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.     

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.     

A multidimensional examination of marital conflict and subjective health over 16 years

Guided by stress process perspectives, this study conceptualizes marital conflict as a multidimensional stressor to assess how three aspects of conflict—frequency of disagreements, breadth of disagreements, and cumulative disagreements—impact subjective health. Longitudinal data of married couples spanning 16 years (n = 373 couples) were analyzed using multilevel modeling. For husbands, more frequent disagreements than usual within a given year were associated with poorer subjective health. For wives, the greater cumulative effects of disagreements over 16 years were harmful for subjective health. We discuss how gendered self‐representations and relationship power issues help explain the findings. This research demonstrated the importance of examining multiple aspects of marital conflict to reveal that their subjective health consequences function differently for wives and husbands.     

Understanding general and specific connections between psychopathology and marital distress: a model based approach

Marital distress is linked to many types of mental disorders; however, no study to date has examined this link in the context of empirically based hierarchical models of psychopathology. There may be general associations between low levels of marital quality and broad groups of comorbid psychiatric disorders as well as links between marital adjustment and specific types of mental disorders. The authors examined this issue in a sample (N = 929 couples) of currently married couples from the Minnesota Twin Family Study who completed self-report measures of relationship adjustment and were also assessed for common mental disorders. Structural equation modeling indicated that (a) higher standing on latent factors of internalizing (INT) and externalizing (EXT) psychopathology was associated with lower standing on latent factors of general marital adjustment for both husbands and wives, (b) the magnitude of these effects was similar across husbands and wives, and (c) there were no residual associations between any specific mental disorder and overall relationship adjustment after controlling for the INT and EXT factors. These findings point to the utility of hierarchical models in understanding psychopathology and its correlates. Much of the link between mental disorder and marital distress operated at the level of broad spectrums of psychopathological variation (i.e., higher levels of marital distress were associated with disorder comorbidity), suggesting that the temperamental core of these spectrums contributes not only to symptoms of mental illness but to the behaviors that lead to impaired marital quality in adulthood.     

Perceptions of Parents' Marriage Predicting Marital Satisfaction: The Moderating Role of Attachment Behaviors

This study sought to examine the relationship between perception of parents' marriage, marital satisfaction, and attachment behaviors. Participants included 521 married couples taken from the RELATE project. Gender differences were found between husbands and wives perception of parents' marriage and marital satisfaction. Results also indicated that attachment behaviors were positively and significantly related to increased martial satisfaction for both husbands and wives. Additionally, attachment behaviors moderated the relationship between perception of parents' marriage and marital satisfaction. When perception of parents' marriage was negative but attachment behaviors were high, marital satisfaction increased. These findings underscore the importance attachment behaviors play in married relationships. Clinical implications and future research are discussed.     

Neuroticism and marital satisfaction: the mediating role played by the sexual relationship

Why is Neuroticism so harmful to marriage and other intimate relationships? Given that such relationships generally involve a sexual component, the current longitudinal study explored whether the apparent negative impact of own and partner's Neuroticism on marriage could be explained by dissatisfaction with the sexual relationship. Just after their weddings, 72 couples reported their marital satisfaction, sexual satisfaction, and Neuroticism. One year later, they again reported their marital and sexual satisfaction. Own Neuroticism predicted lower levels of concurrent marital and sexual satisfaction among husbands and wives, declines in sexual satisfaction among husbands and wives, and declines in marital satisfaction among wives. Partner's Neuroticism predicted lower levels of concurrent marital satisfaction among husbands and wives, lower levels of concurrent sexual satisfaction among husbands, and declines in sexual satisfaction among husbands. Consistent with predictions, sexual satisfaction mediated every effect of own and partner Neuroticism on marital satisfaction. Results highlight the prominent role played by the sexual relationship in accounting for marital outcomes and thus suggest specific processes through which Neuroticism may affect the marriage.     

