Maternal employment and development of the father-infant relationship in the first year.

This study investigated links between maternal employment and fathers' parenting quality when their infants were 4 and 12 months old. Sixty-three fathers were videotaped interacting with their infants and completed questionnaires regarding their involvement in caregiving, parenting stress, and marital quality, and mothers reported on children's temperament. Fathers whose wives either did not work outside the home or worked part time were more sensitive and responsive to their children when they were more involved in caregiving; men whose wives worked full time exhibited more negative affect and behavior when they participated more in child care. Men whose wives were not employed also were more positive in their interactions when they were happier with their marriage, whereas men whose wives worked either part time or full time exhibited a negative relation between parenting behavior and marital quality. Maternal work circumstances were not related to fathers' parenting stress; rather, marital quality and child temperament predicted parenting stress at 4 and 12 months for all fathers.     

Sympathetic arousal to a vestibular stressor in high and low hostile men

The aim of the present experiment was to extend the literature on hostility and a cerebral systems based model of sympathetic arousal to a vestibular-based stress. Several authors have concluded that autonomic stress reactivity in high hostile individuals must be interpersonally based, whereas healthy vestibular system functioning does not depend on interpersonal features. Utilizing a vestibular activation paradigm, skin conductance levels of 15 high hostile and 15 low hostile men were recorded after brief passive rotation about the vertical neuroaxis. It was expected that hostile individuals would exhibit higher skin conductance levels after rotation compared with low hostile individuals. The results confirmed expectations of heightened sympathetic tone among high hostiles subsequent to vestibular stress. Overall, the findings are interpreted to support a cerebral model of frontal region capacity limitation for regulation of vestibular stress that is independent of psychosocial mechanisms.     

Children,traditionalism in the division of family work,and marital satisfaction: “What's love got to do with it?”

This research examines several of the factors related to the frequently cited finding that the presence of children in the home is related to lower marital satisfaction. Structural equation modeling was used to test whether the number of children at home and the length of marriage predicted traditionalism in the division of family work, which, in turn, was differentially associated with erotic, ludic, friendship-based, and agapic love as well as marital satisfaction for 530 married men and women. For both men and women, the greater the number of children at home and the longer the marriage, the more traditional the division of family labor. Traditionalism predicted lower levels of erotic and friendship-based love for women, which ultimately were related to lower marital satisfaction. For men, however, traditionalism was associated with stronger erotic and friendship-based love, a phenomenon linked to higher marital satisfaction. These findings clarify the connection between the number of children at home and reduced marital satisfaction for the women in the sample and suggest that, for both men and women, it is how family work is divided, rather than the presence of children per se, that has meaning for the affective quality of the marriage.     

Sex Differences in the Presentation of Chronic Low Back Pain

Sex differences in 351 patients with chronic low back pain were examined. Biological, psychological, and psychosocial factors were considered. Sex differences in adaptive functioning were consistent with traditional gender roles. Significant interactions were found for sex and employment status, and sex and marital status. Retired women reported more pain and less activity than retired men. Retired men reported the least pain of any group. Outdoor work and social activities show opposite within–group patterns for men and women when stratified by employment status. Marriage was associated with more household work for women and less for men. The financial and social contexts of employment status and marriage are different for men and women. Results suggest the treatment of women with chronic low back pain requires attention to work in the home and the financial and social context of work outside the home.     

Two Contrasting Explanations of Involvement Violations:

Among the theories that address the impact of variations in immediacy behaviors during ongoing interactions are expectancy violations (EV) and discrepancy arousal (DA) theories. This study of the effects of violations of expectations on arousal, reciprocity, and compensation in the medical practitioner-patient relationship contrasts EV predictions with DA predictions. EV theory predicts that given a communicator with high reward valence, high and very high involvement (including touch and close proximity) should be met with reciprocation (increased involvement), and low and very low involvement should be met with compensation (increased involvement). DA theory predicts compensating very high involvement with decreased involvement, reciprocating high involvement with increased involvement, compensating low involvement with increased involvement, and reciprocating very low involvement, with decreased involvement. Results supported neither theory as all involvement changes were met with reciprocity. Additionally, although all violations/discrepancies were followed by changes in arousal, size of arousal change was not monotonically related to size of involvement change, as predicted by DA theory. Finally, although positive versus negative emotional experiences were not related to physiological indicators of arousal change, size of involvement change was directly related to the experience of positive and negative emotions. Thus, it appears that involvement change size directly predicts emotional experience and is not mediated by arousal change.     

