Trajectories of Adjustment to Couple Relationship Separation

To test a stress‐diathesis model of adjustment to separation, the current study describes the trajectories of different aspects of separation adjustment in people formerly married or cohabiting, and moderators of those trajectories. A convenience sample of 303 recently separated individuals (169 women; 134 men) completed assessments of their emotional attachment to the former partner, loneliness, psychological distress, and coparenting conflict at two time points 6 months apart. Multilevel modeling of the overlapping multicohort design was used to estimate the trajectories of these different aspects of adjustment as a function of time since separation, marital status, gender, presence of children from the relationship, who initiated separation, social support, and anxious attachment. Attachment to the former partner, loneliness, and psychological distress were initially high but improved markedly across the 2 years after separation, but coparenting conflict was high and stable. Adjustment problems were similar in men and women, and in those formerly married or cohabiting, except that reported coparenting conflict was higher in men than women. Low social support and high anxious attachment predicted persistent attachment to the former partner, loneliness, and psychological distress. Coparenting conflict is a common, chronic problem for many separated individuals, and individuals with certain psychological vulnerabilities also experience chronic personal distress.     

Indirect pathways between depressive symptoms and marital distress: the role of conflict communication, attributions, and attachment style

Previous studies have focused on concomitants of depression and marital distress in order to help explain the relationship between the two, suggesting that several variables, such as conflict communication, attributions, and attachment style, are associated with depression, marital distress, or both. Our contention is that the selected variables may be important mediators (hypothesis 1) or moderators (hypothesis 2) of the concomitance between depression and marital adjustment, exploring the direct and indirect ways in which depressive symptoms and marital adjustment are related. In total, 415 heterosexual couples were recruited, and a series of regression analyses was conducted to test our hypotheses separately for men and women. Results indicated that demand-withdrawal, avoidance, causal attributions, and secure, ambivalent, and avoidant attachment mediated the relation between depressive symptoms and marital adjustment in the female sample, whereas constructive communication and causal and responsible attributions were significant mediators of men's levels of depressive symptoms and marital adjustment. In addition, avoidance and secure attachment moderated the association between depressive symptoms and marital adjustment in the female sample, and causal attributions were significant moderators of the association between depressive symptoms and marital adjustment for men. Several conclusions and implications for theory and future research are discussed.     

Direct and indirect pathways between adult attachment style and marital satisfaction

We explored direct, mediated, and moderated associations between adult attachment style and marital satisfaction using a community‐based sample of 73 married women. Continuous ratings of secure, avoidant, and ambivalent attachment styles were related to levels of marital satisfaction. However, psychological distress mediated the association between secure attachment and marital satisfaction, and social support mediated the relation between avoidant attachment and marital satisfaction. In addition, psychological distress moderated the relation between both secure and avoidant attachment styles and marital satisfaction.     

Predictors of Psychological Well-Being of Adolescents’ Parents

Informed by theories about processes in families with adolescent children, this study examined the contribution of self-perceived decline in physical and cognitive functioning related to midlife, marital satisfaction, and parent–child conflict to psychological well-being of parents of young adolescents. Parental well-being was conceptualized within Ryff’s multidimensional model, which encompasses six dimensions: Autonomy, Self-Acceptance, Environmental Mastery, Positive Relationships with Others, Personal Growth, and Purpose in Life. In examining relationships between parental well-being and supposed predictors, sociodemographic variables (parental age and education), perceived general life stress, and perceived available social support were controlled for. Participants were Croatian mothers (N?=?356) and fathers (N?=?328) whose oldest child was transitioning to adolescence. Overall, the patterns of associations between the studied predictors and well-being dimensions were similar for mothers and fathers. The main finding of the study was that individual differences in the psychological well-being of adolescents’ parents may be more attributable to self-perceived midlife changes (particularly for mothers) and marital satisfaction (particularly for fathers) than to perceived level of parent–adolescent conflict.     

