Marital systems of agoraphobic women: contributions of husbands' denial and projection

The problems of measuring psychological concepts such as repression and denial are discussed in the context of the marital systems of agoraphobic women and the credibility of a couples approach to treatment. Repression, denial and projection in husbands were inferred from systematic measurement of mood, hostility and symptom changes after intensive behaviour therapy for the agoraphobia. The results suggested that the agoraphobic symptoms of about half of the women were reinforced by their husbands' habitual denial of affect and of personal problems; in this group, worthwhile symptomatic improvement occurred only in those women whose husbands relinquished repression and denial as major defence mechanisms, acknowledging their own personal problems, and allowing the patients to take more responsibility for their agoraphobia. The marital systems of the remaining couples were characterized by incompatible ways of dealing with hostility, with husbands' abnormal extrapunitiveness reinforcing patients' self-blame, which inhibited problem-solving and hence indirectly perpetuated the agoraphobia.     

Couples treatment of agoraphobia: changes in marital satisfaction

Six agoraphobic women and their husbands participated in a group therapy program consisting of exposure and cognitive restructuring. The husbands acted as co-therapists. Ratings of marital satisfaction as well as severity of phobia were filled out independently by both clients and their husbands throughout the course of therapy and at follow-up. Two patterns of relationships among marital satisfaction and severity of phobia emerged. For four couples a parallel relationship was observed in that as phobia improved marital satisfaction increased. For two couples the inverse relationship was noted where improvements in phobia were correlated with decreases in marital satisfaction. The importance of the interpersonal context of agoraphobia and implications for treatment are suggested.     

Marital interaction of agoraphobic women: a controlled,behavioral observation study

Married couples with a female agoraphobic spouse (n = 22) were compared with demographically similar community control couples (n = 21) on self-report and observational measures of marital interaction. Consistent with hypotheses, husbands of agoraphobic women were more critical of their wives than were control husbands, and clinical couples were less likely to engage in positive problem solution than control couples. Contrary to hypothesis, clinical husbands were not less supportive than control husbands. Where general measures of marital distress were concerned, clinical couples, relative to control couples, evinced more distress by self-report, by their higher rate of negative nonverbal behavior, and by their longer sequences of negative exchanges.     

Personality development and growth in women across 30 years: three perspectives

This article addressesthree questions about personality development in a 30‐year longitudinal study of women (N = 78): (1) To what extent did the women maintain the same position inrelation to each other on personality characteristics over the 30 years, and what broad factorswere related to the amount of change in their rank order? (2) Did the sample as a whole increaseor decrease over time on indices of personality growth, and did they change in ways distinctive towomen? (3) Were experiential factors associated with individual differences in the amount ofchange? Results showed that personality was quite consistent while also showing that timeinterval was positively related to rank‐order change and age was negatively related to rank‐orderchange. Over the period from age 21 to age 52, the women increased on measures ofnorm‐orientation and complexity and showed changes on measures of Dominance andFemininity/Masculinity consistent with the hypothesis that changing sex roles would lead toincreases in Dominance and increases, then decreases, in Femininity/Masculinity. A third set ofresults showed that changes in Dominance and Femininity/Masculinity were associated with lifecircumstances such as marital tension, divorce, and participation in the paid labor force. Theimplications of the findings for personality development and growth are discussed.     

Psychological Resources,Constructive Conflict Management Behaviors,and Depressive Symptoms: A Dyadic Analysis

This study investigated the longitudinal associations between mastery, conflict management behaviors, and depressive symptoms using an actor–partner interdependence model with 371 middle-aged couples over a span of 24 years. Results indicated that for both husbands and wives, individuals who possessed higher levels of mastery generally displayed more constructive conflict management behaviors during marital conflicts in middle years. In turn, individuals with more constructive behaviors averaged fewer depressive symptoms in their later adulthood. A partner effect was also noted, as individuals’ constructive behaviors were linked to their spouse's depressive symptoms. This finding emphasizes the importance of utilizing a dyadic context to understand intra-individual and inter-individual (or crossover) influences between husbands and wives in enduring marriages. A better understanding of how couples affect each other's mental health can inform the development and implementation of health promotion interventions and prevention efforts targeting middle-aged couples.     

