The timing of psychosocial changes in women's lives: the years 25 to 45

Sixty women, aged 30, 35, 40, and 45, participated in a retrospective interview concerning psychosocial changes in their adult lives. Subjects' responses provided self-report data concerning specific psychosocial changes, and judges who read the interview protocols provided independent ratings of major psychosocial transitions. The distributions of self-reported changes and rated transitions across both chronological age and family cycle phases were examined statistically. Rated transitions were found to be reliably related to chronological age but not to family cycle phase. Specifically, 78% of the subjects manifested a major transition commencing between ages 27 and 30. That transition was characterized initially by personal disruption, followed by reassessment and finally by increased psychological well-being. Both chronological age and family cycle phase were reliably related to a variety of self-reported changes. The implications for conceptions of adult developmental changes are discussed.     

Equity and marital satisfaction over the family life cycle

Marital satisfaction and perceptions of global marital equity were assessed in a sample of 373 Australian husbands and wives drawn from four phases of the family life cycle: preparenthood, childrearing, launching, and the empty nest. For wives only, satisfaction levels across successive phases described the U-shaped curve predicted from previous research. Sex differences emerged in perceptions of marital equity: During childrearing and the empty nest, more wives than husbands experienced equity; and in all phases except preparenthood, inequitable marriages were more likely to produce overbenefit for husbands and underbenefit for wives. For the sample as a whole, and for the preparenthood and childrearing groups individually, marital satisfaction was predicted both by the relative level of benefit a respondent gained from marriage, and by how closely the balance of exchange in the marriage matched strict equity. During launching, however, relative benefit eclipsed strict adherence to the rule of equity as a predictor of satisfaction, whereas during the empty nest phase, strict equity eclipsed relative benefit. Possible explanations for these life-cycle variations are discussed.     

Marital satisfaction of Chinese under stress: Moderating effects of personal control and social support

Stressful life events, personal control, and social support were examined relative to marital satisfaction among 1749 participants in seven Chinese cities. Stressful life events were categorized as life crises and life transitions. Life crises, rather than transitions, negatively predicted the marital satisfaction of Chinese. The moderating effects of personal control were found among women, but not men, and occurred only in the relationship between marital satisfaction and life crises, not life transitions. Social support buffers the negative effects of life crises on marital satisfaction. The results extend family stress‐coping theory in specifying two coping resources for Chinese marriages under stress.     

Qualitative Evaluation of Medical Information Processing Needs of 60 Women Choosing Ovarian Cancer Surveillance or Prophylactic Oophorectomy

Thirty women who had prophylactic oophorectomy (PO) and thirty women undergoing ovarian cancer surveillance (OCS) completed a one-time in-depth telephone interview exploring information gathering and decision-making processes. There were close similarities between groups, including age, race, marital status, education, menopausal status, number undergoing genetic testing for BRCA mutations, and number of prophylactic mastectomies. The majority of participants indicated overall satisfaction with their final decision. However, many described the information gathering process as frustrating and anxiety provoking. Participants in both groups expressed a need to process medical information within the context of individual psychosocial needs and personal perceptions and experiences. There were recurrent themes with regard to informational and psychosocial needs and personal perceptions and experiences that impacted decision-making process for these women. The present paper is a companion paper to Swisher et al. (J Repr Med 2001, 46:87–94) with the focus of this paper to illustrate the medical informational processing needs identified by this group of women.     

The relation of sex-role self-concept and sex-role attitudes to the marital satisfaction and personal adjustment of dual-worker couples with preschool children

The present study was designed to investigate the relation of sex-role self-concept and sex-role attitudes to the marital satisfaction and personal adjustment of dual-worker couples with preschool children. One hundred husbands and wives completed an assessment package consisting of the Bem Sex Role Inventory, the Personal Attributes Questionnaire, the Attitudes Toward Women Scale, the Locke- Wallace Marital Adjustment Test, and the Profile of Mood States. As predicted, androgynous individuals reported the greatest levels of marital satisfaction and personal adjustment. This was true for both men and women and across occupational levels. In addition, congruence between spouses' sex-role attitudes was associated with greater marital satisfaction.The present study is based on a masters thesis by the first author under supervision of the second and third authors. The authors thank Manuel Barrera and Sandy Braver, who were very helpful committee members, and Larry Cooper and Clark C. Presson for their helpful comments.     

