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.     

How does personality matter in marriage? An examination of trait anxiety, interpersonal negativity, and marital satisfaction

Although trait anxiety and its aliases (negative affectivity, neuroticism) have frequently been found to be associated with marital dissatisfaction, few efforts have been made to identify the processes through which trait anxiety exerts its influence. This study reports findings from a 13-year, 4-phase longitudinal study in which trait anxiety, measured when spouses were newlyweds, consistently predicted marital negativity which, in turn, was associated with partner's marital dissatisfaction. Some support was also found for effects of trait anxiety on partner's marital satisfaction, independent of marital negativity, as well as for the idea that trait anxiety is directly related to spouses' own marital satisfaction. Trait anxiety did not distinguish couples who divorced from those who remained married, and it generally did not predict declines in marital satisfaction. The disagreeable impact of trait anxiety on marriage was evident at the outset of marriage and was stable over time.     

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.     

Interpersonal factors and perinatal depressive symptomatology in a low-income Latina sample

Interpersonal factors are among the risk factors that predispose women to experiencing mood disturbances during the childbearing years. This study investigates the trajectory of change in depressive symptomatology over the course of the perinatal period as related to interpersonal risk factors (marital quality and social support) in a sample of 69 low-income, mostly immigrant Latina mothers at high and low risk for depression. We found a significant linear change in depressive symptomatology from baseline (pregnancy) through the postpartum period. This decline was steeper for high-risk women who reported high levels of social support compared with those who reported low levels of social support. In addition, a greater decline in depressive symptom scores was found for women who reported better postnatal marital quality, irrespective of risk group status. The results suggest the importance of considering marital quality and social support in estimations of risk for depression. These findings also have implications for targeting social support and marital quality in preventive interventions for perinatal depression in Latinas.     

Perceiving unfairness in the family: cause or consequence of marital distress?

This research tests a model suggesting that marital distress leads individuals to scrutinize what is given and received in the relationship. This scrutiny elicits perceptions of unfairness that maintain or exacerbate marital distress. In a 3-panel longitudinal study tracking married couples across the transition to parenthood, both wives' and husbands' reports of marital conflict and wives' marital dissatisfaction at Time 1 positively predicted perceived unfairness of the allocation of household tasks at Time 2, controlling for earlier perceptions of unfairness. In addition, there was evidence of perceived unfairness of division of labor at Time 2 predicting marital conflict and marital dissatisfaction for wives at Time 3, controlling for earlier conflict and dissatisfaction. This model of relationship distress and perceptions of unfairness is contrasted with prior interpretations of links between perceived injustice and distress in relationships.     

Gender differences in marital quality and well-being in Chinese married adults

The present study addressed the issue of gender differences in marital quality and well-being in Chinese married men (N= 738) and women (N= 761). The results showed that males had significantly higher scores on the Chinese Dyadic Adjustment Scale and Chinese Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale. While a longer duration of marriage was associated with higher levels of dyadic consensus and affectional expression in men, the duration of marriage was negatively related to marital adjustment and marital satisfaction in women. The data also showed that women displayed more psychiatric symptoms and midlife crisis problems and they had lower levels of positive mental health and perceived health status than men. While marital quality was positively related to well-being in both men and women, the impact of marital quality on well-being was generally found to be greater in women than in men.     

Marital satisfaction across the transition to parenthood.

The purpose of the present study was to discriminate between the 2 dominant perspectives governing research on the nature of marital change over the transition to parenthood. Progress can be made in understanding this transition by recognizing the role of uncontrolled sources of variability in research designs, defining and using control groups, and timing of data collection around the child's arrival, and the authors conducted a study incorporating these methodological refinements. Growth curve analyses were conducted on marital satisfaction data collected twice before and twice after the birth of the 1st child and at corresponding points for voluntarily childless couples (N = 156 couples). Spouses who were more satisfied prior to pregnancy had children relatively early in marriage, and parents experienced greater declines in marital satisfaction compared to nonparents. Couples with planned pregnancies had higher prepregnancy satisfaction scores, and planning slowed husbands' (but not wives') postpartum declines. In sum, parenthood hastens marital decline--even among relatively satisfied couples who select themselves into this transition--but planning status and prepregnancy marital satisfaction generally protect marriages from these declines.     

