Individual Parental Adjustment Moderates the Relationship Between Marital and Coparenting Quality

Contemporary family research studies have devoted surprisingly little effort to elucidating the interplay between adults' individual adjustment and the dynamics of their coparental relationship. In this study, we assessed two particularly relevant trait variables, parental flexibility and self-control, and traced links between these characteristics and the nature of the coparents' interactions together with their infants. It was hypothesized that parental flexibility and self-control would not only explain significant variance in coparenting quality, but also act as moderators attenuating anticipated relationships between marital functioning and coparental process. Participants were 50 heterosexual, married couples and their 12-month-old infants. Multiple regression analyses indicated that even after controlling for marital quality, paternal flexibility and maternal self-control continued to make independent contributions to coparenting harmony. As anticipated, paternal flexibility attenuated the association between marital quality and coparenting negativity. Contrary to predictions, maternal flexibility and self-control did not dampen, but actually heightened the extent to which coparenting harmony declined in the face of lower marital quality.     

Cross-National Comparison of Attitudes Toward Fathers' and Mothers' Participation in Household Tasks and Childcare

The purpose of this study was to explore attitudes toward the division of fathers' and mothers' participation in childcare/household tasks through a multilevel modeling approach. Data from the Euro-barometer surveys, including over 10,000 respondents from 13 European countries, were used. Respondents' attitudes were related to several individual-and macro-level factors. At the individual level (based on a separate regression equation for each country), it was found that respondents were most likely to hold egalitarian attitudes toward household work and childcare when they were younger, female, and politically liberal. At the macro level, countries' United Nations ratings on women's empowerment, Gross National Product, and cultural individualism were related to egalitarian attitudes. Study implications, strengths and weaknesses, and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

The Linkage Between Multiple Perspectives of the Marital Relationship and Preschoolers' Adjustment

We examined how children's, parents', and observers' perceptions of the marital relationship are linked with children's adjustment. Children's perceptions of the marital relationship were assessed using a new measure, the Interparental Relationship Interview for Children (IRIC). In the first phase of the study, 63 preschoolers, 63 mothers, and 56 fathers completed questionnaires assessing the interparental relationship. Teachers assessed the children's adjustment. In the second phase, 39 of the couples enacted a typical conflictual marital interaction. Findings established the reliability and validity of the IRIC and revealed that the IRIC uniquely contributes to the prediction of children's externalizing and internalizing behavior problems. Taken together, the different perspectives of the marital relationship explained 36% of the variance in children's externalizing behavior problems. These results suggest the promise of the IRIC and demonstrate the unique contribution of the young child's perspective.     

Emotional Security and Cognitive Appraisals Mediate the Relationship Between Parents' Marital Conflict and Adjustment in Older Adolescents

In this study, the authors evaluated a model of the effects of parental conflict witnessed in childhood on psychosocial adjustment in 175 college students. Using this model, which integrated the cognitive-contextual framework (J. H. Grych & F. D. Fincham, 1990) and the emotional-security hypothesis (P. T. Davies & E. M. Cummings, 1994), the authors proposed that both cognitive appraisal of parents' conflict and emotional security mediate the conflict-adjustment link in late adolescence. Furthermore, the authors proposed that cognitive appraisals are associated with emotional security. The results suggested that appraisals and security were both important mediators in the model but that they were not related to each other. Instead, there appeared to be parallel, yet separate, cognitive and emotional channels through which exposure to parental conflict in childhood can have detrimental effects on later adjustment.     

Associations Between Anxiety and Marital Adjustment

Cognitive-behavioral theories of marital functioning and contextual models of close relationships highlight the importance of proximal affect states such as anxiety in couple functioning. Despite these assertions, research examining the role of state anxiety is lacking in the literature on intimate relationships. In this study, the authors examined state anxiety and marital adjustment in a sample of 45 couples. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that husbands' Time 1 anxiety can predict their own and their wives' subsequent reports of marital adjustment. Wives' Time 1 anxiety did not predict their own or their husbands' subsequent reports of marital adjustment. In this study, the authors focused on the role of husband anxiety in marital adjustment and on implications for further study of the contextual model of close relationships.     