Thinking ahead: complexity of expectations and the transition to parenthood

This study examined the integrative complexity of thinking in individuals making the transition to parenthood, and the relationship between complexity and adjustment during this period. Sixty-nine couples were interviewed 3 months before their babies were born, and 6 months after the birth. The prenatal interview focussed on individuals' expectations about what it would be like being a parent; the postnatal interview focussed on individuals' actual experiences as parents. In addition, participants completed measures of depression, self-esteem, and marital satisfaction after each interview, and a measure of stress after the 6-month postnatal interview. Both men and women demonstrated a significant increase in the complexity of their thinking from the prenatal to the postnatal interview, with women demonstrating higher levels of complexity at both times. In addition, women with more complex expectations demonstrated better adjustment after their babies were born than did women with simpler expectations; these results were not obtained for men. Results are discussed with regard to the way in which thinking about the self changes as one negotiates major life transitions, and the way in which complex thinking can help counter some of the stresses that individuals may experience at these times.     

Developmental perspectives and family therapy: The marital life cycle

Developmental perspectives have been part of family therapy for more than two decades with a primary focus on the family life cycle and individual development. Most efforts at recognizing a marital life cycle have subsumed marital tasks under rubrics based primarily on parental roles. This paper offers a marital life cycle based on marital development with specific tasks for each of four stages-the marital breakup and remarriage phases are not included here-and provides implications for therapy.     

Marital systems of agoraphobic women: contributions of husbands' denial and projection

The problems of measuring psychological concepts such as repression and denial are discussed in the context of the marital systems of agoraphobic women and the credibility of a couples approach to treatment. Repression, denial and projection in husbands were inferred from systematic measurement of mood, hostility and symptom changes after intensive behaviour therapy for the agoraphobia. The results suggested that the agoraphobic symptoms of about half of the women were reinforced by their husbands' habitual denial of affect and of personal problems; in this group, worthwhile symptomatic improvement occurred only in those women whose husbands relinquished repression and denial as major defence mechanisms, acknowledging their own personal problems, and allowing the patients to take more responsibility for their agoraphobia. The marital systems of the remaining couples were characterized by incompatible ways of dealing with hostility, with husbands' abnormal extrapunitiveness reinforcing patients' self-blame, which inhibited problem-solving and hence indirectly perpetuated the agoraphobia.     

Observed Family Interaction During Clinical Interviews: A Comparison of Families Containing Preschool Boys With and Without Disruptive Behavior

The clinical intake interview is an opportunity to observe family interactions and formulate hypotheses about their influence on presenting problems. In this study family interactions were assessed during an unstructured segment of a clinical intake. Families with disruptive preschool boys were compared with those having nonproblem boys. Mothers' and fathers' reports of marital satisfaction, parenting involvement, and child behavior problems were examined in relation to observed behavior during intake. Patterns of family interaction emerged which were consistent with previous research and with family systems theory. Clinic boys oriented more toward mothers than fathers and interacted more negatively with their fathers than did comparison boys. Implications for integrating the assessment of family interactions into clinical practice and research with behavior problem children are discussed.     

Reasoning in the personal and moral domains: Adolescent and young adult women's decision-making regarding abortion

The present investigation of adolescent and young adult women's reasoning, and decision-making about abortion was conducted to determine whether reasoning about abortion could be described by moral, social-conventional, and personal concepts and to examine relationships between domain of reasoning and action choices. Seventy single women, ranging in age from 13 to 31 and divided between 25 women having abortions, 23 women continuing their pregnancies, and 22 never-pregnant women, were administered a semi-structured clinical interview about abortion and two hypothetical moral judgement dilemmas. A classification task was developed to provide an additional measure of reasoning in different domains. Another 29 single, first-pregnant women provided a comparison of the effects of these procedures on decision-making. Content analysis of the protocols revealed that responses to the abortion interview could be reliably distinguished between concepts of morality and personal issues and their coordination or lack of coordination. Subjects treating abortion as a moral issue were more likely to continue their pregnancies while subjects treating abortion as a personal issue were more likely to obtain an abortion. Differences in reasoning between pregnant and nonpregnant subjects were not observed. Moral responses to the abortion interview were found to be highly related to hypothetical moral judgments.     

