Individual difference variables in close relationships: A contextual model of marriage as an integrative framework.

We examined and refined a contextual model of marriage (Bradbury & Fincham, 1987) in order to organize the associations between individual difference variables and satisfaction in close relationships. Seventy-eight spouses were administered instruments assessing marital satisfaction and individual differences in femininity, masculinity, dysfunctional relationship beliefs, and causal and responsibility attributions for marital difficulties. As predicted, higher levels of satisfaction were related to femininity and to partner's femininity, and lower levels of satisfaction were related to dysfunctional beliefs and less benign attributions. More important, two competing hypotheses relating to the contextual model were tested. A model in which the transitory, or proximal, context (e.g., responsibility attributions for specific relationship events) mediates the relation between the stable, or distal, in context (e.g., general beliefs about relationships) and satisfaction was refuted. Support was obtained, however, for a model in which proximal and distal variables both account for unique variance in marital satisfaction. The usefulness of distinguishing between transitory and stable variables and the implications of the contextual model for organizing research on close relationships are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Marriage and the parenting alliance: longitudinal prediction of change in parenting perceptions and behaviors

The study evaluates how marriage and the parenting alliance affect parenting experiences over time. Couples (N = 79) with school-age children who have mental retardation completed self-report and observational measures of marriage, the parenting alliance, and parenting attitudes and behaviors at 2 periods, 18-24 months apart. Longitudinal structural equation modeling demonstrated significant effects of marital quality on changes over time in self-reports of perceived parenting competence for both the mothers and the fathers, and in observed negative mother-child interactions. Also, in all cases, the parenting alliance mediated the effects of marriage on parenting experiences. There was little evidence of reciprocal causation in which parenting variables predicted change in the quality of marriage and the parenting alliance. Interactions involving child age suggested that teenagers as opposed to younger children were more reactive to negative features of their parents' marital functioning and parenting alliance. Implications are discussed regarding stable but negative marital functioning and regarding possible differences in mothers' and fathers' parenting in the context of marital distress.     

Marital quality, coping with conflict, marital complaints, and affection in couples with a depressed wife.

This study compared 3 groups of women--outpatient depressed, inpatient depressed, and community control--and their husbands on a range of variables including marital functioning and styles of coping with conflict. Outpatient depressed couples reported greater marital distress and more destructive and less constructive tactics for resolving conflict than did community control couples. They also were more likely to have been previously married and to express regrets about having married their current husbands. There were smaller and less consistent differences for couples with inpatient depressed spouses, although inpatient couples with younger wives were similar to outpatient depressed couples. Both groups of depressed women and their husbands reported fewer expressions of affection and more complaints about the marriage than did control couples. Results are discussed in terms of interpersonal perspectives on depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Husbands' and Wives' Marital Adjustment, Verbal Aggression, and Physical Aggression as Longitudinal Predictors of Physical Aggression in Early Marriage.

Marital adjustment, verbal aggression, and physical aggression have long been associated in the marital literature, but the nature of their associations remains unclear. In this study, the authors examined these 3 constructs as risk factors for physical aggression during the first 2 years of marriage in 634 couples recruited as they applied for marriage licenses. Couples completed assessments at the time of marriage and at their 1st and 2nd anniversaries. Results of path analyses suggest that prior verbal aggression and physical aggression by both partners are important longitudinal predictors of physical aggression but do not support the role of marital adjustment as a unique predictor of subsequent physical aggression. Contrary to prior research, results also failed to support physical aggression as a unique predictor of marital adjustment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex typing and division of labor as determinants of marital change across the transition to parenthood.

Examined the proposition that wives who describe their personality in ways that deviate from sex stereotypes will become less positive and more negative about their marriage from before to after they become mothers, particularly when the transition to parenthood is accompanied by an increase in the traditionalism of marital roles. 61 couples were studied longitudinally from the last trimester of pregnancy through the 3rd postpartum month. The wives (mean age 26.5 yrs) completed the Personal Attributes Questionnaire and several questionnaires assessing the marital relationship at both times of measurement. Results reveal that the more division of labor changed toward traditionalism, the greater the decline in wives' evaluations of the positive aspects of marriage. Changes in wives' evaluations of both positive and negative aspects of marriage were significantly predicted by the interaction of the wives' expressivity and changes toward increased traditionalism in division of labor. Additional analyses showed that wives who did not ascribe female sex-typed attributes to themselves (relative to those who see themselves in sex-stereotyped ways) were more apt to evaluate their marriage less favorably from before to after parenthood when roles shifted toward greater traditionalism. (41 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differential use of premarital education in first and second marriages.