Stress and coping in mothers caring for a child with severe learning difficulties: A test of Lazarus' transactional model of coping

The literature on psychological stress among women consistently points to the adverse effects of child rearing on mothers, particularly those caring for children with physical or mental handicaps. Early studies of the effects on family functioning of caring for a child with severe learning difficulties adopted a pathological approach in which it was assumed that psychological distress was inevitable among family members, particularly mothers. Recent research has emphasised that many families cope with and adapt to the stress they experience, and seeks to discover how they do so. The paper reports on a study of 166 mothers caring for a child with severe learning difficulties. The aim of the study was to investigate both the factors associated with maternal stress and those which might mediate or buffer the effects of stress. The study used the Folkman and Lazarus' (1979) transactional model of stress. Stress is the condition that results when person/environment transactions lead the individual to perceive a discrepancy between the demands of a situation and his/her resources or ability to cope with those demands. The nature and type of coping generated by a person will be determined by the coping resources in the person's environment. The model identifies five categories of coping resource: utilitarian resources, health/morale, social networks, general and specific beliefs, and problem solving skills. In our study, the five coping resources were represented by the mother's social class and appraisal of her financial worries, physical health, social support, acceptance of and adjustment to the child, and assessment of coping skills. Stress was measured by the Malaise Inventory (Rutter, 1970). Four of the five coping resources were found to be significant contributors in a hierarchical regression analysis of stress scores, contributing additional variance beyond that of behavioural and other child characteristics. Altogether, 55% of the variance in stress scores was explained.     

Attachment style and coping resources as predictors of coping strategies in the transition to parenthood

The relations among adult attachment style, coping resources, appraised strain, and coping strategies were examined in a prospective study of married couples having their first child (N= 92). Attachment and coping resources were measured during the second trimester of pregnancy, and parenting strain and coping strategies were assessed when the babies were about 6 weeks old. Results supported a theoretical model proposing that attachment is predictive of coping resources and appraised strain, and that attachment, resources, and strain are predictive of coping strategies. Results also highlighted the complexity of associations among attachment, stress, and coping: Gender differences in mean scores and predictive associations were obtained, and some interactions were found between resources and strain in predicting coping strategies. The findings support the utility of integrating theories of attachment and coping in explaining couples’adjustment to important developmental transitions.     

Counselling a Taiwanese woman with infertility problems

The purpose of this case report is to describe, analyse and discuss the process and outcome of counselling a 38-year-old Taiwanese woman with infertility problems by a female Taiwanese counsellor who employed the relationship-centred counselling (RCC) approach. The client's long-standing fertility has been deeply connected to her symptoms of depression, anxiety, psychological and physiological pain, and social stress. During a 10-month counselling intervention, the client gradually minimized her physiological symptoms, reduced her negative emotions, improved her interpersonal relationships, built up her social support network, and enhanced her sense of internal control, self-esteem and satisfaction with life.     

Personality Factors,Attachment Styles and Coping Strategies in Couples with Good and Poor Marital Quality

Marital quality in connection to its demographical and psychological correlates has been studied extensively in the West. In India also, it has been given considerable attention, but adequate exploration of relevant psychological variables is still wanting. The present study was conceptualized in this context to explore differences in the Personality factors, Attachment styles and Coping strategies in couples with good and poor marital quality. Data were collected from 90 couples for initial screening. Finally 20 couples with good marital quality and 20 couples with poor marital quality were selected based on scores of Marital Quality Scale. The tools used for screening were Marital Quality Scale and General Health Questionnaire-28. Other tools consisted of Neo Five Factor Inventory, Attachment style Questionnaire, and Coping Check list. Analysis revealed that the husbands with poor marital quality had higher neuroticism, less extraversion, less secure attachment style, less problem focused coping and acceptance, and greater denial than those with good marital quality. Wives with poor marital quality differed significantly from the wives with good marital quality in terms of less religious coping, acceptance and social support. The findings of the study may be utilized for advising maritally distressed couples by enhancing their coping resources and utilizing attachment potentials for furtherance of quality of married life.     

Perceived social support mediates between prior attachment and subsequent adjustment: a study of urban African American children.

