Social support: Its structure and impact on marital disruption

Availability of social support has been hypothesized to play a role in influencing adjustment to marital disruption either directly or by moderating the debilitating effects of stress. Yet previous research has not adequately conceptualized or measured the nature and availability of social support. In an effort to learn more about the structure and impact of social support as it relates to marital disruption, 50 newly separated men and women were interviewed at 2 months and again at 8 months after their separations. The structure of social support was found to include (a) several important sources of support, including family, friends, and the larger community; (b) an index of social activity; and (c) a sense of satisfaction with present marital status. Although the stress associated with separation was positively related to poorer adjustment, certain aspects of social support were found to moderate this relationship. This report is based, in part, on work supported by National Institute of Mental Health grant No. MH 26373 (Preventive Intervention for Newly Separated Persons), Bernard L. Bloom and William F. Hodges, co-principal investigators. We are pleased to acknowledge this support.     

The legacy of parents' marital discord: consequences for children's marital quality

Drawing on a national longitudinal study of 297 parents and their married offspring, the authors found that parents' marital discord was negatively related to offspring's marital harmony and positively related to offspring's marital discord. The transmission of marital quality was not mediated by parental divorce, life-course variables, socioeconomic attainment, retrospective measures of parent-child relationships, or psychological distress. Offspring's recollections of parental discord, however, mediated about half of the association between parents' reports of marital discord and offspring's reports of discord in their own marriages. Parental behaviors most likely to predict problematic marriages among offspring included jealousy, being domineering, getting angry easily, being critical, being moody, and not talking to the spouse.     

Dimensionality of psychosocial responses to marital disruption

The purpose of the study was to assess whether psychosocial responses to marital disruption were best arranged along one single dimension ranging from maximum positive to maximum negative responses, or whether positive and negative responses constituted two separate and distinct dimensions. Participants were 658 recently divorced individuals. A confirmatory factor analysis revealed that a two-factor model provided a better fit to the data than a one-factor model. Moreover, a number of external variables differentiated between positive and negative responses, indicating that such responses reflect two separate domains. Thus, the findings support the notion that psychosocial responses after marital disruption comprise a bidimensional rather than a unidimensional pattern. The findings are discussed within the general framework of positive-negative asymmetry and the idea that positive and negative evaluations belong to different psychological system.     

His and her marriage: A multivariate study of gender and marital satisfaction

This study examined gender differences in marital satisfaction using the multidimensional marital inventory ENRICH. Contrary to previous research, the results indicated that men are somewhat more satisfied with their marriages than women. The findings also suggest that religion is a more important part of the marriage for men, whereas women esposed egalitarian roles to a greater extent. A significant interaction was found between marital distress and gender on the Sexual Relationship, Communication, Parenting and Children, and Equalitarian Roles scales, indicating that these areas may be particularly important in distressed couples. The differences in husbands' and wives' marital satisfaction found in this study are consistent with research suggesting that men obtain greater mental health benefits from marriage than do women. The explanation of the obtained gender differences are discussed with regard to measurement issues, sampling procedures, and power and task inequities. Sampling and differences in marital tasks and power are cited as the best explanations of the findings.     

Some implications of Jewish marriage philosophy for marital breakdown

A clarification of some of the roots of marital breakdown is sought through examining the love relationship in Viktor Frankl's logotherapy and its theological counterparts in Judaism. Frankl's implicit ethic of self-transcendence coincides with Judaism's view of the married state as shared destiny. Together these call into question the ethic of self-fulfillment which appears to underlie much marital distress.Dr. Bulka is Rabbi of Congregation Machzikei Hadas in Ottawa, Ontario, and Editor of theJournal of Psychology and Judaism. His address is: 1747 Featherston Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1H 6P4.     