Effects of physical and verbal aggression,depression, and anxiety on drinking behavior of married partners: a prospective and retrospective longitudinal examination

In an ethnically diverse sample of 195 married couples, we conducted a latent factor growth analysis to investigate the longitudinal link (4 time points over 4½ years) between marital aggression (physical and verbal aggression self‐ and partner‐reports) and individual internalizing symptoms (depression and anxiety) as they relate to trajectories of alcohol use among husbands and wives. Alcohol use was operationalized as a latent factor with self‐ and partner reports of problem drinking as measured by the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test and the Alcohol Dependence Scale. Verbal aggression by husbands or wives, by itself, has no effect on their alcohol use over time. In conjunction with depression, however, verbally aggressive husbands do have elevated drinking levels. The effects of husbands' and wives' physical aggression on their own and their partners' drinking behavior were also significant. This study is one of the first to examine the change over time in alcohol use for marital partners as related to marital aggression and internalizing symptoms. Our results shed light on areas of marital functioning (aggression, internalizing, alcohol use) that have not been investigated in conjunction with each other in a longitudinal design. Aggr. Behav. 35:296–312, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Who gives and receives more? Older couples' personality and spousal support

This study examined the effects of the Big Five personality traits on support/strain exchange within older couples. Data of 1,775 older couples aged between 50 and 85 years in 2014 from the Health and Retirement Study were assessed, and actor–partner interdependent models were used. For the actor effects, all the five factors predicted their report on the spousal support/strain from the spouse; some differences between husbands and wives, as well as support and strain, were detected. For the partner effects, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and neuroticism predicted the support/strain provision reported by the partner. The findings of this study illustrate that certain personality factors work as predictors of spousal support/strain in older couples. The possible mechanism with regard to older adults' personality and marital relationship was discussed.     

GENDER'S ROLE IN RESPONSES TO INFERTILITY

Infertility is a major life stressor that affects approximately 10% of U.S. married couples. Infertile women and men have reported experiencing depression, helplessness, and marital strain. Given U.S. society's emphasis on women's role as mothers, it has been suggested that women's lives are more disrupted by infertility than those of men. This hypothesis was supported in a survey of 185 infertile couples and 90 presumed fertile couples. Infertile wives, as compared to their husbands, perceived their fertility problem as more stressful, felt more responsible for and in control of their infertility, and engaged in more problem-focused coping. Infertile husbands experienced more home life stress and lower home life performance than did their wives. These differences were not found for presumed fertile couples. Both infertile and presumed fertile wives experienced more depression, more sexual dissatisfaction, and lower self-esteem than did their husbands. Theoretical and counseling implications of these findings are discussed.     

The relationships of career salience,attitudes toward women,and demographic and family characteristics to marital adjustment in dual-career couples

Facilitation of women's increasing involvement and satisfaction in career pursuits necessitates understanding of ways in which multiple roles may be managed and integrated by both women and men. Accordingly, the present study was designed to investigate predictors of levels of marital adjustment in dual-career couples. Both husbands and wives in 42 dual-career couples completed Greenhaus' Career Salience scale, the Attitudes toward Women scale, the Dyadic Adjustment scale, and a demographic information questionnaire. Results indicated, first, that the dual-career couples studied reported relatively high levels of marital adjustment, relatively profeminist attitudes toward women, and moderate levels of career salience; family interests were ranked as more important than were career interests. Second, higher levels of marital adjustment in both husbands and wives were found in couples in which the wife was more highly educated and which had relatively high combined incomes. In addition, greater marital adjustment in husbands was related to higher levels of career salience among wives. Contrary to expectation, husbands' attitudes toward women's roles were unrelated to their levels of marital adjustment. Implications for further research on dual-career couples and for the successful integration of career and family roles are discussed.     

Specificity of the Association between Marital Discord and Longitudinal Changes in Symptoms of Depression and Generalized Anxiety Disorder in the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing

This longitudinal study was conducted to evaluate actor and partner effects of marital discord on changes in symptoms of depression and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) in a large population sample of Irish adults (N = 1,445 couples), adjusting for the potential confounds of quality of other social relationships and other psychopathology symptoms. The Actor–Partner Interdependence Model was used to examine actor and partner effects of marital discord on changes in symptoms of depression and GAD at a 2‐year follow‐up. Additional models examined these associations adjusting for family and friend discord and symptoms of the other type of psychopathology (depressive or GAD symptoms). Actor effects of marital discord on depressive and anxiety symptoms were greater for men than for women. There were significant, positive actor effects of marital discord on depressive symptoms for husbands and wives, which remained significant when adjusting for family and friend discord and GAD symptoms. There were significant, positive actor effects of marital discord on GAD symptoms for husbands, which remained significant when adjusting for family and friend discord and depressive symptoms. Results demonstrate that longitudinal associations between marital discord and depressive symptoms (for wives and husbands) and GAD symptoms (for husbands) are incremental to other rival explanations (family and friend discord and the other set of symptoms). Findings provide evidence for a potential causal association leading from marital discord to symptoms of depression and GAD.     

