Adverse work experiences and marital outcomes in middle years: Role of self‐esteem

This study assesses the decade‐long influence of adverse work experiences on husbands' and wives' problem‐solving behaviors and marital quality through self‐esteem using structural equation modeling with a sample of 308 dual‐earning couples. Analyses controlled for earlier marital quality, allowing for assessment of the residual change in marital quality over 10 years. Adverse work experiences directly affected marital quality and indirectly affected decreases in marital quality through lower self‐esteem; lastly, individuals' self‐esteem was positively related to increased problem‐solving behaviors. In addition, there was a crossover association, with wives' and husbands' self‐esteem influencing one another's problem‐solving behaviors. These results contribute to a deeper understanding about the processes responsible for the detrimental impact of adverse work experiences.     

THE RELATIONSHIP OF ‘EXCHANGE-ORIENTATION’ AND ‘COMMITMENT’ SCALES TO MARRIAGE ADJUSTMENT*

Believing that “exchange” and “commitment” are basic dimensions associated with marriage adjustment (MA), scales measuring these three dimensions were administered to 40 married couples. Exchange was predicted to be negatively correlated with MA, commitment positively associated with it, and an individual's exchange and commitment qualities were predicted to affect his partner's MA. The hypotheses were all supported. Further analyses, however, revealed that husbands' MA was more strongly associated with their own exchange and commitment scores than those of their wives. However, wives' MA was equally associated with their own and their husbands' exchange and commitment scores. The implications of this finding for women's position in marriage are discussed.     

Remarriage Beliefs as Predictors of Marital Quality and Positive Interaction in Stepcouples: An Actor–Partner Interdependence Model

Using an Actor–Partner Interdependence Model, we examined remarriage beliefs as predictors of marital quality and positive interaction in a sample of 179 stepcouples. Three beliefs were measured using subscales from the Remarriage Belief Inventory (RMBI) including success is slim, children are the priority, and finances should be pooled. Several significant actor and partner effects were found for both wives' and husbands' beliefs. Wives' marital quality was positively associated with their own beliefs that finances should be pooled and negatively associated with their own beliefs that success is slim. Wives' reports of their own and spouses' positive interaction were both positively associated with their beliefs that finances should be pooled. Their reports of spouses' positive interaction were also negatively associated with husbands' beliefs that success is slim. Husbands' marital quality was positively associated with wives' beliefs that children are the priority, positively associated with their own beliefs that finances should be pooled, and negatively with success is slim. Positive interaction for husbands was positively associated with wives' beliefs that finances should be pooled and negatively associated with their own beliefs that success is slim. Finally, husbands' reports of positive interaction for their spouses were positively associated with wives' beliefs that finances should be pooled. Implications for future research utilizing dyadic data analysis with stepcouples are addressed.     

Economic stress and marital adjustment among couples: analyses at the dyadic level

This survey study of 608 Finnish couples investigated the question of how economic stress is reflected in marital adjustment on the basis of the model presented by Conger and colleagues. We used the couple as a unit of analysis, performing a dyadic‐level analysis within the framework of LISREL models. The model showed that the path by which economic circumstances were linked to marital adjustment was as follows: poor economic circumstances were linked to economic strain, which was related to increased psychological distress, and psychological distress in turn was negatively reflected in marital adjustment. However, psychological distress only partially mediated the link between economic strain and marital adjustment: economic strain was also directly linked to decreased marital adjustment. In addition, there occurred crossover between partners' experiences. First, wives' psychological distress was negatively related to husbands' reports of marital adjustment and vice versa. Second, unemployment among men was directly linked to reports of marital adjustment among women: the longer the man's total spell of unemployment, the poorer the woman's marital adjustment. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Work–family conflict,psychological availability,and child emotion regulation: Spillover and crossover in dual‐earner families

Work–family balance and child rearing are major social concerns. Few studies, however, have addressed how parents' work–family conflict (WFC) associates with children's emotion regulation. This study proposes the link to occur through parents' psychological availability (PA). In our model we tested both intraindividual and interindividual effects on a sample of 138 dual‐earner couples with preschool‐aged children. Our results showed that WFC related negatively to PA (actor and partner effects); fathers' and mothers' PA associated negatively with child lability and positively with child emotion regulation. Indirect effects were found for fathers' and mothers' WFC and children's emotion regulation and lability through partners' PA, controlling for child gender and temperament. These findings showed a dyadic pattern among couples' work–family balance, parenting, and children's emotion regulation.     