Short- and long-term effects of marital disruption on children

The short- and long-term (5 years later) effects of parental marital disruption on the psychological adjustment of children were examined. A representative community sample of urban families (N = 1,034) in which 25-50% had experienced marital disruption constituted the sample. The effect of the presence and type of father figure in the home on children's adjustment, controlling for ethnic group and social class, was evaluated with respect to measures of psychological symptomatology (based on mother's report). Significant effects of the father figure variable on the dimensions measuring Noncompulsivity and Delinquency were found at both time periods. Children with natural fathers showed the least pathology on the Delinquency factor and those with surrogate fathers demonstrated the most disordered behavior on the Noncompulsivity factor. These findings complement previous research showing stability of antisocial behavior over time. Implications for preventive interventions and future research are discussed.     

Social influence, marriage, and the heart: cardiovascular consequences of interpersonal control in husbands and wives.

Human and experimental animal research suggests that social stress in general--and chronic, effortful attempts to exert social control in particular--may contribute to cardiovascular disease. We examined the effects of exerting social influence or control on cardiovascular responses in married couples. Compared to husbands discussing a problem with their wives, husbands attempting to influence or persuade their wives displayed larger increases in systolic blood pressure (SBP) before and during the discussion. Furthermore, these physiological effects were accompanied by increases in anger and a more hostile and coldly assertive interpersonal style. Although wives who engaged in social influence attempts displayed generally similar behavior, they did not show the elevated SBP response or anger. We discuss the results in terms of the social context of cardiovascular reactivity and potential marital factors in cardiovascular health.     

Psychological adaptation after marital disruption: the effects of optimism and perceived control

The present study explored the extent to which the two personality factors--perceived control and dispositional optimism--are related to psychological adaptation after marital disruption. A sample of 658 recently divorced individuals participated in the study by filling in an anonymous questionnaire. Bivariate findings revealed that perceived control and optimism were strongly related to psychological adaptation. However, when both predictors were included in a multiple regression analysis, optimism had a much larger effect than perceived control. The findings clearly indicate that personality factors account for a substantial proportion of the variance in adaptation to marital disruption.     

Intelligence and personality in mate choice and marital satisfaction

This research examined how intellectual and personality similarity or complementarity between a couple relates to their marital choice and marital satisfaction. Eighty-one couples were tested using the WAIS-R and the MMPI and the Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment Scale. As predicted, couples showed significant similarity for some IQ variables. However, the prediction that IQ would have a relationship to marital satisfaction was not borne out. Couples show some significant similarity on some personality variables but for different variables in the 39 Clinic couples and the 42 Non-clinic couples. A strong relationship was found between couples in both samples on the Pd scale. As far as marital satisfaction is concerned, similarity or complementarity in personality variables does not appear.     

Continuity and change: assortative marriage and the consistency of personality in adulthood

How is personality stability possible amid the myriad of social changes and transformations that characterize a human life? We argue that by choosing situations that are compatible with their dispositions and by affiliating with similar others, individuals may set in motion processes of social interchange that sustain their dispositions across time and circumstance. To test this proposition we examined mate selection, using data on married couples from two ongoing longitudinal studies at the Institute of Human Development, University of California, Berkeley. Consistent with other research, the results point to homogamy as a basic norm in marriage. More important, the results show that marriage to a similar other promotes consistency in the intraindividual organization of personality attributes across middle adulthood. We offer some speculations for a more relational approach to the problem of individual continuity and change.     

Depressive symptoms in early marriage: predictions from relationship confidence and negative marital interaction.

The authors proposed a model of depressive symptoms in early marriage in which relationship confidence, defined as perceived couple-level efficacy to manage conflicts and maintain a healthy relationship, mediates the effect of negative marital interactions on depressive symptoms. The model was tested in a sample of 139 couples assessed prior to marriage and 1 year later. As predicted, relationship confidence demonstrated simple negative associations with negative marital interaction and depressive symptoms for all participants. Longitudinal path analyses supported the mediational model for women only. In women but not men, negative marital interaction indirectly had an impact on depressive symptoms through the mediator of relationship confidence. Findings suggest that relationship confidence may be important to understanding links between marital distress and depressive symptoms, especially in women.     