Although second marriages are more likely to end in divorce than first marriages, and thus represent an important target for intervention, there have been no detailed examinations of the use of premarital education in second marriages. Using random-digit dialing methods, 398 individuals currently in a second marriage and 1,342 individuals currently in a first marriage participated. Compared with those in first marriages, individuals in second marriages were significantly less likely to receive premarital education for their current marriage. This difference was fully mediated by differences between individuals in first and second marriages in pre-engagement cohabitation, education level, having children from a previous relationship, and being married by a religious leader. In both first and second marriages, those couples at most risk for subsequent marital distress and divorce were less likely to receive premarital education. Results suggest that more needs to be done to understand the barriers to the use of premarital education for second marriages. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting marital dissolution: A 5-year prospective longitudinal study of newlywed couples.

Examined how well marital dissolution was predicted by husbands' and wives' personal demographic scores, couple demographic scores, husbands' and wives' individual-differences scores, husbands' and wives' interdependence scores, and the size of the discrepancy between spouses' individual-differences scores as well as their interdependence scores. Over 5 annual assessments, 222 newlywed couples remained together and 64 dissolved their marriages. Variables from each of the 4 sets of scores reliably discriminated between stable and unstable couples. For a subsample of couples on whom multiple assessments were available, husbands and wives who would dissolve their marriage showed a greater decline in interdependence scores and had greater increases in discrepancies on interdependence variables than did husbands and wives from stable couples who were assessed at comparable times. Marital dissolution is discussed in terms of interrelated distal and proximal risk factors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Areas of Change Questionnaire: A practical approach to marital assessment.

This study investigates the Areas of Change Questionnaire (AC), a cost-efficient inventory that assesses marital partners' presenting complaints, their perceptions of one another's complaints, and perceptual accuracy between actual and perceived complaints. Psychometric and normative questions related to the AC were examined for 163 couples, 136 of whom met stringent criteria to be categorized as distressed or nondistressed. From a psychometric perspective, substantial support is offered for the concurrent validity of the AC as a measure of overall marital adjustment, but less evidence exists for its convergent validity with reports of daily marital events. The normative data reveal that (a) distressed, compared to nondistressed, couples want more change, perceive that more change is desired of them, and show greater perceptual accuracy; (b) women, compared to men, exhibit a greater intensity and range of requests and less perceptual accuracy; and (c) length of marriage is a significant factor influencing spouses' actual and perceived requests for change. The implications of these findings for use of the AC and for greater understanding of marital relationships are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Trust Me...": Psychological and Behavioral Predictors of Perceived Physician Empathy.

A sociocognitive model of distal and proximal predictors of empathic judgments was tested among 100 physicians. The authors hypothesized that physician perceived control would affect empathy ratings via physician communication style. Specifically, physicians with high perceived control would use more open communication and be rated as more empathic. Physicians with low perceived control would use a controlling communication style and be rated as less empathic. Physicians completed a medical attribution questionnaire prior to a structured patient consultation exercise, during which patients and assessors rated physician empathy. The exercise was audiotaped, transcribed, and content analyzed for verbal behaviors. Support was found for the hypotheses; however, patients, but not medical assessors, associated empathy with reassurance and provision of medical information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Marital quality and mother–child and father–child interactions with school-aged children.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 22(5) of Developmental Psychology (see record 2008-10956-001). In the article, the second author's name was misspelled in the issue's table of contents, title of the article, and page headings of the article. The entries have been corrected and are included in the erratum.] Mother–child and father–child teaching interactions of 60 families (parents aged 31–37 yrs, children aged 5.5–7.5 yrs) were videotaped, from which frequency counts of efficacious teaching behaviors were obtained for each parent–child teaching interaction. Parents completed the Scale of Marriage Problems. A dyad score of marital problems was formed by adding the husbands' and wives' scores, and a 2-level variable of marital problems was then derived by performing a median split on the marital problem dyad scores. Normative comparisons suggested that the couples whose scores fell below the median were characterized as nondistressed and the couples whose scores fell above the median were characterized as slightly discontented with their marital relationship. Few differences in teaching styles were found between mothers and fathers in the nondistressed group. Mothers in the slightly discontented group used more questions, positive feedback, informational feedback, and verbal task management and intruded less often into their children's learning effort than did the fathers in this group. Fathers with increased reports of marital problems used less positive feedback and were more intrusive; mothers in this group appeared to compensate for a less-than-satisfactory marriage by being more involved in teaching their children. In turn, children of slightly discontented mothers were more actively responsive to their teaching behaviors than were children of nondistressed mothers. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relation of childhood abuse and early parenting experiences to current marital quality in a nonclinical sample