Intergenerational relationships and marriage in China: Within-family longitudinal associations and between-family differences

Marriage is embedded in the web of spouses' broader social ties, and relationship quality with parents and parents-in-law is associated with marital quality. Guided by Family Systems theory and using three waves of dyadic data from 268 Chinese different-sex couples across the first several years of marriage, we first conducted a Random-Intercept Actor-Partner Interdependence Cross-lagged Panel Model (RI-APIM-CLPM) to examine the within-family longitudinal associations among husbands' and wives' relationship quality with parents, parents-in-law, and spouse. Then, husbands' and wives' filial obligations were added as predictors of between-family differences in their own and their partner's relationship quality in the three social ties. Among husbands, increased relationship quality in one social tie (e.g., with parents) predicted reductions in relationship quality in the other social ties (e.g., relationships with parents-in-law and marital quality). Our examination of between-family differences demonstrated that high levels of filial obligations predicted higher intergenerational relationship quality and marital quality. By simultaneously considering the within-family associations of multiple social ties and how filial obligations account for between-family differences in relationship quality, we contribute to a nuanced understanding of how Chinese couples' romantic partnerships are embedded in their broader family system.     

Effects of (un)employment on young couples’ health and life satisfaction

This study investigated effects of employed and unemployed job status on health outcomes with questionnaires in 50 young couples. Analysis of variance revealed higher pessimism, higher stress levels, and lower life satisfaction in couples in which one partner was unemployed. These couples also exhibited more health risk behaviours compared to couples in which both partners were working. The dyadic analysis of data, using an actor–partner interdependence model, demonstrated strong actor and partner effects for male partner's job status. Being unemployed was significantly associated not only with male partner's life satisfaction but also with the life satisfaction of his female partner. In addition, male partner's pessimism was identified as a significant variable which mediates between male partner's job status and female partner's life satisfaction. The study highlights the relevance of the accomplishment of tasks in the domains of work and partnership during young adulthood and it emphasises the gender specific importance.     

Child Care Use,Earnings, and Reenlistment Desires of Wives of Enlisted Soldiers in the U. S. Army

The U S . Army manages more than 600 Child Development Centers and about 12,000 Army-licensed Family Care Homes with a daily attendance of more than 80,000 children. This article analyzes use of child care services in relation to Army wives' earnings, their satisfaction with Army life, and their desire for their husbands' reenlistment in the Army. Data for wives (n = 1,007) of enlisted soldiers from a 1987 U.S. Department of the Army Survey of Families were used to estimate a system of four simultaneous equations. These data were comparable with similar data collected in 1992. Results revealed that the first criterion variable of child care use was associated positively with the wives' earnings and negatively with the age of the youngest child. The second criterion variable of wives' earnings was related positively to the use of child care services. The third criterion variable of wives' satisfaction with Army life, however, related negatively to their dissatisfaction with the cost of Army child care services. The fourth criterion variable of the wives' satisfaction with Army life was related positively to their desires for their husbands' reenlistment in the Army. Other studies suggest that a wife's desire for her husband's reenlistment has a great influence on his decision to stay. Therefore, the military policy makers might increase Army wives' satisfaction with Army life by lessening dissatisfaction with the cost of child care services, perhaps by reducing user charges for them.     

Work,marriage, and health behaviors of African American working couples

Using a sample of 379 African American working husbands and wives, this study examined a unique link between work and marital experiences on health‐promoting behaviors. Results of the dyadic model show that husbands' and wives' control over work are directly associated with husbands' and wives' health‐promoting behaviors, respectively, after taking into account the dependencies between husbands and wives. The results of the dyadic model also show that husbands' and wives' control over work are indirectly associated with husbands' and wives' health behaviors through their perceived marital integrations. By understanding how work control and marital integration combine to influence both husbands' and wives' health behaviors, programs that promote healthy behaviors can be better designed and more effectively implemented.     

Behavioral buffers on the effect of negativity on marital satisfaction: A longitudinal study

A 2-year longitudinal study of newlyweds was conducted to explore the connection between negativity and satisfaction as a function of (a) the extent to which spouses create an atmosphere of friendliness (as indexed by the degree to which they are affectionally expressive) and (b) the reported extent to which they try to accommodate to each other's needs and work toward maintaining the quality of their relationship. Data concerning marital behavior (negativity, affectional expression, and maintenance) and marital satisfaction were gathered from 105 pairs of spouses on three occasions spaced approximately a year apart. Hierarchical regressions with the concurrent data revealed that affectional expression and maintenance appear to buffer the impact of husbands' negativity on wives' satisfaction. The buffering hypothesis was not supported, however, when wives' behavior was used to account for husbands' satisfaction. Consistent with the buffering hypothesis, the decline in wives' satisfaction associated with husbands' negativity was less great when husbands exhibited relatively high levels of affectional expression. Declines in husbands' level of satisfaction, in contrast, could not be predicted by wives' initial levels of negativity, considered alone, or in combination with either their level of affectional expression or maintenance behavior.     