Understanding marital conflict 7 years later from prenatal representations of marriage

We examine how representations of marriage, assessed prenatally, predict different types of marital conflict (cooperation, avoidance/capitulation, stonewalling, and child involvement in parental conflict) at 7 years postpartum (N=132 individuals). We assessed representations of marriage prenatally by interviewing spouses about their own parents' marriage, and then rated the content and insightfulness of their memories. Results show that marital representations characterized by higher insight predict higher cooperation and lower child involvement in parental conflict, whereas content of marital representations was not a significant predictor of marital conflict. Further, individuals who remember negative memories from their parents' marriage with high insight were lowest on child involvement in parental conflict, whereas those who remember negative memories with low insight were highest on child involvement in parental conflict. Finally, women who remember negative content with high insight report the highest cooperation, whereas women who remember negative content with low insight report the lowest cooperation. For men, however, marital representations were less effective in predicting later cooperation. We conclude that marital representations, even when assessed prenatally, influence certain types of marital conflict 7 years later. Using such findings, therapists could help spouses gain insight into how the memories of their parents' marriage relate to the use of specific conflict strategies in their marriage.     

Assessment of personality and demographic aspects of cohabitation and marital success

The outcomes of 68 marriages of four-year duration were compared on the basis of whether the partners had or had not cohabited premaritally. Background characteristics and personality data were assessed on those couples when there were newly married, and they were followed-up four years later to determine their current marital status, level of satisfaction, difficulty with various problem areas and the number of children born to them. No reliable differences on marital satisfaction or divorce rates between premarital cohabitors and noncohabitors were found. Cohabitors who divorced did so while reporting less marital distress than noncohabitors who divorced. Premarital cohabitors had significantly fewer children than noncohabitors. Degree of difficulty experienced on various problem areas differed between the groups. Certain personality and background variables predicted marital success differently for the two groups. Using the same selected set of six predictor variables, multiple regression equations were generated for cohabitors and noncohabitors. The cohabitors equation (R2 = .56) predicted marital success significantly more effectively than the noncohabitors equation (R2 = .28), When comparing the tri-weight vectors for these two equations, none of the predictor variables had the same influence in both groups. Theoretical implications of the findings were discussed.     

DSM-5 personality traits and DSM-IV personality disorders

Two issues pertinent to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM-5) proposal for personality pathology, the recovery of DSM-IV personality disorders (PDs) by proposed DSM-5 traits and the validity of the proposed DSM-5 hybrid model, which incorporates both personality pathology symptoms and maladaptive traits, were evaluated in a large undergraduate sample (N = 808). Proposed DSM-5 traits as assessed with the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 explained a substantial proportion of variance in DSM-IV PDs as assessed with the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire-4+, and trait indicators of the 6 proposed DSM-5 PDs were mostly specific to those disorders with some exceptions. Regression analyses support the DSM-5 hybrid model in that pathological traits, and an indicator of general personality pathology severity provided incremental information about PDs. Findings are discussed in the context of broader issues around the proposed DSM-5 model of personality disorders.     

Social anxiety and premorbid personality disorders in paranoid schizophrenic patients treated with clozapine

The concept of anxiety as a distinct comorbid disorder in schizophrenia has recently been rediscovered after having been neglected for a long period of time due to both theoretical and clinical approaches adopted from the appearance of the first edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1950. This rediscovery was accentuated by the fact that the concept of comorbidity in various psychiatric disorders has recently won widespread favor within the scientific community, and that the use of atypical neuroleptic medication to treat patients with schizophrenia has been reported to lead to the emergence of anxiety symptoms. Of the atypical neuroleptic medications used to treat schizophrenia, clozapine has most frequently been reported to induce anxiety symptoms. In this paper, 12 cases of patients with paranoid schizophrenia who developed social phobia during clozapine treatment are reported, and their response to fluoxetine augmentation is assessed. Premorbid personality disorders were also investigated; patients were assessed using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R-Patient Version and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis II Personality Disorders (DSM-III-R=Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Third Edition Revised; DSM-IV=Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition). In addition, the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms, the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms, the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS), the Frankfurt Beschwerde Fragebogen (Frankfurt Questionnaire of Complaints), and the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale were used to rate clinical symptomatology. All patients were reevaluated after 12 weeks of cotreatment with clozapine and fluoxetine. In 8 (66.6%) of the 12 cases, symptoms responded (>/=35% LSAS score reduction) to an adjunctive regimen of fluoxetine. Furthermore, in 7 (58.3%) of the 12 cases, an anxious personality disorder (avoidant=33.3%; dependent=25%) was identified, but no significant differences in the prevalence of comorbid personality disorders emerged in comparison with a group of 16 patients with paranoid schizophrenia treated with clozapine who did not show symptoms of social phobia. The clinical relevance of the assessment and treatment of anxiety disorders is discussed in light of a clinical therapeutic approach that overcomes the implicit hierarchy of classification. Considering that the onset of anxiety-spectrum disorders (such as social phobia) can occur during the remission of psychotic symptoms in clozapine-treated patients with schizophrenia, a comprehensive approach to pharmacological therapy for patients with schizophrenia (or, at least for those treated with clozapine) should be adopted.     