This study examines the relation between adults' reports of the nature of the early parenting they received, including abuse, and the quality of their marital relationship. This community sample of 159 married women and men experienced relatively low levels of abuse. The regression analyses indicated that for women verbal abuse in childhood was predictive of marital conflict, and the caring parenting they experienced predicted the depth of their marital relationship. For men, the abuse variables did not predict any dimension of their current marital relationship. Of the parenting variables, overprotection was significantly predictive of conflict in their marriage. No demographic variable--income, education, and number of siblings--predicted any dimension of marital quality for either men or women. Given the skew of the abuse data for this nonclinical sample, log transformations were performed on the data and the regression analyses were reported. One change was noted: that for men, physical abuse and overprotection were equally predictive of marital conflict. The results suggest that abuse and early parent experiences are predictive of marital functioning in a nonclinical sample, but that differences exist in the pattern for men and women.     

Positive illusions about marriage among married and single individuals.

The common tendency to describe one's marriage in unrealistic terms has been conceptualized as a positive illusion about marriage. Studies of positive illusions have relied on the logical argument that these perceptions are unreasonably positive. This reasoning is insufficient, because previous studies have relied on volunteer samples with high marital satisfaction and long marital duration, both of which could explain rosy evaluations of one's marriage. The current series of studies examined whether positive marital illusions are an artifact of marital satisfaction and duration. Married and single individuals' estimates of their divorce likelihood and other measures of positive marital illusions revealed that illusions about marriage are not dependent on a volunteer bias, marital satisfaction, or duration. The presence of illusions about a future marriage among single individuals suggests that positive marital illusions are a cultural phenomenon. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptions of Injustice in Family Work: The Role of Psychological Distress.

During the transition to parenthood, perceived imbalances in family work typically increase. Little is known, however, about which individuals are especially prone to perceive unfairness in the division of family work during this time. Using data from a longitudinal study of married couples expecting their first child and controlling for marital distress and other relevant variables, we observed that when husbands were psychologically distressed, both they and their wives were subsequently more likely to perceive unfairness to wives in the division of family work. No analogous significant and prospective effects of wives' levels of distress on their own or their husbands' perceptions of unfairness were found. We also found that once wives perceived the amount of child care they did as unfair, both they and their husbands were later more likely to experience psychological distress, controlling for marital distress and other relevant variables. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differences between couples who end their marriage by fault or no-fault legal procedures.

Spouses from 53 couples who ended their marriage by dissolution (DS), a form of no-fault divorce, were compared with spouses from 59 couples who ended their marriage by fault-based divorce (DV). DV husbands were younger than DS husbands. DV couples were less likely to have pooled finances, and they had more sons than did DS couples. For growth curves over the first 4 years of marriage, relative to DS wives, DV wives had lower starting levels for liking of spouse, trust, and marital quality; higher starting levels for dysfunctional beliefs about relationships and psychological distress; weaker declines in extrinsic motives for being married; and stronger declines for love for spouse. Relative to DS husbands, DV husbands showed a stronger increase in dysfunctional beliefs about relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Marital quality and mother-child and father-child interactions with school-aged children": Correction to Brody and Pellegrini.