Enrichment processes and gain spirals at work and at home: A 3‐year cross‐lagged panel study

In this study, we combined the Job Demands‐Resources model and Conservation of Resources theory with work‐family enrichment (WFE) literature, using the Resource–Gain–Development perspective in particular, in order to (1) investigate the motivating and wellness‐promoting role of job and home resources in predicting enrichment in work and family leading to further positive outcomes, and (2) examine positive gain spirals between the study variables over time. More specifically, we investigated whether job resources predict work engagement through WFE, and similarly, whether home resources predict marital satisfaction through FWE. We also investigated the reciprocal effects between job and home resources, enrichment in both directions, and well‐being in both domains. The study was based on a two‐wave, 3‐year, full panel design among Finnish dentists (N= 1,632). Results showed that job resources at T1 predicted WFE at T2, and WFE and engagement reciprocally influenced each other over time. Home resources at T1, on the other hand, did not predict family‐work enrichment (FEW) at T2; instead, FWE at T1 influenced both home resources and marital satisfaction at T2. Moreover, we found reciprocal impacts (‘gain spirals’) between domain‐specific resources (job/home resources) and domain‐specific well‐being (engagement/marital satisfaction) and between WFE and engagement, thus supporting the Conservation of Resources theory. The same results were found for both genders, suggesting that similar enrichment processes may take place among both women and men. Theoretically, this study suggests that adding the idea of positive feedback loops might benefit the models theorizing WFE.     

Impulsivity,communication, and marital satisfaction in newlywed couples

The authors used a vulnerability–stress–adaptation framework to examine how and why impulsivity affects communication and marital satisfaction in a sample of 100 newlywed couples. We specifically examined the links between impulsivity and perceptions of conflict communication patterns and their associations with marital satisfaction. Using an actor–partner interdependence framework, the results demonstrated that impulsivity was negatively associated with one's own and partner's marital satisfaction. Impulsivity was also negatively associated with constructive communication and positively associated with destructive communication. Furthermore, mediation analyses showed that communication patterns mediated the impulsivity–satisfaction link. Taken together, these findings suggest that impulsivity is likely to lead to lower marital satisfaction, partly through its effect on communication between partners.     

Examining the constructs of work-to-family enrichment and positive spillover

This paper reports three studies examining construct validity evidence for two recently developed measures of the positive side of the work–family interface: work-to-family positive spillover (WFPS; Hanson, Hammer, & Colton, 2006) and work-to-family enrichment (WFE; Carlson, Kacmar, Wayne, & Grzywacz, 2006). Using confirmatory factor analysis, the results from the first two studies indicate that the best fitting model distinguishes between WFPS and WFE, each with three sub-dimensions. However, these studies also showed that several items measuring WFE cross-loaded onto factors measuring WFPS. Results from the discriminant analyses showed that the sub-dimensions of WFPS and WFE uniquely predicted job satisfaction and life satisfaction. Yet, when WFPS and WFE were examined as one dimension, the measure of WFE predicted life satisfaction, but the measure of WFPS did not add to the prediction above WFE. Across both studies, WFE mediated the relationship between WFPS with both job and life satisfaction. Lastly, Study 3 provides some evidence of the content adequacy of these items; however, several items overlapped in content. These results suggest that enrichment and positive spillover are distinct but related constructs, each with three sub-dimensions. Further, more work is needed to refine the measurement of WFE and WFPS; however, this research helps advance our understanding of the positive side of the work–family interface.     

Marital satisfaction,job satisfaction,and task distribution in the homemaker job

Several facets of the homemaker job were analyzed in terms of the dynamic relationship between husband and wife. Seventy-one husband and wife pairs completed a questionnaire which assessed satisfaction with the homemaker job, marital satisfaction, distribution of responsibility for homemaker tasks between husband and wife, and other variables. Wives' satisfaction with the homemaker job was found related to the degree to which husbands assumed responsibility for homemaker tasks and to the husbands' attitudes toward women in general. Wives' marital satisfaction was found related to the interaction of wives' employment status (job holder or full-time homemaker) and satisfaction with the homemaker job. Directions for future research in this area were suggested.     