A longitudinal investigation of stress spillover in marriage: does spousal support adequacy buffer the effects?

Stress spillover in marriage was examined within a stress-buffering conceptual framework in a multiwave, longitudinal sample of newlywed husbands and wives (N = 101 couples). Spousal support, chronic role strain, and marital satisfaction were assessed 4 times over 3 years and analyzed via actor-partner interdependence model and growth curve analytic techniques. Greater escalation in husbands' role strain over the first 3 years of marriage was associated with steeper declines in their marital satisfaction regardless of the adequacy of spousal support provided by their wives. In contrast, greater escalation in husbands' and wives' role strain was associated with significantly less marital decline for wives, and these links were bolstered when husbands provided wives with more adequate support. The present study is one of the first to explicate the underlying processes through which role strain and spousal support facilitate and mitigate the developmental course of marital satisfaction.     

Marital Adjustment and Irrational Beliefs

The present study was designed to determine which aspects of Ellis' irrational beliefs as well as emotional traits (anxiety, curiosity, anger) differentiate couples attending marriage counseling from couples couple not attending marriage counseling as well as levels of marital satisfaction in couples as measured by the Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment Test. Participants were 61 married couples, 18 of whom were attending marriage counseling and 43 who were not attending marriage counseling. Each partner completed a number of self-report questionnaires containing items measuring irrational /rational beliefs, anger, anxiety and curiosity, and communication skills. Correlational and multiple regression analyses indicate support for Albert Ellis' proposition concerning the importance of individual partner's emotional traits and accompanying irrational beliefs in marital adjustment and dissatisfaction. Self-downing and need for comfort were the dimensions of irrational thinking most strongly related to marital dysfunction. Anger, anxiety but neither curiosity nor communication skills distinguished individuals experiencing or not experiencing marital problems. Implications for relationship counseling are briefly discussed.     

Spouses' Perceptions of Each Other's Coping Ability with Possible Stressful Life Events and Marital Quality

This study examines the effect ob marital quality of spouses' appreciation of partner's coping ability with possible stressful life events. Results show that while higher appreciation of partner's coping ability contributes to marital quality in wives, only the extent of being threatened by stressful life events and sense of being needed by partner for support when confronting with stressful life events contribute to marital quality in husbands.     

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.     

Body dissatisfaction and adolescent self-esteem: prospective findings

The aim of the study was to investigate prospectively the direction of the relationship between adolescent girls’ body dissatisfaction and self-esteem. Participants were 242 female high school students who completed questionnaires at two points in time, separated by 2 years. The questionnaire contained measures of weight (BMI), body dissatisfaction (perceived overweight, figure dissatisfaction, weight satisfaction) and self-esteem. Initial body dissatisfaction predicted self-esteem at Time 1 and Time 2, and initial self-esteem predicted body dissatisfaction at Time 1 and Time 2. However, linear panel analysis (regression analyses controlling for Time 1 variables) found that aspects of Time 1 weight and body dissatisfaction predicted change in self-esteem, but not vice versa. It was concluded that young girls with heavier actual weight and perceptions of being overweight were particularly vulnerable to developing low self-esteem.     