Adolescent Adjustment to Perceived Marital Conflict

The cognitive-contextual framework of Grych and Fincham (1990) and the emotional-security framework of Davies and Cummings (1994) were used to explore both the direct and indirect pathways between marital conflict and adolescent adjustment. Two hundred and three non-clinic adolescents (114 females and 89 males) from intact families completed self-report questionnaires concerning their adjustment behavior, perceptions of parental conflict, and attachment to parents and peers. Marital conflict was found to have a direct effect upon adolescent adjustment, with adolescents from high-conflict homes displaying greater adjustment difficulties. Indirect effects of conflict were evident through both the adolescents' cognitive appraisals of conflict, and the adolescents' perceptions of the parent-child relationship. Differential gender effects were obtained, highlighting the importance of adolescent gender as a mediating variable. These findings were used to propose that an integrated, cognitive-emotional framework might be necessary to fully understand the conflict/adjustment relationship.     

Perceived Criticism and Marital Adjustment Predict Depressive Symptoms in a Community Sample

Depressive symptoms are related to a host of negative individual and family outcomes; therefore, it is important to establish risk factors for depressive symptoms to design prevention efforts. Following studies in the marital and psychiatric literatures regarding marital factors associated with depression, we tested two potential predictors of depressive symptoms: marital adjustment and perceived spousal criticism. We assessed 249 spouses from 132 married couples from the community during their first year of marriage and at three time points over the next 10 years. Initial marital adjustment significantly predicted depressive symptoms for husbands and wives at all follow-ups. Further, perceived criticism significantly predicted depressive symptoms at the 5- and 10-year follow-ups. However, at the 1-year follow-up, this association was significant for men but not for women. Finally, a model where the contributions of marital adjustment and perceived criticism were tested together suggested that both play independent roles in predicting future depressive symptoms. These findings highlight the potential importance of increasing marital adjustment and reducing perceived criticism at the outset of marriage as a way to reduce depressive symptoms during the course of marriage.     

Influences of Marital Conflict on Child Adjustment: Review of Theory and Research

This review summarizes the literature on the relationship between marital conflict and child maladjustment with an emphasis on variables that qualify, explain the association, or both. Following a historical review, the modest findings on the strength of the association between marital conflict and child maladjustment is explored. The definition of marital conflict is clarified through specification of its various dimensions (frequency, intensity, content, resolution). The role of variables that serve to moderate and/or mediate the relationship between marital conflict and child maladjustment are elaborated. Mediating models include exposure theories (Modeling, Cognitive–Contextual effects: appraisal of threat and blame, and Emotional Insecurity) and changes in the parent–child relationship (Spillover). Variables that moderate or qualify the relationship include children's cognitions and behaviors, contextual factors, and demographic differences. A model is presented summarizing these mechanisms. Research recommendations are proposed and the clinical implications of this literature are addressed.     

城市居民婚姻状况与主观幸福感关系的初步研究

本文在山东省范围内取样,对我国城市居民婚姻状况与主观幸福感的关系进行了初步研究,得出了与西方研究者不同的结论：从总体上看城市居民中无婚姻生活者主观幸福感高于有婚姻生活者,性别是影响城市居民婚姻状况与主观幸福感关系的重要因素,有婚姻生活的女性比没有婚姻生活的女性体验到更多的幸福感,而男性则恰恰相反。本文认为,在婚姻状况与主观幸福感关系方面表现出来的中西差异,与转型社会的婚姻价值观失衡有关,也反映了某种文化上的差异。     

Mothers' and Fathers' Psychological Symptoms and Marital Functioning: Examination of Direct and Interactive Links with Child Adjustment

A community sample of 51 mother-father dyads with a school-age child rated marital functioning, parental psychological symptoms, and children's adjustment problems. Parents with more psychological symptoms reported lower marital satisfaction levels. Mothers' and fathers' marital functioning and symptomatology individually related to children's adjustment in the expected directions. In addition, interaction tests revealed that, for mothers but not fathers, the combination of poorer marital functioning and higher levels of psychological symptoms amplified the negative effects on children's adjustment problems. These findings support the hypothesis that parental psychopathology and marital adjustment together affect children's functioning in an interactive way, underscoring the need to consider multiple family influences in studies of child development.     