Sex role stereotyping in women with agoraphobia and their husbands

Thirty-two married women with Diagnostic Statistical Manual (3rd edition, revised) diagnosis of agoraphobia and their husbands were compared with 32 matched control women and their husbands on self-report measures of sex role stereotyping, psychological symptoms, personality, and marital adjustment. The experimental women scored significantly lower than the control women on the sex role measure of Autonomy and significantly higher on Intropunitiveness. Significant inverse correlations occurred between women's self-ratings of Masculinity and Autonomy and their agoraphobic symptoms. In the experimental couples, but not the control couples, significant and substantial disagreements occurred on ratings of each other's Masculinity and Autonomy, and husbands' marital satisfaction correlated strongly with wives' self-rating of Femininity. The findings justify further study of sex role stereotyping in agoraphobia, especially where the syndrome coexists with marital dissatisfaction and/or personality disorder.     

The Military Family's Influence on Soldiers' Personal Morale: A Path Analytic Model

The reciprocal relationship of military wives' attitudes to husbands' units and soldiers' personal morale was examined in two groups of soldiers: junior enlisted (El-E4, n = 127) and noncommissioned officers (NCOs; E5-E9, n = 157). We pursued two hypotheses: Wives' attitudes at a given time would influence husbands' morale at a later time both directly and indirectly through husbands' satisfaction with the work-family interface, and wives' attitudes would be influenced by husbands' attitudes and morale at an earlier time. Using a path analytic model we found that wives influence their hus- bands' morale in both groups. We also found that husbands' satisfaction with the work-family interface influenced wives' attitudes to husbands' units, but morale did not.     

The Mediating Roles of Work–Family Conflict and Facilitation in the Relations Between Leisure Experience and Job/Life Satisfaction Among Employees in Shanghai Banking Industry

In this study, we explore whether the relationship between leisure experience and job/life satisfaction is mediated by work–family conflict and facilitation, and how these effect coefficients varied among different demographic groups of gender, marital status as well as parental status. With the survey data from 1706 employees in the Shanghai banking industry, we found work–family conflict and facilitation acted as mediators between leisure experience and job/life satisfaction. In all demographic groups, work–family conflict was negatively related with leisure experience and job/life satisfaction. Conversely, work–family facilitation was positively related with leisure experience and job/life satisfaction. Moreover, we found (1) compared with the case for males, the negative effect coefficient of work–family conflict on job satisfaction was significantly higher in female samples. (2) The positive effect coefficients of leisure experience on work–family facilitation was higher for married couples than for unmarried employees. (3) For employees who had children, the negative effect coefficient of leisure experience on work–family conflict as well as the positive effect coefficient of leisure experience on work–family facilitation were significantly higher than for employees who had no children. The results of this study suggest that employees in the banking industry would experience a lower level of work–family conflict and better maintain work–family facilitation by engaging in leisure pursuits with their family. The limitations of this study were discussed as well.     

Marital adjustment among rural couples: The role of expressiveness

This study examined the relationship between marital adjustment and husbands' and wives' instrumentalness and expressiveness. Eighty-five rural couples completed the Spanier Dyadic Adjustment Scale and the Personal Attributes Questionnaire. Multiple regression analyses indicated that husbands' expressiveness was the sole predictor of both husbands' and wives' marital adjustment. Results are compared to previous research findings with urban couples. Implications of the findings for gender-related patterns of socialization are also discussed.     

Temporal Linkages Between Wives' Pursuit and Husbands' Withdrawal During Marital Conflict

This study examined the association between wives' pursuit and husbands' withdrawal during marital conflict discussions, and the affects associated with these behaviors. Ten distressed and 10 nondistressed couples completed a videotaped interaction in which the wives requested changes in husbands' behaviors. Results showed sequential dependencies between wives' pursuit and husbands' withdrawal, but distressed couples, as compared to nondistressed couples, did not engage in stronger pursuit/withdrawal patterns. Distressed husbands showed the highest proportions of anxious affects. The findings are discussed with reference to the affective context of the pursuit/withdrawal pattern.     

Attachment style,communication patterns,and satisfaction across the life cycle of marriage

Questionnaire measures of attachment, communication patterns, and relationship satisfaction were administered to 361 married couples, sampled across the life cycle of marriage. Individuals who were secure in attachment (defined in terms of comfort with closeness and low anxiety over relationships) tended to be paired with secure spouses. Security of attachment was associated with one's own relationship satisfaction, although husbands' satisfaction was related primarily to the anxiety dimension. The most consistent effect of partners' attachment was an inverse relationship between wives' anxiety and husbands' satisfaction. The negative effect of wives' anxiety on perceived relationship satisfaction (for both partners) was evident primarily for couples in which husbands were uncomfortable with closeness. The association between attachment dimensions and relationship satisfaction was largely mediated by communication patterns for wives, but only partially mediated by communication patterns for husbands; for both husbands and wives, a measure of mutually constructive communication emerged as the strongest correlate of satisfaction. These findings were generally consistent across the life cycle of marriage, and they are important in clarifying the nature of the link between attachment and satisfaction in a broad sample.