The processes whereby attachment and other social and cognitive factors contribute to social and emotional adjustment were examined. Participants were 56 African American children from low-income urban families. Attachment and sociability were assessed in the strange situation when children were 4.5 years old. Two years later, children were interviewed regarding their perceptions of social support and their attributions about others' intentions. Also assessed at Time 2 were child verbal intelligence, defensive response style, children's self-reports, and parent reports of child adjustment. As expected, attachment uniquely predicted perceived social support. Insecure attachment predicted self-reports of behavior problems and parental report of internalizing problems. Perceived social support was associated positively and significantly with viewing ambiguously depicted actions as prosocial rather than aggressive. Perceived social support was found to mediate the relation between attachment and adjustment. Results suggest that behaviorally mediated strategies for relating to caregivers in early childhood predict generalized social perception, thought, and emotion at later ages.     

Marital Adjustment of Army Spouses One Year After Operation Desert Storm1

One year after Operation Desert Storm, marital adjustment was studied among 773 Army spouses married to soldiers who had been deployed. Interviews with some spouses and soldiers, conducted during site visits to a sample of installations, led to the identification of 19 marital adjustment events. Questions regarding these events were included in a mailed questionnaire that was sent to a sample of Army spouses. A factor analysis of the 19 events produced five factors: (a) Distance, (b) Closeness, (c) Role sharing, (d) Independent Spouse, (e) Dependent Spouse/Withdrawn Soldier. Predictors of factor scores were examined through multiple regression analysis. Predictors of factor scores included stress, prior marital problems, social support, and emotional well-being. Most spouses adjusted well to the deployment. Adjustment patterns are discussed in light of previous literature on war separation and attachment theory.     

Social ties: subgroup differences in costs and benefits

Social ties can be stressful as well as supportive. Are these opposing effects linked, and can they help explain subgroup differences in the efficacy of social support? These questions were applied to data on social support in response to stressful life events. The subjects were 314 women randomly chosen from the registration list of a neighborhood health center in Boston. The data were from the initial interviews of a larger study. The findings include the following: The mobilization of social support was associated with better psychological well-being for women with greater personal resources, but not for those with lower levels of personal resources. Women with lower levels of personal resources were more distressed by life events in the lives of their significant others, especially as the number of these events increased. The subgroup effects of interpersonal support and stress on psychological well-being were independent, separate effects. In sum, women with greater material and psychological resources derived more beneficial support and suffered less stress from their social ties.     

Parental Divorce and Children's Adjustment

ABSTRACT— This article reviews the research literature on links between parental divorce and children's short-term and long-term adjustment. First, I consider evidence regarding how divorce relates to children's externalizing behaviors, internalizing problems, academic achievement, and social relationships. Second, I examine timing of the divorce, demographic characteristics, children's adjustment prior to the divorce, and stigmatization as moderators of the links between divorce and children's adjustment. Third, I examine income, interparental conflict, parenting, and parents' well-being as mediators of relations between divorce and children's adjustment. Fourth, I note the caveats and limitations of the research literature. Finally, I consider notable policies related to grounds for divorce, child support, and child custody in light of how they might affect children's adjustment to their parents' divorce.     

How Resources (or Lack Thereof) Influence Advice Seeking on Psychological Well-being and Marital Risk: Testing Pathways of the Lack of Financial Stability,Support, and Strain

Using the model of conservation of resources (Hobfoll in The ecology of stress. Hempshire, New York, 1988; Hobfoll in Am Psychol 44:513–524, 1989; Hobfoll in Stress, culture, and community: the psychology and philosophy of stress. Plenum, New York, 1998; Hobfoll in Appl Psychol Int Rev 50:337–421, 2001), we explore how advice seeking, as influenced by lack of financial stability and support and strain from others (i.e., spouse, friends, and family) predicts psychological well-being and marital risk. Married and committed individuals (n = 1,798) were drawn from a nationally representative sample, the MIDUS. We found that advice seeking predicted psychological well-being and marital risk, but that the relationships depended on the availability of resources (i.e., financial stability, support, strain) and from whom support or strain was received. For example, for individuals lacking financial stability, marital risk decreased with advice seeking for those reporting high support from friends, whereas for individuals with financial stability, marital risk increased with advice seeking for those reporting high support from friends. We explain how understanding advice seeking and its outcomes must be considered within the context of available resources (or lack thereof).     