Social comparison and the drive upward revisited: Affiliation as a response to marital stress

To test theoretical ideas derived from classic and recent social comparison theory, two studies examined affiliative tendencies as a response to marital problems among individuals varying in marital dissatisfaction. Study 1 (n. = 632) showed that the higher the degree of marital dissatisfaction and the higher the uncertainty about how things are going in one's marriage, the stronger was the desire for affiliation (operationalized as the desire to talk with others about one's marriage). Moreover, among individuals high in marital dissatisfaction, a preference for upward affiliation was found, i.e. for contact with others having better marriages. Individuals with lower levels of dissatisfaction preferred affiliation with similar others. Women experienced more uncertainty and a stronger affiliative tendency than men. In Study 2 (n = 233), these findings were largely replicated. Moreover, it was shown that the desire to affiliate when facing marital stress was particularly strong among individuals high in interpersonal orientation.     

The Impact of the Birth of a Baby on the Time Structure and Social Mixture of a Couple's Daily Life and Its Consequences for Well-Being1

In order to investigate the temporal disruption and social dislocation resulting from the birth of a child, 37 couples were studied at 4 time points: pre-birth (second trimester), and at 1, 4, and 12 months postpartum. A diary-based instrument (the Social Rhythm Metric-SRM) was used to evaluate the habitual times at which 17 events during the day took place, the proportion of events done alone, as a couple only, and with nonfamily members. Also evaluated were perceptions of the quality of the marriage relationship, feelings of depressive symptoms, and feelings of anger. The baby's birth had a major effect on the timing with which daily events were done, and on differences between mothers' and fathers' habitual times, especially in the morning. There were also dramatic differences (50–80% reductions) in the proportion of events done alone, as a couple only, and with nonfamily members. However, these effects were much more marked in mothers than in fathers and were attenuated when there were prior children. Changes in marital quality and mood were also observed. The birth was associated particularly with a decline in marital quality and in the levels of anger and depressive symptoms felt by parents at 1 month postpartum, although these effects interacted with gender and prior parental experience. Furthermore, the changes in well-being were related to changes in SRM indices, though differentially for mothers and fathers.     

Adult attachment and the transition to parenthood

This study examined how a major life stressor--the transition to parenthood--affects marital satisfaction and functioning among persons with different attachment orientations. As hypothesized, the interaction between women's degree of attachment ambivalence and their perceptions of spousal support (assessed 6 weeks prior to childbirth) predicted systematic changes in men's and women's marital satisfaction and related factors over time (6 months postpartum). Specifically, if highly ambivalent (preoccupied) women entered parenthood perceiving lower levels of support from their husbands, they experienced declines in marital satisfaction. Women's ambivalence also predicted their own as well as their husbands' marital satisfaction and functioning concurrently. The degree of attachment avoidance did not significantly predict marital changes, although women's avoidance did correlate with some of the concurrent marital measures. These findings are discussed in terms of attachment theory.     

Correlates of gender role orientation during pregnancy and the postpartum

This study was designed to examine the relationship between gender role orientation and psychological adjustment during pregnancy and the postpartum period in a large sample of French-speaking Caucasian mothers. Gender role was assessed with the Bem Sex Role Inventory, which classifies subjects into four categories: androgynous, masculine, feminine, and undifferentiated. A discriminant analysis showed a relationship between androgyny and the following measures of psychological adaptation: self-esteem, satisfaction with social support, and level of apprehension toward perinatal stressors. The masculine gender role was linked with self-esteem, work involvement, age, and severity of perinatal stress. No relationship was found between gender role and the level of antenatal or postnatal depressive symptomatology. Stress, marital support, and social support were among the predictors of postpartum depression, which underlined the importance of taking these variables into account when studying the well-being of mothers during the postnatal period. Results are discussed in light of previous literature on the association between gender role and motherhood. The limitations of Bem's model and inventory are also considered.     