Longitudinal studies of personality disorders: four lessons from personality psychology

The three longitudinal projects described in this special section of the Journal of Personality Disorders raise a number of intriguing questions concerning the natural history of personality disorders and offer more than their share of surprises. In addition, they underscore several valuable lessons derived from the literature on normal-range personality traits. Drawing in part from the writings of the American trait psychologist Gordon Allport, I describe four such lessons: (1) change and continuity of personality traits and disorders can and do coexist, (2) the covariation among personality traits helps to account for the "comorbidity" among personality disorders, (3) personality traits and disorders influence how individuals interpret life events, and (4) personality traits must be distinguished from behavioral adaptations to these traits. These lessons remind us that the science of personality disorders must be informed by the basic science of personality.     

Concepts and methods of explicit marital negotiation training with the marriage contract game

Abstract

The Marriage Contract Game was designed to help couples negotiate relationship and task problems in an explicit, rational manner. This paper describes the game's conceptual ties to modes of behavioral family intervention and to the social psychology of bargaining. The game's procedures are described in detail to permit the replication and dismantling required for empirical investigation. The paper concludes with an example of the game's application to a distressed couple.     

Husbands' and wives' alcohol use disorders and marital interactions as longitudinal predictors of marital adjustment

In this longitudinal study, the relationships among wives' and husbands' lifetime alcoholism status, marital behaviors, and marital adjustment were tested. Participants were 105 couples from the Michigan Longitudinal Study (MLS), an ongoing multimethod investigation of substance use in a community-based sample of alcoholics, nonalcoholics, and their families. At baseline (T1), husbands and wives completed a series of diagnostic measures, and lifetime diagnosis of alcohol use disorder (AUD, as defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th ed.), was assessed. Couples completed a problem-solving marital interaction task 3 years later at T2, which was coded for the ratio of positive to negative behaviors. Couples also completed a measure of marital adjustment at T4 (9 years after T1 and 6 years after T2). Results showed that husbands' lifetime AUD predicted lower levels of their wife's positive marital behaviors 3 years later but was not related to their own or their wife's marital adjustment 9 years from baseline. By contrast, wives' lifetime AUD had direct negative associations with their own and their husband's marital satisfaction 9 years later, and wives' marital behaviors during the problem-solving task predicted their own and their husband's marital satisfaction 6 years later. Findings indicate that marital adjustment in alcoholic couples may be driven more by the wives' than the husbands' AUD and marital behavior. Implications for intervention with alcoholic couples were discussed.     

Gender role and personality disorders

Many researchers have hypothesized relationships between personality disorders and gender role (i.e., masculinity and femininity). However, research has not addressed if people who are masculine or feminine more often meet the criteria for personality disorders. The present study examined whether college students (N = 665, 60% women) higher in masculinity or femininity more often exhibited features of the 10 DSM-IV personality disorders. Feminine men exhibited more features of all the personality disorders except antisocial. Dependent traits were associated with higher femininity and lower masculinity. Antisocial traits were associated with masculinity. Both men and women who typically behaved consistent with their gender had more narcissistic and histrionic features, whereas participants who typically behaved unlike their gender had more features of the Cluster A personality disorders.