Violent Men In Intimate Relationships: An Analysis of Risk Markers1

In the family violence literature, a number of risk markers associated with men's use of violence against women have been identified. Using the 1975 National Family Violence Survey, a multivariate analysis was performed to examine which risk markers best differentiated among nonviolent men, verbally aggressive men, men who exhibit minor physical violence, and severely physically violent men. High levels of marital conflict, lower socioeconomic status, and greater exposure to violent role models in the home of origin emerged as primary correlates of levels of violence between intimates. Theoretical and research implications are discussed.     

Hardiness, type A behavior, and the stress-illness relation in working women

Hardiness has been proposed as a stress-resistance resource in maintaining health. This construct has been shown to act in conjunction with the Type A behavior pattern in affecting illness. In this study, we examined this relation in women (N = 82) with the use of the Structured Interview and the Jenkins Activity Survey to assess Type A behavior. As expected, there was a strong stress-illness association. However, there were no hardiness main effects nor interactions between stress, Type A behavior, and hardiness. Hardiness was significantly associated with age, education level, and marital status. No differences in hardiness composition were found between high stress/high illness and high stress/low illness groups. Only the Powerlessness scale of hardiness was related to illness. These results are discussed in comparison with other hardiness studies. Particular attention is focused on possible sex differences, and implications for future research are suggested.     

Infant–mother and infant–father synchrony: The coregulation of positive arousal

To examine the coregulation of positive affect during mother–infant and father–infant interactions, 100 couples and their first‐born child were videotaped in face‐to‐face interactions. Parents' and infant's affective states were coded in one‐second frames, and synchrony was measured with time‐series analysis. The orientation, intensity, and temporal pattern of infant positive arousal were assessed. Synchrony between same‐gender parent–infant dyads was more optimal in terms of stronger lagged associations between parent and infant affect, more frequent mutual synchrony, and shorter lags to responsiveness. Infants' arousal during mother–infant interaction cycled between medium and low levels, and high positive affect appeared gradually and was embedded within a social episode. During father–child play, positive arousal was high, sudden, and organized in multiple peaks that appeared more frequently as play progressed. Mother–infant synchrony was linked to the partners' social orientation and was inversely related to maternal depression and infant negative emotionality. Father–child synchrony was related to the intensity of positive arousal and to father attachment security. Results contribute to research on the regulation of positive emotions and describe the unique modes of affective sharing that infants coconstruct with mother and father. ©2003 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.     

Daily hassles,marital functioning and psychological distress among community-dwelling older couples

ObjectivesThis study attempts to examine the association between stress induced by daily hassles, marital functioning and psychological distress among a sample of older couples living at home without assisted living facilities. Moreover, the study looks to assess the moderator role of marital functioning on the association between stress and psychological distress.MethodsThe study included a representative sample of 508 older couples living at home where at least one spouse was aged 65 years or older. To take into account of the non-independence of the data, dyadic analyses were conducted.ResultsFor men, marital functioning and stress induced by daily hassles explained the variance of psychological distress 4.71% and 2.56% respectively. For women, these variables explained 10.96% and 2.43% respectively of this variance. Results found also that marital functioning can play a protective role between the association of stress and psychological distress among men, but not for women. Men with lower marital functioning present a significant higher level of psychological distress when they present stress than those who do not have stress. For those with high marital functioning, no significant differences have been found on psychological distress between those groups.ConclusionStress induced by daily hassles and marital functioning are significantly related to psychological distress among older people, and, for men, marital functioning can play a protective role in the association between those variables.     

Examining congruence between partners' perceived infertility-related stress and its relationship to marital adjustment and depression in infertile couples

Because studies examining the emotional impact of infertility-related stress generally focus on individuals, there has been little research examining how relationship and individual variables are linked. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of congruence (e.g., agreement) between partner's perceived infertility-related stress and its effects on depression and marital adjustment in infertile men and women. Couples referred for infertility treatments at a University-affiliated teaching hospital completed the Fertility Problem Inventory (FPI), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS) 3 months prior to their first treatment cycle. Study findings show that men and women in couples who perceived equal levels of social infertility stress reported higher levels of marital adjustment when compared to men and women in couples who perceived the stress differently. In addition, women in couples who felt a similar need for parenthood reported significantly higher levels of marital satisfaction when compared to women in couples where the males reported a greater need for parenthood. While couple incongruence was unrelated to depression in males, incongruence over relationship concerns and the need for parenthood was related to female depression. These findings provide initial support for the theory that high levels of agreement between partners related to the stresses they experience help them successfully manage the impact of these stressful life events. Possibilities for future research examining the construct of couple congruence are discussed.     