Marital virtues and their relationship to individual functioning,communication, and relationship adjustment

Extant research has documented both individual well-being and couple communication as important predictors of marital adjustment. In the recent years, researchers have looked beyond problem-based predictors, shifting the focus from pathology and communication to include positive actions and ways of being. This study used Fowers’ [(2005) Virtue and psychology: Pursuing excellence in ordinary practices. Washington, DC: APA Press] framework of virtue ethics to test additional potentially important linkages. This framework posits that characteristics, such as compassion and generosity, which are foundational to relationship adjustment. This study examined the direct and indirect links among individual functioning, marital virtues, communication, and marital adjustment. Data were collected from a sample of 422 married and cohabitating individuals using a self-report survey. Individual well-being significantly and consistently predicted virtues, communication, and relationship functioning. Marital virtues and communication were found to mediate the relationship between individual well-being and relationship adjustment. In addition, communication was found to mediate the relationship between marital virtues and relationship adjustment. Findings provide support for the notion that character strengths – enacted as marital virtues – influence communication and relationship adjustment.     

Marital Satisfaction and Child Adjustment: Direct and Mediated Pathways

We explored whether there is a direct association between marital satisfaction and children's psychological adjustment. We also investigated a competing model to assess whether marital satisfaction is indirectly related to child outcomes through its associations with parents' depression and involvement in childrearing. Analyses of data from 1,101 participants in the National Survey of Families and Households indicated that mothers' and fathers' reports of marital satisfaction were significantly associated with child symptomatology. Moreover, mothers who experienced marital dissatisfaction were less involved with their children, which in turn was associated with greater child psychological distress. This mediated pathway was not significant for fathers.     

Young Children's Responding to Interparental Conflict: Associations with Marital Aggression and Child Adjustment

We designed this study to examine children's self-reported and observed emotional and behavioral responding to marital conflict as a potential mechanism linking marital physical aggression (as reported by the parents) and children's behavioral adjustment (as reported by their preschool teachers). In a sample of 48 preschoolers, parental marital physical aggression was positively associated with children's observed dysregulated responding to interparental conflict and negatively associated with children's self-reported behavioral disruption. Marital aggression and children's self-reported responding to marital conflict predicted teacher-reported behavior problems, with both variables adding unique variance. Our findings suggested a potential pathway linking exposure to marital conflict, children's regulatory strategies, and children's behavioral adjustment outside the home.     

The More You Have, the More You Do: The Relationship Between Wife's Employment, Sex-Role Attitudes, and Household Behavior

This study explores the relationship between wife's employment, sex-role traditionalism, and the reported division of household tasks and decisions. Data were collected from three samples of currently married women between the ages of 18 and 49 in Los Angeles County. Sex-role traditionalism was positively related to wives' relative performance of feminine tasks, but generally unrelated to masculine task performance and decision-making between spouses. Employed or professional women took primary responsibility for relatively fewer feminine tasks than did nonemployed or nonprofessional women. The findings suggest that despite differences among women in sex-role traditionalism and employment status, most women say that they and their spouses divide tasks in a traditional sex-role fashion.     

Relationships Between Contraceptive Behavior and Love Attitudes,Sex Attitudes,and Self-Esteem

The current research took into account two previously developed models of effective contraceptive behavior, a model emphasizing interpersonal variables and a model emphasizing intrapersonal variables. The purpose was to identify variables related to contraception that could be addressed during contraceptive counseling and to aid persons in deciding the most effective contraceptive method within the context of an intimate relationship. The research used questionnaire responses from 350 male and female college undergraduates. Results indicated some support for aspects of both models, with modest relationships between contraceptive behavior and attitudes toward both love and sex, and self-esteem. The difficulties of developing a comprehensive model of contraceptive behavior are discussed, as are some practical implications of this research.     