The Relationship Between Personality and Marital Adjustment Among Distressed Married Couples Seen in Intensive Marital Therapy: An Actor-Partner Interdependence Model Analysis

In this study, the actor-partner interdependence model was utilized to investigate the impact that personality has on marital adjustment in a sample of 270 couples (N = 540) in marital distress that presented to an intensive outpatient marital therapy program. Sixteen Personality Factor Fifth Edition (16PF Fifth Edition) scores revealed significant personality differences between husbands and wives, as well as significant actor and partner effects, suggesting that certain personality traits of one partner predict his or her own, as well as his or her spouse’s, marital adjustment. Gender effects also were evident among the sample, suggesting that a number of personality correlates of marital adjustment tended to be different for the husbands and wives in this study.     

Interspousal Criticism: A Behavioral Mediator Between Husbands’ Gender Role Conflict and Wives’ Adjustment

Seventy-two married couples participated in a study of husband gender role conflict and interpersonal criticism and wife psychological and marital adjustment. Participants were recruited from a community in the Midwestern USA. Husband criticism was measured using self-report, wife-report, and trained coder ratings of an audiotaped task in which husbands described their wives and their relationship with their wives. Hypothesized associations between husband gender role conflict and husband interspousal criticism were supported. In addition, all three measures of husband criticism were found to mediate the relationship between husband gender role conflict and wife marital adjustment. However, only self- and wife-reported criticism by husbands significantly mediated the relationship between husband gender role conflict and wife depressive symptoms.     

Marital Processes Linking Gender Role Attitudes and Marital Satisfaction Among Mexican‐Origin Couples: Application of an Actor–Partner Interdependence Mediation Model

Informed by dyadic approaches and culturally informed, ecological perspectives of marriage, we applied an actor–partner interdependence mediation model (APIMeM) in a sample of 120 Mexican‐origin couples to examine (a) the associations linking Mexican immigrant husbands’ and wives’ gender role attitudes to marital satisfaction directly and indirectly through marital processes (i.e., warmth and negativity) and (b) whether the associations between spouses’ gender role attitudes and marital processes were moderated by wives’ employment. Although previous research has identified spouses’ gender role attitudes as potential predictors of spouses’ marital satisfaction, no study has examined these links in a dyadic model that elucidates how gender role attitudes may operate through processes to shape marital satisfaction and conditions under which associations may differ. We found that when spouses reported less sex‐typed attitudes, their partners reported feeling more connected to them and more satisfied with the marriage, regardless of whether wives were employed. Our results suggest that marital satisfaction was highest for those Mexican‐origin couples in which marital partners were less sex‐typed in their attitudes about marital roles to the extent that partners’ attitudinal role flexibility promoted spouses’ feelings of warmth and connection to their partner.     

Effect of couple illness perception congruence on psychological adjustment in women with rheumatoid arthritis.

OBJECTIVE: To characterize similarities and differences in illness perceptions between women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and their husbands, and examine whether illness perception congruence predicted wives' subsequent psychological adjustment. DESIGN: Women with RA and their husbands (N=190 couples) recruited from community and clinical settings completed mailed surveys at baseline and 4-month follow-up. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Data for this investigation included illness perceptions in partners and illness severity, marital variables, and psychological adjustment in wives. RESULTS: In general, wives and husbands had similar views of RA. Couple congruence concerning women's personal control over RA and its cyclic nature predicted better psychological adjustment in women 4 months later. Post hoc tests showed better psychological adjustment in wives from couples with similar optimistic beliefs about personal control, illness coherence, and RA consequences, when compared to those in couples with similar pessimistic beliefs. Furthermore, when partners disagreed about RA's consequences, wives fared better when husbands overestimated rather than underestimated their beliefs. In contrast, couple congruence about the emotions and timeline of RA was unrelated to adjustment. CONCLUSION: It may be important for husbands to understand wives' views on their control over RA and its cyclic nature. Furthermore, wives may benefit when they share optimistic views with their husbands about RA, and when their husbands avoid underestimating RA's consequences. Developing interventions to enhance partners' illness understanding may be beneficial.     