A FIELD EXPERIMENT TESTING SUPERVISORY ROLE CLARIFICATION

An intervention designed to clarify individual roles was tested experimentally on the business service division of a major university. Following a pre-test which identified role stress as a significant problem in the organization, top managers clarified their respective departmental roles in meeting organizational objectives. This was followed by a post-test (Time 2) survey of workers'stressors and symptoms. Supervisors were then trained in the method of clarifying subordinate roles using a dyadic exchange process. Workers were randomly assigned to either participate in a thorough role clarification discussion with their supervisors or join a wait-list control group. Based on a follow-up (Time 3) questionnaire, the intervention appeared to reduce role ambiguity and supervisor dissatisfaction. There were no effects on other aspects of subjective strain, physical symptoms, or time lost due to illness. Role conflict decreased in both the experimental and control groups. We discuss the implications of these findings for systemic efforts to reduce employee stress.     

Sex typing and division of labor as determinants of marital change across the transition to parenthood

This investigation examines the proposition that wives who describe their personality in ways that deviate from sex stereotypes will become less positive and more negative about their marriage from before to after they become mothers, particularly when the transition to parenthood is accompanied by an increase in the traditionalism of marital roles. Sixty-one couples were studied longitudinally from the last trimester of pregnancy through the third postpartum month. The wives completed the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (Spence & Helmreich, 1978), which measures the extent to which they ascribe personality attributes stereotyped as "masculine" (i.e., instrumental, agentic) and "feminine" (expressive, affectional) to themselves, and several questionnaires assessing the marital relationship at both times of measurement. Results revealed that the more division of labor changed toward traditionalism, the greater the decline in wives' evaluations of the positive aspects of marriage and that changes in wives' evaluations of both positive and negative aspects of marriage can be significantly predicted by the interaction of the wives' expressivity and changes toward increased traditionalism in division of labor. Additional analyses showed that wives who do not ascribe female sex-typed attributes to themselves (relative to those who see themselves in sex-stereotyped ways) are more apt to evaluate their marriage less favorably from before to after parenthood when roles shift toward greater traditionalism.     

The transition to parenthood: I. The rating of prenatal marital competence

This article is the first of three that will present data from the Timberlawn Psychiatric Research Foundation Young Family Project, a study of the development over time of competent family systems. The Project is briefly described and findings are presented from the initial data collection period. The operational definitions of marital competence and the Continuum of Marital Competence are presented, and the data are interpreted to suggest that the spouses' levels of individual psychological health, their agreement on values, and their socioeconomic status are related to the level of marital competence. The level of prenatal marital competence at Time 1 is used as an independent variable with which to predict both changes in marital structure and incorporation of the child into the family system at 3 months and 1 year postpartum. The results of these analyses will be presented in two subsequent articles.     

The effects of perceived social support on quality of life in patients awaiting coronary artery bypass grafting and their partners: testing dyadic dynamics using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model

Patients awaiting coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) need support from their partners or family caregivers to manage their self care successfully and to maximise quality of life. Partners need social support to help overcome the stressful tasks of an unexpected caregiving role. It is not known whether the individual's perceived social support contributes to their own, as well as their partner's quality of life. The aims of this study were to assess differences in social support and quality of life in patients and partners awaiting CABG, and to examine whether patients' and partners' perceived social support predicted their own, as well as their partner's quality of life before CABG. This cross-sectional study recruited 84 dyads (patients 84% males, aged 64.5 years and partners 94% females, aged 61.05 years). Perceived social support was assessed using the Medical Outcomes Study Social Support survey, with sub-scales for informational/emotional support, affectionate support, tangible support and positive social interaction. Quality of life was assessed using the Short-Form 12 Health Survey. Dyadic data were analysed using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model, with distinguishable dyad regression. Results revealed the patients' informational/emotional support exhibited an actor effect on their own mental health (? = 0.19, p = 0.001); indicating those with low informational/emotional support had poorer mental health. There was a partner effect of the patients' informational/emotional support on their partner's mental health (? = 0.14, p = 0.024), indicating the patients' informational/emotional support was associated with the partner's mental health. None of the other types of social support exhibited an actor effect or a partner effect on the patient's or the partner's mental or physical health. More research into the relationship between social support and mental health is needed to help inform the design of interventions that target the dyad.