The association is disproportionately strong for first deployments and first cumulative months of deployment and weakens over subsequent deployment experiences. Most of these associations, but not all, can be accounted for by the fact that service members who have been deployed are more likely to have experienced traumatic events and to experience posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, both of which are independently associated with lower levels of marital satisfaction.     

Modeling the Effects of Expressed Emotion,Psychiatric Symptomology,and Marital Quality Levels on Male and Female Verbal Aggression

Previous research has linked expressed emotion (EE) levels and psychiatric symptomology, whereas other empirical efforts have examined the relationship between EE and marital relationship variables. Still other research has linked psychological conditions with acts of aggression, and the impact of marital issues within this domain of inquiry also has been explored. The study presented here examined the combined effects of EE, marital quality, and psychiatric symptomology on displays of verbal aggression by both relationship partners. Both husbands' and wives' reports of marital quality were predictive of both husbands' and wives' verbal aggression levels; here, reports of lower marital quality were associated with higher levels of verbal aggression. Additionally, husbands' and wives' reports of psychological symptomology in self and partner were important paths to marital quality, as were husbands' and wives' reports of EE levels. Further, some evidence was generated that supports the mediating role of marital quality with regard to EE and psychological symptomology. However, the overall fit indices of the models tested in this empirical effort were modest. Limitations that concern the instruments utilized in the present study are discussed in this regard.     

Effects of Love Styles on Marital Satisfaction in Heterosexual Couples: A Dyadic Approach

The main objective of this study was to test Actor-Partner Interdependence Models (APIM) describing the relationship between wives' and husbands' love styles and marital satisfaction within heterosexual couples (n=146 couples). Love styles (i.e., Eros, Ludus, Storge, Mania, Pragma, Agape) were set out in Lee's theory of love, which defines love as an attitude, meaning a predisposition to think, feel, and behave toward one's partner. Six APIMs representing each love style were tested using a path analysis procedure. Length of marriage and wives' and husbands' depressive moods were entered into the models as control variables. The results revealed that among the love styles, only Eros contributed to marital satisfaction for both men and women. However, our results showed that wives' Eros style had a positive impact on husbands' marital satisfaction, whereas husbands' Eros style did not influence wives' marital satisfaction.     

Interdependence in Dating and Cohabiting Relationships: The Role of Cognitive Interdependence,Commitment, and Marital Intent

This study uses Interdependence Theory, specifically cognitive interdependence and the investment model of commitment, to further understand the impact of marital intent in cohabiting versus dating relationships. Contrary to the hypothesis posed, results revealed that individuals in cohabiting relationships and dating relationships experience similar levels of interdependence. However, people who report an intent to marry their partner, whether dating or cohabiting, have higher degrees of centrality of relationship, commitment, satisfaction, investments, and a lower level of perceived relationship alternatives than those who did not report marital intent. The results of this study suggest that marital intent may work similarly in dating relationships and cohabiting relationships, and that Interdependence Theory has utility for understanding why marital intent makes a difference in relational stability.     

Trait Expressiveness and Marital Satisfaction: The Role of Idealization Processes

This study examined the processes that underlie the association between trait expressiveness and marital satisfaction. A total of 168 newlywed couples participated in a four‐wave, 13‐year longitudinal study of marriage. Cross‐sectional and longitudinal path analyses suggested that expressiveness promotes satisfaction by leading spouses to engage in affectionate behavior and by leading them to idealize their partner. Expressive people formed idealized images of their partner because they brought out the best in their partner's behavior and because they interpreted their partner's behavior in a favorable light. The study extends previous research by showing that the benefits of trait expressiveness extend into the second decade of marriage and by providing a plausible explanation of the connections between trait expressiveness and marital satisfaction.     

Predicting Spouses’ Perceptions of Their Parenting Alliance

This study used marital‐ and individual‐level variables to predict spouses’ perceived parenting alliance. One hundred married couples completed measures of parenting alliance, marital consensus, marital power, and depression. Analyses revealed that marital consensus was a significant predictor of parenting alliance for both parents, and that depression also was a significant predictor for wives. Analyses using both spouses’ data indicated that wives’ perceptions of consensus and depression significantly predicted both spouses’ parenting alliance, suggesting that wives are the barometer of the marital relationship ( Floyd & Markman, 1983 ) and of the parenting relationship as well. Implications for research are discussed.     

Marital Outcomes and Consideration of Divorce Among Orthodox Jews After Signing a Religious Prenuptial Agreement to Facilitate Future Divorce

This study examined marital satisfaction, marital adjustment, and consideration of divorce among Orthodox Jews in North America (N = 2,652). These marital outcomes were compared for individuals who signed or did not sign a religious prenuptial agreement that facilitates a woman’s future ability to receive a religious divorce from her husband. Results indicated a higher level of marital satisfaction among those who signed the religious prenuptial agreement, and no significant difference in marital adjustment or tendency to consider divorce between groups of individuals who signed or did not sign the religious prenuptial agreement.