Predicting the effects on husbands of behaviour therapy for wives' agoraphobia

The husbands of 33 agoraphobic women were studied systematically before and for 1 yr after their wives received intensive exposure in vivo mainly in small, cohesive groups. Although most husbands reported improved personal adjustment 1 yr after their wives' therapy, many had experienced transitory negative reactions such as anxiety and depressive symptoms. These were most likely to occur after large, rapid improvements in the phobic and general symptoms of severely-disabled patients. Such improvements challenged the husbands' capacity to adapt to their wives' changed attitudes and behaviour, particularly regarding sex roles. These findings explain why reports of negative effects on husbands are found infrequently in behavioural studies of agoraphobia, which generally exclude patients with major additional symptoms, have relatively high drop-out rates and generate improvements comparatively slowly. In contrast, group exposure in the present study generated rapid improvements and inhibited dropping-out, even in patients with severe additional symptoms and problems, who were included in the study. Thus, the likelihood of repercussions on the husband was maximized. Negative effects were most likely in husbands who had adapted to their wives' disability as part of a sex-role stereotyped view of marriage, and in husbands who were persistently critical and unsupportive of their wives.     

Relationship Quality with Parents: Implications for Own and Partner Well‐Being in Middle‐Aged Couples

Relationships with parents have significant implications for well‐being throughout the lifespan. At midlife, these ties are situated within both developmental and family contexts that often involve the adult offspring's spouse. Yet, it is not known how ties with aging parents are related to psychological well‐being within middle‐aged couples. This study examined how middle‐aged wives’ and husbands’ views of the current quality of relationships with their own parents (positive and negative) are linked to their own and their partner's psychological well‐being. Using a sample of 132 middle‐aged couples from Wave 1 of the Family Exchanges Study, we estimated actor–partner interdependence models to evaluate these dyadic associations while controlling for each spouse's marital satisfaction. Both actor and partner effects were observed. With respect to actor effects, wives who reported more negative relationship quality with their own parents had elevated depressive symptoms and lower life satisfaction. Husbands who reported more negative relationship quality with their own parents had lower life satisfaction. In terms of partner effects, husbands had lower depressive symptoms and greater life satisfaction when wives reported more positive relationship quality with their own parents. Finally, the link between wives’ positive ties with parents and husbands’ lower depressive symptoms was intensified when husbands had less positive relationships with their own parents. Findings suggest that relationship quality with wives’ aging parents has implications for both spouses’ well‐being and may serve as a critical social resource for husbands.     

The Effects of Personal Heterosuggestion and two Forms of Autosuggestion upon Postural Movement

Abstract

The relationships among marital status, gender role traits, and self-esteem in a sample of American men and women was investigated in the present study. Divorce was found to be associated with shifts in gender role identity, leading to greater masculine (but not androgynous) personality traits for both sexes. Intact marriages were associated with higher self-esteem and greater masculinity for both sexes, and greater feminity for women. Masculinity and feminity both contributed to women's self-esteem, but only masculinity was associated with male self-esteem. Finally, comparisons between the present data and those of Spence and Helmreich (1978) suggest the need for more research on gender role identification with nonacademic adult samples.     

Power in relationships of women with depression

To identify marital power difficulties specifically associated with depression, twenty couples in which the female partner was depressed were compared on a range of interpersonal power variables with twenty healthy control couples and also with twenty couples in which the female partner had a disorder other than depression (specifically panic disorder with agoraphobia (PDA)). Couples in the depressed group had two features that distinguished them from couples in both the PDA and control groups and which were independent of relationship dissatisfaction. In the depressed group, both partners reported more physical assault in the year prior to the study and depressed women were more dissatisfied with their control of surplus spending money. Couples in the depressed group had a series of features that distinguished them from couples in both the PDA and control groups but which were due in part to relationship dissatisfaction. Depressed women were less committed to their relationships. Both partners in depressed couples reported more demand–withdraw transactions and less mutual constructive communication within their relationships. Depressed women reported more dissatisfaction with decision-making and greater dissatisfaction in childcare task distribution.     

DECISION MAKING ABOUT ADVANCE DIRECTIVES BY MARRIED WOMEN

One goal of this exploratory study was to describe the experiences of 41 wives engaged in a congregationally based educational program promoting the discussion of advance directives (ADs). Other goals were to explore whether marital commitment was an antecedent for engaging in AD discussions, as well as whether it was positively associated with wives' increased trust that their husbands would carry out their AD preferences. Eighty percent of the wives discussed ADs with their husbands, and 44% revised/signed an AD. Slightly over half of the couples discussed ADs for 1 hour or less.There was marginal support for the hypothesis that there would be a positive association between wives' discussing ADs with their husbands and marital commitment. There was strong support for the hypothesis that wives' level of commitment would be positively associated with their trust that their husbands would carry out their AD preferences.