Reports an error in "Marital quality and mother-child and father-child interactions with school-aged children" by Gene H. Brody, Anthony D. Pellegrini and Irving E. Sigel (Developmental Psychology, 1986[May], Vol 22[3], 291-296). In the article, the second author's name was misspelled in the issue's table of contents, title of the article, and page headings of the article. The name appears correctly in this erratum. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1986-24288-001.) Mother-child and father-child teaching interactions of 60 families (parents aged 31-37 yrs, children aged 5.5-7.5 yrs) were videotaped, from which frequency counts of efficacious teaching behaviors were obtained for each parent-child teaching interaction. Parents completed the Scale of Marriage Problems. A dyad score of marital problems was formed by adding the husbands' and wives' scores, and a 2-level variable of marital problems was then derived by performing a median split on the marital problem dyad scores. Normative comparisons suggested that the couples whose scores fell below the median were characterized as nondistressed and the couples whose scores fell above the median were characterized as slightly discontented with their marital relationship. Few differences in teaching styles were found between mothers and fathers in the nondistressed group. Mothers in the slightly discontented group used more questions, positive feedback, informational feedback, and verbal task management and intruded less often into their children's learning effort than did the fathers in this group. Fathers with increased reports of marital problems used less positive feedback and were more intrusive; mothers in this group appeared to compensate for a less-than-satisfactory marriage by being more involved in teaching their children. In turn, children of slightly discontented mothers were more actively responsive to their teaching behaviors than were children of nondistressed mothers. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Who's got the power? Gender differences in partners' perceptions of influence during marital problem-solving discussions

Previous research on marital communication indicates that women have more influence in marital problem solving because they raise the issues and shape the discussion. Other studies suggest that men have the power in marital problem solving. This study re-examines power and influence from the partners' point of view. Twenty-seven couples-18 with a first child under 2, and 9 undecided about having children-were videotaped while working on a self-selected problem concerning their division of family labor. Data sources included: (a) transcribed audiotaped accounts given by each partner while viewing a videotape of their problem-solving discussion; (b) self-report questionnaires; and (c) ratings by a research team of the concordance between spouses' accounts. Husbands and wives were perceived as having a primary influence on different aspects of the discussion. Women tended to raise the issues and draw men out in the early phase of the discussion, while men controlled the content and emotional depth of the later discussion phases, and largely determined the outcome. The women's accounts emphasized that their influence in the early phase was often illusory: their behavior was shaped primarily by the effort to choose strategies that would avoid upsetting their husbands. In terms of overall satisfaction with marriage, wives had greater tolerance than their husbands for conflict in the area of division of domestic labor, but less tolerance for their husbands' domination of the discussion process. Women's marital satisfaction was higher when there was concordance between spouses in their accounts of their problem-solving discussion. This research highlights the importance of eliciting spouses' own perceptions and definitions in understanding the impact of gender-linked power differences in martial communication.     

The marital intake interview: A multimethod criterion validity assessment.

Assessed the validity of an initial intake interview with 12 couples seeking marital therapy (dissatisfied) and 16 couples seeking marital enhancement (satisfied). Ss (mean age 26.07 yrs) were interviewed with spouses together or separated. Interview items focused on marital satisfaction and perception, demographic variables, and comfort in making assertive responses. Couples were then administered several marital satisfaction and assertion questionnaires (e.g., Marital Adjustment Scale, Dyadic Adjustment Scale). Each couple also participated in a structured analog communication assessment in which they discussed a problem area in their marriage. The verbal interchanges during the communication exercises were coded by trained observers. Results suggest (a) a high degree of discriminant validity for the marital interview, (b) higher interspouse correlations for interview items during joint interviews, (c) higher indices of criterion-related validity for separate interviews, and (d) a significant relationship between the reactivity of joint interviews and the social sensitivity of the interview item. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Understanding marital stressors. The importance of coping style

Previous survey work with 1591 married Chicago adults has demonstrated a close connection between symptoms of depression and current marital stressors (nonfulfillment of basic role expectations, lack of reciprocity between partners, and nonacceptance by spouse). The pertinent question now becomes which factors predispose toward marital stressors. We address this issue here by examining a broad array of variables to see which are most predictive of marital stressors by employing multiple regression analysis on data from the survey sample. A descending order of explanatory power of marital stressors occurs for the following categories of variables: respondent's style of coping with marital problems, behavior patterns within the marriage, personality factors of the respondent, other current social stressors, demographic variables, and marital circumstances. One coping style in particular, that of optimistic action, is more predictive of low marital stressors than any other single variable studied. The findings contradict several common beliefs about marital stressors: the presence of background differences between the spouses, a lack of consensus between the partners, and the presence of other social stressors (job, parenting, finances) are relatively poor predictors of marital discord.