Exploration of a Marital Typology: Implications for Marital Functioning in a Multi-Ethnic Sample

Marital conflict is associated with multiple negative outcomes for couples, including marital dissatisfaction and divorce. Little research, however, has examined conflict in Hispanic/Latino couples or its association with marital satisfaction, which creates an unfortunate knowledge gap for clinicians working with diverse client groups. The present study sought to examine both marital conflict and satisfaction using a sample of 231 European American (EA; n = 108) and Hispanic/Latino (H/L; n = 123) couples. Through observational coding, couples were placed into four groups based on their type of conflict management strategies: Harmonious, Withdrawn, Conflictual-Expressive, or Conflictual-Hostile. For both ethnic groups, couples in the Harmonious group were nondistressed and couples in the Conflictual-Hostile group were in the distressed range of marital satisfaction. Cross-ethnic differences emerged. EA couples experienced distress when both hostile (Conflictual-Hostile) and nonhostile conflict (Conflictual-Expressive) communication types were observed, while only hostile conflict was associated with distress for the H/L group. H/L couples reported similar levels of satisfaction in both the Harmonious and Conflictual-Expressive groups. H/L couples also fell within the distressed range when withdrawn communication patterns were observed; however, this was not the case for EA couples. These differences suggest that both types of conflict are associated with marital distress for EA couples, whereas hostile conflict and withdrawn behavior appear to be more negatively associated with marital satisfaction in H/L couples. Results provide support for the use of an observational coding system with H/L and EA couples and also suggest the importance of understanding how differences in expressions of conflict across ethnicities may relate to marital satisfaction.     

Perceived change in quality of life among chinese canadian seniors: the role of involvement in chinese culture

Although much gerontological literature is focused on subjective well-being, quality of life, and life satisfaction, we know little about this concept in old age among sub-cultural groups. This paper presents empirical data on subjective well-being among Chinese seniors (age 55 and over) living in seven cities in Canada. It asks whether and to what extent traditional Chinese culture, a culture in which seniors have been historically valued as wise and contributing members to be respected, is related to their evaluation of whether or not life has improved in old age. Among a random sample of 2272 Chinese seniors, some but not all aspects of traditional Chinese culture were related to their valuation of old age. In particular, involvement in that traditional culture, return visits to the homeland, immigration due to family reunion, and ancestor worship were significant predictors but differentially depending on whether the overall scale or specific domains within that overall scale was the dependent variable. The fact that differential aspects of traditional culture contribute to a positive experience of aging suggests we must be careful in generalizing to traditional culture. Importantly, ethnocentric beliefs regarding Chinese culture were not related to any domain of quality of life.     

Facial expressivity to acute pain in cocaine-exposed toddlers

Expressive emotion regulation in response to stress following inoculation was examined in 30 18-month-olds. Fourteen were exposed to cocaine in utero and 16 were drug-free. Findings indicated that the cocaine-exposed group displayed fewer discrete negative expressions of distress and anger and more sadness in response to acute pain. These results suggest that cocaine exposure may exert an influence on the expression of emotion into the second year of life. © 1997 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health     

Hindus' Evaluations of Hindus and Muslims: Religious Leaders and Pilgrims at the Magh Mela

Two studies examined religious and political predictors of Hindus' attitudes toward Hindus and Muslims. In the first study, data came from interviews with 311 leaders of religious groups encamped at the Magh Mela , an annual religious gathering held at the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna Rivers in northern India. Results indicated that most of the indicators of religious involvement were positively related to favoritism of the ingroup (Hindus) rather than devaluation of the outgroup (Muslims). In contrast, affiliation with the Hindu-nationalist political party (Bharatiya Janata Party) was related to devaluation of Muslims rather than favoritism of Hindus. In the second study, which involved interviews with 107 kalpavasis (pilgrims) who visited a subsequent Mela , results indicated, consistent with the first study, that religious beliefs were positively related to favoritism of Hindus. A religious behavior, frequency of worship, was related to negative evaluations of Muslims. Overall, religious leaders and kalpavasis did not differ in their ratings of Muslims, but, congruent with the notion that the more strongly one identifies with the ingroup, the more impact it will have, religious leaders evaluated Hindus significantly more positively than did kalpavasis .     

Inhibitory control gains from higher-order cognitive strategy training

The present study examined the transfer of higher-order cognitive strategy training to inhibitory control. Middle school students enrolled in a comprehension- and reasoning-focused cognitive strategy training program and passive controls participated. The training program taught students a set of steps for inferring essential gist or themes from materials. Both before and after training or a comparable duration in the case of the passive controls, participants completed a semantically cued Go/No-Go task that was designed to assess the effects of depth of semantic processing on response inhibition and components of event-related potentials (ERP) related to response inhibition. Depth of semantic processing was manipulated by varying the level of semantic categorization required for response selection and inhibition. The SMART-trained group showed inhibitory control gains and changes in fronto-central P3 ERP amplitudes on inhibition trials; whereas, the control group did not. The results provide evidence of the transfer of higher-order cognitive strategy training to inhibitory control and modulation of ERPs associated with semantically cued inhibitory control. The findings are discussed in terms of implications for cognitive strategy training, models of cognitive abilities, and education.     

Increasing family members' appreciation of family caregiving stress

Participants read a message discussing the duties of a typical family caregiver (for example, a woman taking care of her elderly mother) and the associated psychological, physical, social, and financial stresses. The message was accompanied by an appeal that was either a control or was altruistic (other-oriented: focusing on the mother/caregiver's well-being) or egoistic (self-oriented: focusing on the child of the caregiver's needs and feelings). Participants who received an altruistic appeal were more appreciative of caregiving stresses than were those given an egoistic or a control appeal. Increasing family members' awareness of the stress involved in family caregiving is a first step in encouraging them to personally intervene on behalf of the caregiver.     

Behavioral Control Dynamics and Developmental Outcomes in Infants Prenatally Exposed to Cocaine

This study longitudinally examined the associations between mother–infant interactions at 15 months and behavioral and cognitive outcomes at 36 months of age in a sample of at‐risk, young children. Participants for the current study were 58 infants/toddlers prenatally exposed to cocaine and their maternal caregivers. These infants were from a low socioeconomic status background and were part of an intervention setting. When the children were 12, 15, and 36 months, they participated in research sessions with their maternal caregivers. Cognitive development at 12 months and maternal and infant behavior at 15 months were measured to predict behavioral and cognitive outcome at 36 months. Higher levels of maternal control at 15 months were marginally significant in predicting higher levels of problem behavior at 36 months whereas higher levels of infant resistance to control predicted lower levels of problem behavior. Furthermore, control‐resistant behavior displayed by infants was a unique buffer against problem behavior, even after controlling for maternal factors and cognitive abilities. These findings suggest that maternal control attempts and infant reactions to those maternal control behaviors play an important role in the development of adaptive and maladaptive behavior patterns during early childhood.