Emotional arousal and negative affect in marital conflict: the influence of gender,conflict structure,and demand‐withdrawal

This report covers two studies that examined how spouses' emotional arousal and negative affect in response to marital conflict are shaped by gender, conflict structure, and demand‐withdraw communication. In Study 1, 86 couples participated in a video analogue presentation procedure, and in Study 2, 32 couples participated in an observational methodology. In both studies, spouses' evaluative reports of their emotional arousal and negative affect were collected within two experimental conditions in which either the husband's or the wife's issue was discussed. In both studies, husbands—but not wives—reported lower levels of post‐interaction arousal and negative affect in the wife's issue condition than in the husband's issue condition. In both studies, husbands' as well as wives' level of emotional arousal was positively associated with their level of negative affect. In Study 2, husbands who were less demanding and more withdrawing during marital conflict were less aroused after the discussion. In contrast, wives reported more emotional arousal and negative affect as they were more withdrawing and less demanding, respectively. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The nature and predictors of the trajectory of change in marital quality for husbands and wives over the first 10 years of marriage.

Four parameters of the trajectory of change in marital quality (initial status as well as linear, quadratic, and cubic patterns of change) were estimated for husbands and wives over the first 10 years of marriage (n = 522 couples at Year 1 and 93 couples at Year 10). Both husbands and wives started their trajectories of change at fairly high levels of marital quality and showed a cubic pattern of change such that marital quality declined fairly rapidly in the early years of marriage, stabilized, and then declined again. Whereas individual-differences variables predicted the initial status of the trajectory, husbands and wives living with only their biological children showed a steeper decline in marital quality than husbands and wives living without children or stepchildren.     

Topics of marital disagreement among African-American and Euro-American newlyweds

To see what issues couples most and least often reported as topics of marital disagreement, survey data were analyzed for 113 African-American and 131 Euro-American couples reporting in the first and third years of marriage. Friedman tests showed that in both the first and third years of marriage, money was most often reported as a topic of marital disagreement; tensions about leisure, each spouse's family of origin. and children were reported significantly less often; and tensions about religion were reported least often. Findings were very similar for African Americans and Euro-Americans, and for husbands and wives. Overall, findings show considerable stability in the relative frequency with which specific topics reportedly evoke tension early in marriage.     

The impact of attributions in marriage: a longitudinal analysis

In this study, we investigate the longitudinal relation between attributions for relationship events and marital satisfaction. Thirty-four couples were assessed at two points separated by approximately 12 months. Causal and responsibility attributions for marital difficulties and negative spouse behaviors were strongly related to concurrent marital satisfaction. For wives, later marital satisfaction was predicted by both causal and responsibility attributions after the effects of earlier satisfaction were removed. For husbands, attributions did not predict later marital satisfaction. Marital satisfaction did not predict later attributions for either husbands or wives. Marital satisfaction and the two types of attributions were related to concurrent unrealistic relationship expectations, but these expectations did not predict later marital satisfaction. The results are discussed in terms of a possible causal relation between attributions and marital satisfaction.     

Marital satisfaction in covenant versus standard marriages: Is there a difference?

After the rapid increase of the American divorce rate in the late 20th century, one of the most conspicuous efforts of the marriage movement in the 1990s that was used to increase marital stability was the legislation of the covenant marriage license, a more restricted marriage license issued in three different states of the U.S. To investigate the marital life of newlywed covenant versus standard couples, a large-scale 5-year couple study was conducted between 1998 and 2003 in Louisiana. The present study uses this large-sample, multiple-wave, multiple-group dyadic dataset to examine differences in co-development and divorce rates in 297 covenant and 380 standard mixed-sex couples using a multiple group growth curve modeling and survival analysis. We examined differences in marital trajectories between covenant and standard couples as well as between husbands and wives in each marital group. The results show (1) that the couples in both groups experienced, on average, declines in marital satisfaction, and such a decline was slower in covenant husbands than their wives as well as those in standard marriages, and (2) that co-development in marital satisfaction was more prominent in standard marriages than in covenant marriages, meaning standard couple's marital satisfaction declined at a more similar rate than that of covenant couples. We provide possible explanations and discuss practical implications.     