Revisiting the relationship between depressive symptoms and marital communication using an experimental paradigm: The moderating effect of acute sad mood

Although research has consistently demonstrated an association between depression and negative marital interactions, it remains unclear whether marital behaviors are specifically associated with depression, above and beyond the effects of a troubled marital relationship. Past research investigating this question has produced inconsistent results. In the present study, we re-examine this question and suggest that one possible reason for past inconsistencies is that across different investigations, samples may have differed in the acute mood state of the depressed partner. It is possible that the marital communication behaviors associated with depression only become evident during acute sad mood states. Seventy-one heterosexual couples who varied on marital satisfaction levels and wife depressive symptoms were videotaped during two marital problem-solving discussions, one of which was preceded by a sad mood induction for the wife. As predicted, results revealed a unique relationship between negative communication patterns and depressive symptoms only when wives had received a sad mood induction. Findings are discussed in light of interpersonal theories of depression.     

Problem perception,optimism, and related states as a function of time of day (diurnal rhythm) and moderate exercise: Two arousal systems in interaction

Two experiments are described in which perceptions of personal problems, optimism, and associated feelings were studied as a function of time of day and moderate exercise (walking). Over multiweek periods, participants completed self-ratings at fixed times of day representing high and low periods of energetic arousal. While ratings on individual days varied, means across all rating days indicated that problems were perceived as more serious at mid-to late afternoon, a period of low energetic arousal, than they were at late morning and after the walk, periods of high energetic arousal. Separate analyses of rated high energy and low tension states, compared to their opposites, indicated that problems were perceived as least serious in the former states. Ratings of optimism and associated feelings were consistent with the problem ratings. Also discussed are theoretical implications regarding moods as predispositional variables, state-dependent memory, and research involving naturalistic settings and aggregated measurements.     

Arousal and the Relationship Between Positive and Negative Affect: An Analysis of the Data of Ito,Cacioppo, and Lang (1998)

Research on positive and negative emotional states has supported several models of how those states relate to each other. Many studies suggest that they are independent, the bivariate view, while others suggest that they are inversely correlated, the bipolar view. Other research has shown that stress is a major moderator of the relationship; the affects become coupled under conditions of high stress, a contextual model, but are relatively independent otherwise. To expand the range of tests of this dynamic model of affect, we reanalyzed a data set initially reported by Ito, Cacioppo, and Lang (1998) on affect-eliciting picture stimuli. In that study, arousal was assessed separately from positive and negative affect, allowing investigation of a source of interaffect relationships different from stress, per se. Arousal interacted with positive and negative affect, showing both bivariate and bipolar relationships, and effects similar to stress. Affective reactions to the stimuli became more inversely correlated when the affects were high and interacting with higher arousal. The data supported the dynamic model of affect and suggest the need for further analyses of the linkages between stress, arousal, and reduced levels of emotional complexity.     

Dependency Conflict,Marital Threat,and Alcohol Consumption in a Middle-Aged Sample

The hypothesis that dependency conflict is associated with higher levels of alcohol consumption when dependency needs are threatened or thwarted was tested with a sample of 672 middle-aged, married adults with college-age children. The subjects' current level of alcohol consumption was predicted based on the present level of threat to the marital relationship (assessed by reports from several family members) and on indices of dependency need and inhibition of dependent behavior estimated from sibship size, sibship density, and sibling position. A multiple regression analysis yielded a significant two-way interaction (p < .05) between marital threat and subject sex, and a significant three-way interaction of dependency heed, inhibition of dependent behavior, and marital threat. High marital threat was associated with higher levels of alcohol consumption in men and slightly lower levels of alcohol consumption in women. Additionally, when dependency need was high, alcohol consumption was generally low, except when both inhibition of dependent behavior and marital threat were high. However, when dependency need was low, the highest alcohol consumption score occurred when marital threat was low and inhibition was high.     

Stress exposure and affective modulation of aggressive behavior in men and women

To study differences in the effects of stress exposure and affective responding on aggression in men and women, the authors examined the effects of an acute stressor (air blast) on subsequent aggressive behavior, measured as the intensity of shocks men and women delivered to a putative employee. The authors measured participants' affective responding using the startle reflex. Results showed that although men and women did not differ in their startle responses to the actual stressor, high stress led to contrasting patterns of subsequent aggressive behavior. Women under high stress responded with less aggression than women under low stress, whereas men exposed to high stress exhibited increases in aggression relative to those under low stress. Affective responding during the stressor differentially modulated aggression in men and women: Startle responses predicted increasing levels of aggression in men and less aggression in women. These findings suggest that although men and women show similar basic affective processing in response to stressors, the behavioral profiles associated with stress differ in men and women. These findings have implications for understanding gender differences in the prevalence of internalizing and externalizing psychopathology.     