Women at Midlife: Implications for Theories of Women's Adult Development

Research on midlife transitions in women is reviewed, and implications for theories of women's adult development are discussed. Findings on menopause, the postparental period, and the roles of women at midlife are presented. Research on women at midlife suggests that new theoretical models of women's adult development should continue to emerge to accommodate the diversity of women's experiences at midlife. Several theoretical approaches are discussed in light of the research findings, and recommendations are made for future research on women's adult development. Implications for counselors working with women at midlife also are discussed.     

TWO GENERATIONS OF MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS: ROLE POSITION AND INTERDEPENDENCE

Using both partners as informants and three interdependence measures (contact, aid, and attachment) as criterion variables, we address the assumption that women's orientation to and dependence on other generations differ because of unique roles. In 135 pairs of student women and their mothers and 119 pairs of middle-aged women and their mothers, we ask how a woman's role position interacts with her partner's role position in regard to interdependence. Both dyadic and individual role combinations are examined. In younger pairs, we examine the combination of daughter's marital status and both mother's launching and work statuses; in older pairs, we examine the combination of mother's marital status and both daughter's launching and marital statuses. Regression analyses demonstrate that, except for younger pairs where married daughters and their mothers are less interdependent than single daughters and their mothers, interdependence is remarkably unrelated to role positions, singly or in combination. Results suggest normative pressures toward new conjugal bonds and stability in women's family roles.     

Patterns of psychosocial risk and long-term outcomes in rheumatoid arthritis

This study examined the extent to which patterns of psychosocial risk were uniquely associated with long-term outcomes of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), after demographic factors and self-reported symptom severity over time were accounted for. Data were collected over an 8-year period from 561 individuals with RA who were participants in the ongoing UCSF RA Panel Study in 1995. Panel members were interviewed annually, using a comprehensive structured telephone interview. Psychosocial factors assessed included mastery, perceptions about adequacy of social support, the impact of RA and self-assessed ability to cope with RA and satisfaction with health and function. Cluster analysis of psychosocial factors identified three distinctive patterns/levels of psychosocial risk (high, medium and low risk). The unique effects of psychosocial risk status on changes in depressive symptoms, basic functional limitations, global pain ratings and average annual doctor visits over an 8-year period were estimated, using growth curve analyses. Analyses controlled for demographic factors (gender, marital/partner status, education, age and ethnicity), disease duration and year in the panel and time-varying self-reported symptom severity (morning stiffness, swollen joint counts, co-morbid medical conditions, extra-articular RA symptoms and changes in joint appearance), as well as self-reported medications taken over time (disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs [DMARDS], and prednisone). Overall, 32.4% of total variance in depressive symptoms was accounted for by the fully-estimated model, with 12.9% uniquely associated with psychosocial risk status. Half of the total variance (50.0%) in basic functional limitations was explained, with 12.1% of variance uniquely predicted by psychosocial risk status. Psychosocial risk status accounted for comparatively little total explained variance in global pain ratings (total = 38.6%, incremental = 3.2%), and average annual total doctor visits (total = 10.9%, incremental = 1.5%). Thus, psychosocial risk factors are more closely linked to depressive symptoms and function over time. Global pain and utilization appear to be more closely related to disease factors.     