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.     

Relative Contributions of Childcare, Spousal Support, and Organizational Support in Reducing Work–Family Conflict for Men and Women: The Case of Turkey

The overarching purpose of the study was to investigate the role of three types of social support (i.e., spousal, childcare, and organizational support) in relation to work–family conflict (WFC) in dual-earner families with children ages 0–6 years. The relationship of WFC to psychological well-being and well-being in the domain of family was explored. Finally, the relationship of spousal support to psychological well-being and marital satisfaction was examined. A total of 434 participants (237 mothers, 197 fathers) in dual-earner families in Turkey with at least one preschool child participated in the study. The relative impact of childcare, spousal support, and organizational support on WFC and outcome variables was tested simultaneously for both men and women through structural equation modeling. Spousal support was related to WFC for women, whereas both spousal and organizational support were related to WFC for men. WFC had a negative relationship with psychological well-being, marital satisfaction, and parental role performance for both men and women. Implications of the results in relation to changing gender roles in a cultural context that is characterized by high collectivism and low gender egalitarianism are discussed. The paper received a Caroline Dexter Best Paper Award Nomination, Academy of Management Annual Meeting, New Orleans, August 2004.     

Infertility-Related Stress and Life Satisfaction among Chinese Infertile Women: A Moderated Mediation Model of Marital Satisfaction and Resilience

The present study investigated the effects of infertility on Chinese women’s life satisfaction. Infertile women (n?=?466) who were seeking medical help completed a survey that included the Fertility Problem Inventory (FPI), the Dyadic Adjustment Questionnaire (DAS), the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), the Satisfaction with Life Scale, and demographic variables. We used a moderated mediation model to test our hypotheses, with life satisfaction as the dependent variable, representations about the importance of parenthood as the independent variable, the impact of infertility on life domains as a mediator, and marital satisfaction and resilience as moderators. Results showed that representations about the importance of parenthood and the impact of infertility on life domains are two main types of infertility-related stress, which could play independent roles in predicting life satisfaction. Representations about the importance of parenthood had a negative indirect effect on life satisfaction through the impact of infertility on life domains, and the indirect effect of the impact of infertility on life domains was moderated by marital satisfaction and resilience. Specially, representations about the importance of parenthood had a weaker indirect effect (through the impact of infertility on life domains) on life satisfaction in individuals with higher marital satisfaction or resilience. Therefore, the type of infertility-related stress and both marital satisfaction and resilience should be addressed in psychological interventions for women coping with infertility in mainland China.

     

Parental Marital Quality and Well-Being,Parent-Child Relational Quality,and Chinese Adolescent Adjustment

The linkages between parents’ report of marital quality and parental well-being and children’s report ofparent-child relational quality and adolescent psychological well-being in 378 Chinese families over 2 years were examined. Results revealed that (a) marital quality predicted parental well-being; (b) fathers’ marital quality and well-being predicted parent-child relational quality but mothers’ did not; (c) paternal influence appeared to be stronger than maternal influence on adolescent adjustment; and (d) both direct and indirect paths were found for the linkages between parental marital quality and well-being and adolescent psychological well-being.     

Self,social identity and psychological well-being

Self and social identity are key elements in the understanding of a person’s strivings for health and well-being. This review (i) examines the concepts of self, social identity, and psychological well-being; (ii) integrates empirical evidence that relates various self-aspects or social identities to psychological well-being; (iii) analyzes within a stress and coping framework the well-being consequences of socially devalued self or threatened identities, perceived discriminations, challenges of acculturation and identity management; and (iv) delineates the role of self, social identity and related psycho-social variables as moderators and mediators in pathways leading to psychological well-being. Besides listing some methodological issues and empirical deficits, major concerns for future research are also identified. An explicit self and social identity perspective of this research synthesis brings personal and social aspects together, and this interface offers exciting opportunities for research advancement.     

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。     

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.