Cognition and mood in relation to the performance of squash tasks

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the role of cognition and mood in the performance of squash tasks, with particular reference to attention and self-reported arousal and stress. Volunteer male subjects (n = 40), divided into three ability groups, 'skilled', 'average' and 'novice', were required to perform two squash tasks with different degrees of difficulty. Order of presentation of the tasks was controlled. Results indicated that subjects completing the easier squash task first performed better on the subsequent difficult task than those subjects who completed the more difficult task first. No differences in scores across tasks were found for subjects completing the tasks in reverse order. Performance was related to level of skill. Furthermore, significant differences in attentional style were revealed when average subjects were compared with skilled and novice players. Skilled players were also found to exhibit significantly different personality characteristics from novice players. Specifically, skilled players exhibited higher levels of extraversion and appeared less neurotic. For the average and novice groups, reports of high levels of stress accompanied those of high levels of arousal and these remained constant throughout the experiment. By contrast, for the skilled group low levels of stress accompanied high levels of arousal. The results are discussed in terms of the effects of these cognitive and mood factors on performance and a suggested direction for future research is offered.     

Dependency conflict, marital threat, and alcohol consumption in a middle-aged sample.

The hypothesis that dependency conflict is associated with higher levels of alcohol consumption when dependency needs are threatened or thwarted was tested with a sample of 672 middle-aged, married adults with college-age children. The subjects' current level of alcohol consumption was predicted based on the present level of threat to the marital relationship (assessed by reports from several family members) and on indices of dependency need and inhibition of dependent behavior estimated from sibship size, sibship density, and sibling position. A multiple regression analysis yielded a significant two-way interaction (p less than .05) between marital threat and subject sex, and a significant three-way interaction of dependency need, inhibition of dependent behavior, and marital threat. High marital threat was associated with higher levels of alcohol consumption in men and slightly lower levels of alcohol consumption in women. Additionally, when dependency need was high, alcohol consumption was generally low, except when both inhibition of dependent behavior and marital threat were high. However, when dependency need was low, the highest alcohol consumption score occurred when marital threat was low and inhibition was high.     

Prospective associations from family-of-origin interactions to adult marital interactions and relationship adjustment.

To test the social learning-based hypothesis that marital conflict resolution patterns are learned in the family of origin, longitudinal, observational data were used to assess prospective associations between family conflict interaction patterns during adolescence and offspring's later marital conflict interaction patterns. At age 14 years, 47 participants completed an observed family conflict resolution task with their parents. In a subsequent assessment 17 years later, the participants completed measures of marital adjustment and an observed marital conflict interaction task with their spouse. As predicted, levels of hostility and positive engagement expressed by parents and adolescents during family interactions were prospectively linked with levels of hostility and positive engagement expressed by offspring and their spouses during marital interactions. Family-of-origin hostility was a particularly robust predictor of marital interaction behaviors; it predicted later marital hostility and negatively predicted positive engagement, controlling for psychopathology and family-of-origin positive engagement. For men, family-of-origin hostility also predicted poorer marital adjustment, an effect that was mediated through hostility in marital interactions. These findings suggest a long-lasting influence of family communication patterns, particularly hostility, on offspring's intimate communication and relationship functioning.     

Marital satisfaction and conventionalization examined dyadically

Edmonds (1967) developed the Marital Conventionalization Scale to measure an apparent social desirability bias in marital quality measurement at the individual level. The original conceptualization of marital conventionalization has not been supported by subsequent research and conventionalization appears to represent another aspect of marital quality. This study investigated whether marital satisfaction and conventionalization are best conceptualized at the individual or couple level. A series of analyses suggest that these constructs must be interpreted as dyadic variables rather than simply as individual perceptions of marriage. Husbands and wives tend to report similar levels of marital satisfaction and conventionalization, especially among dissatisfied couples and couples with a high level of satisfaction.     

The Role of Reflective Functioning in Predicting Marital and Coparenting Quality

Reflective functioning (RF) is a measure of mentalization—the capacity to think about one’s own and others’ thoughts and feelings and to understand the connections between mental states and behaviors. Previous research indicates a decline in marital quality across the transition to parenthood, and some studies have found that parents are less happy than non-parents. Thus, researchers have called for research into possible moderators of these patterns. RF may help couples navigate this transition by more easily taking each other’s (and the infant’s) perspective and understanding each other’s behaviors. Much of the research on RF has focused on mothering behavior; research has not yet examined associations between RF and other family interactions. We examined associations between RF and marital and coparenting quality for both wives and husbands. Reflective functioning was coded from Adult Attachment Interviews conducted during pregnancy. We assessed marital quality at 3.5 months, and coparenting quality at 13 months, after the birth of the target child. Wives’ higher RF was associated with higher levels of positive—and lower levels of negative—marital and coparenting interactions. Wives who were better able to reflect on their early experiences with their parents were involved in marital interactions that were more positive and supportive and less conflicted and undermining. Husbands’ RF did not predict marital or coparenting quality. These findings highlight the importance of reflective functioning in understanding family functioning.