Patterns of couple interaction during the transition to parenthood

Using latent transition analysis, this study identified Constructive and Destructive marital problem‐solving patterns in couples prenatally and at 3, 12, and 24 months postbirth. Most couples remained in the same group across the 2 years (27.5% and 52.2% who started as Destructive and Constructive, respectively). Always Destructive spouses reported more depressive symptomatology and more negative and less positive views of marriage than Always Constructive couples. Mixed wives mirrored Always Constructive wives in their depressive symptomatology and concurrent views of marriage; mixed husbands mirrored Always Constructive husbands in their depressive symptomatology and Always Destructive husbands in their concurrent views of marriage. Mixed couples divorced or separated at the highest rates (35.7%), while Always Constructive couples tended to remain married (93.1%).     

Daily Hassles,Intimacy, and Marital Quality in Later Life Marriages

This study addressed the relationship between daily stress, intimacy, and marital quality in mature marriages in which the ages of husbands and wives ranged from 55 to 75 years. Four hundred and seventy-two individuals married to each other and randomly sampled from all fifty states completed the Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale, the Personal Assessment of Intimacy in Relationships, and the Hassles and Uplifts Scale. Findings indicated that daily stress was negatively related to marital quality for both wives and husbands, and that intimacy mediated the relationship between stress and marital quality for both husbands and wives. Implications for marriage and family therapy practice are explored.     

Emotional involvement in marriage during the last trimester of the first pregnancy: a comparison of husbands and wives

This study examined the emotional involvement of 27 husbands and wives in their marriage relationships during the stressful period of the last trimester of the first pregnancy. Four behavioral dispositions indicated a state of high emotional involvement in the marriage: striving to gratify interpersonal needs primarily through the marital relationship; needing to receive affection and desiring to provide support; desiring to satisfy these needs in a mutually satisfying way; and becoming irritated and hostile when maritally dissatisfied. The results show, according to all indicators except the desire to support one's spouse, that husbands were less emotionally involved in the marital relationship than wives. The finding that husbands showed a low level of emotional involvement in marriage supports Laws's (1971) suggestion that husbands' mode of being-in-the-marriage is basically unresponsive to changes and stresses in the family.     

A multisource approach to self-critical vulnerability to depression: the moderating role of attachment

The present study investigated the effects of self-criticism, dependency, and attachment variables in depression among couples. We utilized a multisource design that involved self-reports and spouse reports of personality and depression. This approach enabled us to explore the patterns of relations between self-reported and the spouse's report of the partner's view of self-criticism, dependency, and attachment dimensions, as well as the contribution of the latter to the moderation of distress. Participants were 120 couples in their first marriages. It was found that: (1) Self- and spouses' reported self-criticism are both associated with depression; (2) negative assessments of personality factors and attachment models by the self and spouse contribute uniquely in predicting depressive symptomatology; and (3) beyond the covariation between target's depression and marital maladjustment, attachment models of self and of other as reported by both the self and spouse moderate the effects of self-reported personality vulnerability on depressive symptomatology. Our results indicate that self-ratings and ratings by others must both be considered in the context of depression in close interpersonal relationships. Beyond the methodological implications of multisource data, our findings support the view of depression as an interpersonal process.     

Collaborative coping and daily mood in couples dealing with prostate cancer

Collaborative coping (i.e., spouses pooling resources and problem solving jointly) may be associated with better daily mood because of heightened perceptions of efficacy in coping with stressful events. The study examined the daily processes of collaborative coping (individuals' perceptions that the spouse collaborated), perceived coping effectiveness (ratings of how well they dealt with the event), and mood (i.e., Positive and Negative Affect Scale) across 14 days in 57 older couples coping with stressors involving the husband's prostate cancer and daily life in general. In hierarchical multivariate linear models, collaborative coping was associated with more positive same-day mood for both husbands and wives and less negative mood for wives only. These associations were partially mediated by heightened perceptions of coping effectiveness. Exploratory analyses revealed that collaborative coping was more frequent among wives who performed more poorly on cognitive tests and couples who reported greater marital satisfaction and more frequently using collaboration to make decisions. The results suggest that older couples may benefit from collaborative coping in dealing with problems surrounding illness.     