Greater pressor reactivity in women with pre-eclampsia is not related to specific psychological or emotional stressors

To investigate whether emotional or psychosocial factors could be significantly related with the development of pre-eclampsia, 15 pregnant women with early diagnosis of pre-eclampsia and 15 normotensive pregnant controls of comparable age (23-37 yr.), gestational age (10-37 wk.), parity (70% primiparous), amount of instruction, and marital status underwent a blood pressure monitoring during a specific psychological assessment based on a semistructured interview followed by the administration of three different questionnaires: the Symptom Checklist 90-Revised, the Perceived Stress Questionnaire-Recent, and the Questionnaire about Social Relationships. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure and heart rate were measured at 2-min. intervals by an automatic device both during the interview and the questionnaires' administration. Both systolic and diastolic responses were significantly increased in both groups during the interview (deltaSBP = 15 vs. 10%; deltaDBP=28 vs. 15.8%), whereas no differences were observed in blood pressure while answering questionnaires. Conversely, differences in questionnaire responses between groups were not statistically significant. Present results confirm a greater pressor reactivity in these women with pre-eclampsia but does not specifically support that this was related to psychological or emotional stress.     

The relationship between family history,gender role attitudes,and susceptibility to gender inequitable perceptions of family and family member functioning

This research examined how family roles, gender of family leadership, beliefs about the consequences of maternal employment, and family history of parental division of responsibility related to young adults' perceptions of family and individual family member functioning. One hundred seven (107), predominantly Anglo American undergraduate students completing courses in educational psychology at a large midwestern university rated two videotaped family interviews. One interview demonstrated a matriarchal style of family interaction and the second demonstrated a patriarchal style. It was found in perceptions of family functioning that a personal family history characterized by elevated paternal involvement in family tasks and child care in combination with traditional gender-related attitudes was associated with views favoring male family leadership. In ratings of individual family member functioning, it was found that individuals whose family history was characterized by elevated paternal involvement and whose gender attitudes were more traditional held more favorable views of the matriarchal mother than the mother in the patriarchal interview in comparison to adults whose fathers were less involved and whose attitudes were less traditional regarding gender roles. It was also found that individuals whose family history was characterized by elevated paternal involvement and whose gender attitudes were more traditional held more favorable views of the father in the patriarchal interview than the matriarchal father in comparison to adults whose fathers were less involved and whose attitudes were less traditional regarding gender roles. These findings suggest that adults may be vulnerable to biased views of families and individuals within family settings related to gender roles, personal history, and attitudes.     

A Place at the Table: Integrating Diet and Nutrition into Family Therapy Practice

Most schools of family therapy directly or indirectly recognize that personal qualities of the therapist influence therapy process. If personal qualities of therapists are associated with therapy process, it seems plausible that there would be some interaction between their personal relationships and therapy process. The present study examines the relationship between emotion management at home and emotion management at work to job satisfaction and marital satisfaction of marriage and family therapists. Results suggest that men and women experience a different interaction between emotion management, relationship satisfaction, and job satisfaction.     

The Influence of Gender-related Factors on HIV Prevention among Chinese Women with Disrupted Marital Relationship

Two-hundred-and-thirty-one Chinese women were individually interviewed on their HIV-prevention behavior and gender-related psychosocial factors. Compared to women with intact marriages, women with marital disruption endorsed more inaccurate information about HIV/AIDS, had less worry about contracting HIV from their husbands, and were less likely to use condoms in current and future sexual activities. Among sexually active Chinese married women, rates of condom use in the past 6 months were 60% for the intact group and 38% for the disrupted group. Factors that discriminated between condom non-users and users among sexually active women in the disrupted group included: conservative gender attitudes toward sexuality and sexual decision-making, negative attitudes toward condom use, and lack of concern about contracting HIV from their husbands.     

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.     

Awareness and Attitudes Regarding Prenatal Testing among Texas Women of Childbearing Age

Despite increased visibility and availability of prenatal testing procedures, very little is known about the attitudes among the populace toward these procedures. Using a computer assisted telephone interview of pregnant and non-pregnant women of childbearing age we analyze awareness and attitudes regarding prenatal tests among a diverse group of women of childbearing age in Texas. We also examine maternal characteristics associated with awareness and the willingness to undergo these procedures. While 89% were aware that such tests are available, younger, black and less educated women were less likely to know about prenatal tests for birth defects. Seventy-two percent of respondents said they would want their baby tested while Hispanic and black women were significantly more likely to express an interest than non-Hispanic whites. This study demonstrates the variability of knowledge and beliefs and confirms the importance of taking time to understand an individual’s personal beliefs, knowledge and attitudes about prenatal diagnosis.