Browsing by Subject "Marital quality"
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Item Childhood adversity, daily stress, and marital strain in same-sex and different-sex marriages(2015-12) Donnelly, Rachel Erin; Umberson, Debra; Pudrovska, TetyanaChildhood adversity has enduring consequences for individuals throughout life, including heightened vigilance and increased reactivity to stress that adversely affects marital quality in adulthood. Past research on childhood adversity and adulthood marital dynamics has focused only on heterosexual married couples, raising questions about how these effects may differ for men and women in same-sex marriages. In this study, we analyze dyadic diary data from 756 men and women in 378 gay, lesbian, and heterosexual marriages to consider how childhood adversity negatively influences daily marital strain in potentially different ways across gender and union types. We consider same-day as well as lagged effects of daily stress on daily marital strain depending on level of exposure to childhood adversity. We further consider how spouses’ histories of childhood adversity may work in tandem to shape reactions to stress and the consequences of stress for marital strain. Results indicate that higher levels of childhood adversity are associated with more daily marital strain for all respondents. Childhood adversity magnifies the impact of daily stress on marital strain, and more so for different-sex than same-sex couples. We extend the literature on childhood adversity, daily stress, and marital strain by using dyadic daily diary data and including same-sex as well as different-sex married couples.Item Conversational narcissism in marriage: effects on partner mental health and marital quality over the transition to parenthood(2008-05) Leit, Lisa, 1973-; Jacobvitz, DeborahThis study seeks to explore how narcissistic attention seeking behaviors in faceto-face conversation contribute to marital quality and partner’s mental health over the transition to parenthood. Narcissism, considered a personality disorder, is defined as an all-pervasive pattern of grandiosity in fantasy or behavior. Central features of narcissism include a need for admiration and a lack of empathy. The concept of narcissism has been extended beyond mental illness and is now considered a personality trait (Raskin & Terry, 1988). It follows then that narcissistic tendencies might affect one’s communication style. This research elaborates the concept of narcissism, and discusses the ways that narcissistic patterns in interpersonal relationships have been studied. Finally, drawing upon social exchange theory, it finds that conversational narcissism characterizes 78 percent of marriages, frequently renders spouses invisible, and predicts maladaptive dialogue and divorce at seven years.Item Latino cultural values and marital satisfaction among women of Mexican origin(2008-08) Garcia-Bravo, Lizbeth Karina, 1978-; Ainslie, Ricardo C.; Guzman, Michele R.Very little research on marital dynamics has focused on Latinos or Mexican-origin couples, although Latinos are currently the largest minority group in the United States. Furthermore, previous studies suggest women of Mexican origin experience a gradual decline in marital satisfaction over their life course, but examination of this issue has yielded inconsistent findings. The current study was conducted to investigate the influence of three specific Latino cultural values on the marital satisfaction of women of Mexican origin: familismo (family loyalty, unity, and obligation), machismo (male dominance and responsibility to provide for and protect his family), and marianismo (women as self-sacrificing, nurturing, and pious). The goal of this study was to examine the accompanying and shifting cultural values of the acculturation process and increase understanding of the implications of Latino cultural values on marital satisfaction among women of Mexican origin in U.S. society. Two hundred and fourteen married women of Mexican origin, ranging in age from 19 to 68 (M = 37), participated in the study. Data collection was completed online through an internet survey program. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire, the Short Acculturation Scale (Marin, Sabogal, Marin, Otero-Sabogal, & Perez-Stable, 1987), the Familism Scale (Lugo Steidel & Contreras, 2003), the Machismo Subscale of the Multiphasic Assessment of Cultural Constructs-Short Form (Cuellar, Arnold, & Gonzalez, 1995), the Latina Values Scale-Revised (Marano, 2000; revised by Melendez, 2004), the Relationship Assessment Scale (Hendrick, 1988), and a supplemental question regarding their tolerance for divorce. Three hypotheses were proposed in terms of the three cultural values, participant acculturation level, and husband’s generational status, with marital satisfaction as the criterion variable. A large percentage (71.5%) of the sample in the study was well-educated, with either a college, master’s, or doctoral degree; hence, the results are reflective of highly educated, Mexican-origin women. Using hierarchical regression analyses it was found that familismo was positively correlated with marital satisfaction among women of Mexican origin. In