夫妻问题解决和社会支持、依恋安全性与婚姻质量的关系

以41对新婚夫妻为研究对象,采用观察法与问卷法相结合的方式,对夫妻冲突和支持、依恋安全性和婚姻质量之间的相互机制进行探索。结果显示：（1）妻子的婚姻质量更受到问题解决情境中（而不是社会支持）夫妻的积极行为（而不是消极行为）的影响;丈夫的婚姻质量更受到社会支持情境（而不是问题解决）中夫妻的消极行为（而不是积极行为）的影响;（2）妻子的依恋安全性显著预测妻子的婚姻质量,但丈夫的依恋安全性不能显著预测丈夫的婚姻质量;（3）妻子的依恋安全性在丈夫和妻子的问题解决积极行为对妻子婚姻质量的影响中起完全中介作用,而丈夫的依恋安全性在夫妻问题解决、社会支持行为与丈夫婚姻质量的关系之间不起作用。     

夫妻依恋风格、婚姻归因与婚姻质量的关系

本研究采用主—客体互倚模型(actor-partner interdependence model,APIM)的方法深入探讨夫妻的依恋风格、婚姻归因与自身及配偶感知到的婚姻质量之间的关系。以方便取样的方式在北京地区选取155对夫妻,采用Brennan等(1998)编制的亲密关系经历量表(ECR),Stander编制的婚姻归因量表(MAQ)和Spanier编制的婚姻质量问卷(DAS),要求夫妻双方分别报告其依恋风格、婚姻归因方式和感知到的婚姻质量。通过配对t检验、相关分析和结构方程模型分析发现:(1)夫妻对婚姻质量的总体知觉较为一致,但丈夫的婚姻满意度显著高于妻子;(2)夫妻双方在回避依恋和焦虑依恋两个分量表上不存在显著差异,但在婚姻归因上,妻子比丈夫表现出了更多的消极归因;(3)妻子的消极依恋显著地负向预测自身感知到的婚姻质量,而丈夫的消极依恋对自身感知到的婚姻质量没有显著影响;(4)在控制了丈夫、妻子的依恋风格、归因方式对其自身婚姻质量的主体效应之后,丈夫的依恋风格不能显著预测妻子感受到的婚姻质量,但其归因方式可以显著地预测妻子感受到的婚姻质量;然而妻子的归因方式并不能显著预测丈夫的婚姻质量。     

Emotional Involvement in Marriage During the Last Trimester of the First Pregnancy: A Comparison of Husbands and Wives

This study examined the emotional involvement of 27 husbands and wives in their marriage relationships during the stressful period of the last trimester of the first pregnancy. Four behavioral dispositions indicated a state of high emotional involvement in the marriage: (a) striving to gratify interpersonal needs primarily through the marital relationship; (b) needing to receive affection and desiring to provide support; (c) desiring to satisfy these needs in a mutually satisfying way; and (d) becoming irritated and hostile when maritally dissatisfied. The results show, according to all indicators except the desire to support one's spouse, that husbands were less emotionally involved in the marital relationship than wives. The finding that husbands showed a low level of emotional involvement in marriage supports Laws's (1971) suggestion that husbands' mode of being-in-the-marriage is basically unresponsive to changes and stresses in the family.     

How do constraints on leaving a marriage affect behavior within the marriage?

Like relationship satisfaction, constraints on leaving a relationship have been described as a component of global commitment. But do constraints increase or decrease efforts to maintain the relationship? To address this question, the authors of the current article describe 3 independent studies of spouses and married couples. Across all studies, wives who perceived more constraints on leaving the marriage exhibited lower levels of negative behavior only when their husbands were relatively unconstrained. In Study 3, this association was especially pronounced among less satisfied wives. In Study 2, spouses' perceived constraint also interacted to predict husbands' behavior, but in the opposite direction: Husbands who perceived more constraints behaved less negatively when their wives were similarly constrained but more negatively when their wives were less constrained. These results highlight differences in behavior between couples who persist in marriage because they desire to and those who endure because they have to, raising questions about measures of global commitment that obscure these distinctions. They also highlight the need for a dyadic perspective on the forces that keep relationships together.