Religion, Death Attitudes, and Belief in Afterlife in the Elderly: Untangling the Relationships

The study investigated the relationship between religion, belief in afterlife, and death attitudes (death anxiety and death acceptance) in an elderly population using instruments with sound psychometric properties. Survey data was collected from 71 elderly participants. Results indicated a strong correlation between belief in afterlife and intrinsic religion, and differential statistically significant relationships between intrinsic religion and both death anxiety and death acceptance depending on whether the effects of belief in afterlife were partialed out. Findings were discussed in light of the absence of clinically meaningful results and, the role that belief in afterlife appears to play in the literature investigating religion and death anxiety.     

Relationships Among Young Adults’ Marital Messages Received,Marital Attitudes,and Relationship Self‐Efficacy

The authors examined relationships among university students’ marital messages received (MMR), marital attitudes, and romantic relationship self‐efficacy (RSE). Results indicated that students’ marital attitudes and romantic relationship status predicted their level of RSE. The authors found differences in MMR, marital attitudes, and RSE on the basis of gender, ethnicity, age, romantic relationship status, and family‐of‐origin marital status. Counseling implications, future research directions, and limitations are discussed.     

Marital role strain,illness intrusiveness,and their impact on marital and individual adjustment in end-stage renal disease

Abstract

A marital role theory approach was used to investigate individual psychosocial well-being and marital adjustment in 89 end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients and their spouses. Four different patient groups were selected according to a continuum of clinical milestones in the treatment of ESRD, including pre-dialysis (n=17), incenter dialysis (n=18), home dialysis (n=19), and posttransplant patients (n=17). A nephrology clinic control group (n=18) was also included. Standardized instruments were employed to investigate marital role strain (Marital Role Questionnaire, KDS-15), marital adjustment (Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment Test), subjective well-being (Affect Balance Scale, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Inventory), and psychopathology (Symptom Checklist 90-R). Hierarchical multiple regression analyses provided strong and consistent support for the major hypotheses relating elevated marital role strain to compromised marital adjustment and individual well-being. Further analyses demonstrated that increased perceived intrusiveness of ESRD was significantly related to greater marital role strain, poorer marital adjustment, and decreased individual well-being. This is consistent with the idea that perceived intrusiveness may be an important mediator of marital role strain and of coping with chronic illness. “Objective” intrusiveness, defined in terms of patient group, was not significantly related to marital or individual well-being. These findings support a dyadic approach to the psychosocial study of chronic illness.     

Work Stress and Marriage: A Theoretical Model Examining the Relationship Between Workaholism and Marital Cohesion

Using structural equation modeling the relationship of work stress and marital cohesion was empirically investigated. It was hypothesized that work stress would have an inverse relationship with marital cohesion. Participants were a random sample of 326 adult females who were members of the American Counseling Association. The results of the data-model fit analyses support the hypothesized relationship. The coefficient of determination for the structural equation was 0.60 indicating a substantial degree of explanation for the relationship tested. Implications of these findings for future research are presented.     

Diagnostic Sex-Role Bias and its relation to authoritarianism,Sex-Role Attitudes,and sex of the school psychologist

At the 1973 National Association of School Psychologists' Convention (NASP) in New York City, a national sample of 120 school psychologists (61 female, 59 male), were asked to participate in a survey measuring a wide spectrum of their attitudes. The Chasen Diagnostic Sex-Role Bias scale, consisting of eight equated “somewhat unhealthy” case histories of active and passive girls and boys, developed and validated for this study, was administered with the Trachtman Authoritarianism Scale, and the Hymer Sex-Role Attitude Scale. For the total group, authoritarianism and sex-role attitudes are not related to Diagnostic Sex-Role Bias, yet males with traditional sex-role attitudes exhibit Diagnostic Sex-Role Bias and males with untraditional sex-role attitudes exhibit counterstereotypic Diagnostic Sex-Role Bias. The sex of the school psychologist is related to Diagnostic Sex-Role Bias; that is, male school psychologists do not exhibit Diagnostic Sex-Role Bias, while female school psychologists exhibit counterstereotypic Diagnostic Sex-Role Bias. Females are most accepting of active girls, which may be considered a compensatory diagnostic mechanism to counteract stereotyping.