addition, neither of the hypothesized interactions (marianismo x perceived machismo (participant’s perception of her husband’s endorsement of machismo) and acculturation x husband’s generational status) was confirmed. Correlational and regression analyses revealed that both marianismo and perceived machismo were significantly and negatively correlated with marital satisfaction. Clinical and research implications, limitations of the study, and directions for future research are discussed.Item Marriage and physical health : selection, causal and conditional effects on weight gain and obesity(2012-12) Bartolic, Silvia Katherine; Anderson, Edward Robert; Vandewater, Elizabeth A.; Kim, Su Yeong; Gleason, Marci; Umberson, Deborah; Hayward, MarkDespite being linked to many health benefits, marriage is known to be related to weight gain and obesity (e.g. Hedblad et al., 2002; Lipowicz, Gronkiewicz, & Malina, 2002). Those who have studied physical health outcomes of marriage have taken three different approaches: 1) analysing selection effects, 2) investigating protection effects, and 3) focusing less on the discrete comparison of marrieds versus others and more on factors that might make marriage more or less beneficial, such as the quality of the interaction. The focus of this research is to examine this last approach. Could the quality of one’s marriage, level of barriers to leaving, sex, and age provide insight into the relationship between marriage and weight gain? Data is from the Americans Changing Lives survey Waves I-III. Stability paths, marital protection paths, relationship commitment paths and psychological stress paths are outlined. The moderating effects of barriers to leaving, sex and age are also discussed. Cross sectional analyses show that marital quality decreases depression while barriers to leaving increases depression with an interaction effect at Wave III where high marital quality decreases depression when barriers are low; when barriers are high, marital quality has a stronger effect on depression. These effects are stronger for the young than the old and for females compared to males. Longitudinal analyses show that marital quality and barriers to leaving are positively related to depression over time. The same effects occur when examined by age (barriers however, are no longer significant) and depression is negatively related to weight gain (only at Wave II) for the old. Analyses by sex show that barriers moderate the effect of marital quality on depression over time for men but not women at Wave III. Once again marital quality increases depression for both sexes but depression decreases weight concurrently and increases weight over time for men. Overall, results show modest support for the links between marital quality and barriers to leaving on depression and little support for its effect on weight. Results should be interpreted with caution as suppressor effects may be occurring and model fit was poor in the longitudinal models.Item Personal history or personality? differences in relationship quality between remarriages and first marriages(2010-12) Schoenfeld, Elizabeth Austin; Huston, Ted L.; Loving, Timothy J.; Anderson, Edward R.The current study is the first to explore how reported reasons for divorce are associated with the emotional climate of subsequent marriages, and if the emotional climate of these relationships is significantly different from that of happy or unhappy first marriages. It also examines whether variations in the emotional climate of marriage are reducible to underlying personality characteristics. These issues were investigated using data from the Texas Baseline Survey on Marriage. Results indicate that there are two types of marriage that end in divorce: those preceded by a highly distressed marriage, and those preceded by a less distressed marriage. Regardless of emotional tenor of the marriage prior to divorce, the emotional climate of remarriages appears to be largely similar to that of happy first marriages and substantially better than that of unhappy first marriages. Although individuals with different relationship histories possess distinct personality profiles, the differences in emotional climate persist after the effects of personality have been taken into account. Overall, these results suggest that accounting for differences among those who have divorced, as well as distinguishing between happy and unhappy first marriages, is important for understanding the affective nature of marriage.Item Relationships and predictions of marital quality and stress among African American parents of children with and without autism spectrum disorder(2016-11-18) Martin, Sharese M.; Robles-Pina, Rebecca; Sullivan, Jeffrey; Lawson, David IIAutism spectrum disorder (ASD), the most rapidly growing childhood disability in America, affects people of all ethnicities, social classes, and genders. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) not only impacts the person who is diagnosed, but the entire family system. For instance, parenting a child with ASD has been linked with elevated parental stress and decreased marital quality. Although ASD awareness has recently increased, research is lacking in non-dominant populations such as African Americans. This study addresses the gaps in literature pertaining to African American parents of children with ASD. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships and predictions of marital quality and stress among African American parents of children with and without ASD. Pearson’s chi-squares, Fisher’s exact tests, and binary logistic regressions were employed as statistical analyses for investigating the data from the 2011-2012 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) (CAHMI, 2012c). According to the findings, a statistically significant relationship occurred in divorce rates between 65,115 Caucasian parents of children with and without ASD. However, there was not a statistically significant relationship in divorce rates between the 7,085 African American parents of children with and without ASD. Likewise, results indicated no statistical significant relationships existed between 3,548 married African American parents of children with and without ASD and marital quality. Findings also revealed no statistical significant relationship among 48 African American parents of children with ASD, children’s levels of ASD severity, and parents’ marital quality. Parent-related and child-related stressors were used to predict membership of parents with children and without ASD. Using logistic regression analysis with 693 participants, the largest statistically significant predictors for having a child with ASD were child-related stressors including (a) increased needs and demands and (b) child’s problems. The next largest statistically significant predictors for a parent having a child with ASD (n = 3,587) were parent-related stressors including (a) coping and perceived challenges and (b) health care access and quality. Limitations of the current study, clinical implications, and directions for future research were discussed.Item The role of emotional capital during the early years of marriage : it’s about the little things(2016-05) Walsh, Courtney Michelle; Neff, Lisa A.; Gleason, Marci Elizabeth Joy; Loving, Timothy J.In ongoing relationships, partners often accumulate a number of shared positive moments together, referred to as emotional capital. Although these moments may seem trivial on the surface, emotional capital has been shown to be an important resource when faced with relationship threats. The proposed study aimed to examine the longitudinal effects of emotional capital using daily diary assessments collected from 167 couples across the first 3 years of marriage. Conceptually replicating prior work, we found that individuals who accumulated more emotional capital on average maintained greater levels of satisfaction on days of greater relationship threat when compared to those individuals who accumulated less emotional capital. We also tested whether (1) the trajectories of emotional capital across time predicted later reactivity and (2) whether the buffering effect of emotional capital became stronger over time. We did not find support for either of these predictions. Lastly, the current study examined whether emotional capital not only reduced reactivity, but also reduced the likelihood that spouses detected threats in the first place. Results indicated that compared to husbands who accumulated less emotional capital, husbands who accumulated more emotional capital exhibited less vigilance for their wives’ daily negative behaviors within the relationship. Wives’ vigilance for their husbands’ negative behaviors was unaffected by their accumulations of emotional capital.Item Stress spillover in early marriage : the role of self-regulatory depletion(2012-05) Buck, April Allen; Neff, Lisa A.; Loving, Timothy J.; Gleason, MarciStressful experiences external to a marriage (e.g., work stress, finances) are often associated with poor relationship functioning and lowered marital satisfaction, a phenomenon called stress spillover. To date, however, little attention has been devoted to understanding the specific mechanisms through which stress may lead to maladaptive relationship patterns. Drawing from theories of self-regulatory depletion, it was predicted that coping with external stress is an effortful process that consumes spouses' regulatory resources, leaving spouses with less energy to effectively respond to their relationship issues. The current study relied on a sample of 171 newly-married couples to examine whether self-regulatory depletion may mediate the link between external stress and relationship well-being. Couples were asked to complete a 14-day daily diary, which assessed their daily stress, their state of self-regulatory depletion, their marital behaviors, and their daily marital appraisals. Within-person analyses revealed that, on average, couples experienced stress spillover, such that on days when their stress was higher than usual they reported enacting more negative behaviors towards their partner and endorsed less positive appraisals of the relationship. Further evidence revealed that self-regulatory depletion accounted for a majority of these spillover effects. These findings suggest that even happy and committed couples may find it difficult to engage in adaptive relationship processes under conditions of stress.