African American Couples Research Articles

The Effect of Housing Instability on Risky Sexual Behavior and HIV and STIs for a Sample of African American Sero-Discordant Couples

The Effect of Housing Instability on Risky Sexual Behavior and HIV and STIs for a Sample of African American Sero-Discordant Couples

Improving Couples’ Relationship Functioning Leads to Improved Coparenting: A Randomized Controlled Trial With Rural African American Couples

Family-centered prevention programs for couples with children are being increasingly disseminated, with the hope that improving couples’ romantic relationships will lead to other benefits for families. To date, however, it is unclear whether these interventions do in fact yield these benefits. The current study addressed this gap by examining whether postintervention improvements in couples’ relationship functioning following family-centered prevention predicted longer-term change in coparenting, and whether postintervention improvements in coparenting predicted longer-term change in relationship functioning. We used four waves of data collected over 2 years from 346 rural African American couples with an early adolescent child who participated in a randomized controlled trial of the Protecting Strong African American Families (ProSAAF) program, an intervention designed to promote strong couple, coparenting, and parent–child relationships in two-parent African American families. Results indicated that ProSAAF had significant short-term positive effects on both romantic relationship functioning and coparenting and that these effects did not differ in magnitude. Over time, however, only romantic relationship functioning postintervention was positively associated with long-term changes in coparenting; coparenting postintervention was not associated with long-term changes in relationship functioning and this association was significantly weaker than the other pathway. These findings support a key premise underlying relationship enhancement programs for parents, indicating that improving couples’ romantic relationship functioning can have longer-term benefits for the coparenting relationship as well. Further research examining long-term parent, child, and family outcomes following family-centered prevention for couples and the mechanisms of change underlying these outcomes is needed.

Mycoplasma genitalium Infections With Macrolide and Fluoroquinolone Resistance-Associated Mutations in Heterosexual African American Couples in Alabama

Mycoplasma genitalium (MG) is a sexually transmitted pathogen associated with inflammatory syndromes in men and women. Macrolides and fluoroquinolones are recommended MG treatments. The frequency of MG strains with macrolide resistance-associated mutations (MRMs) and quinolone resistance-associated mutations (qRMs) is increasing worldwide, however these data are sparse in populations in the United States. We investigated the prevalence of MG infections with MRMs and qRMs and MG infection concordance within African American couples in Birmingham, AL. We used a real-time polymerase chain reaction to detect MG and identify MRMs. quinolone resistance-associated mutations were detected using traditional polymerase chain reactions amplifying regions in gyrA, gyrB, parC, and parE. The MG concordance in couples was evaluated by MG positivity and MG genotypes. Oral, anal, urine, and/or vaginal specimens were tested from 116 couples. Twenty-eight (12.1%) participants comprising 22 couples tested MG-positive (11.2% in men and 12.9% in women). Macrolide resistance-associated mutations were detected in 17 (60.7%) MG-positive participants, with gender-specific resistance rates of 69.2% for men and 53.3% for women. quinolone resistance-associated mutations were detected in 3 (11.1%) MG-positive participants, all of whom also had MRMs. By MG positivity status, 27.3% of couples were concordant. If MG strain genotypes are also considered, then concordance was 20.0%. Among heterosexual African Americans with MG infection, about 60% had strains with MRMs and 11% had strains with both MRMs and qRMs, highlighting the potential for MG treatment failure to not only macrolides, but also quinolones. These findings may help to guide clinicians in MG testing and treatment decisions in the United States.

The Experience of Infertility Among African American Couples

The infertility rate among African Americans is higher than that of other ethnicities; yet, it is rarely discussed or acknowledged. There is an abundance of research that contributes to the body of knowledge of infertility among white people, but there is very little that examines the experience for African Americans. This study aimed to explore the experience of infertility among African American couples. Utilizing a phenomenological approach, six married couples were interviewed about their experience of infertility. This approach was used in order to provide a first-person account of the lived experience of infertility for the couples. The findings demonstrate how infertility can be a traumatizing event that is experienced differently by men and women. The distress of the experience challenges one’s sense of self. The findings also suggest how religion and spirituality played a central role in the lives of the couples, helping them to cope with infertility. The personal stories provided by the couples illustrate the profound impact the experience of infertility has had on their lives.

The Protecting Strong African American Families Program: a Randomized Controlled Trial with Rural African American Couples.

This study presents results from a randomized controlled trial of the Protecting Strong African American Families (ProSAAF) program, a family-centered intervention designed to promote strong couple, coparenting, and parent-child relationships in two-parent African American families. A total of 346 African American couples with an early adolescent child participated; all families lived in rural, low-income communities in the southern USA. Intent-to-treat growth curve analyses involving three waves and spanning 17months indicated that ProSAAF participants, compared with control participants, reported greater improvements in relationship communication, confidence, satisfaction, partner support, coparenting, and parenting. More than 80% of the couples attended all six of the in-home, facilitator-led sessions; costs to implement the program averaged $1739 per family. The findings inform the ongoing debate surrounding prevention programs for low-income and ethnic minority couples.

Supplemental Material for Racial Discrimination and Relationship Functioning Among African American Couples

Supplemental Material for Racial Discrimination and Relationship Functioning Among African American Couples

United and Divided by Stress: How Stressors Differentially Influence Social Support in African American Couples Over Time

The factors that allow people to be good support providers in relationships are not fully understood. We examined how support providers' stressful experiences (financial strain and racial discrimination) differentially influence their supportiveness, using longitudinal data from two samples of African American couples. Among couples that provided observational data ( N = 163 couples), providers who experienced high chronic financial strain behaved less supportively toward their partners, while those who experienced frequent racial discrimination behaved more supportively over a 2-year period. In a second sample of 213 couples over a 3-year period, support providers who experienced financial strain were perceived by their partners as slightly less supportive, while providers who experienced frequent racial discrimination were perceived by their partners as more supportive. Findings suggest that supportiveness in relationships may be differentially shaped by the specific stresses and strains that partners face.

Psychological Distress, Couple Interactions, and Parenting: A Dyadic Analysis of African American Couples

AbstractParental depression is a well‐established risk factor for couple conflict and ineffective or hostile parenting (M. C. Lovejoy, P. A. Graczyk, E. O'Hare, & G. Neuman, 2000; L. M. Papp, M. C. Goeke‐Morey, & E. M. Cummings, 2007). Although research suggests that caregiver depression may impact parenting indirectly via increased conflict between couples (e.g., R. D. Conger et al., 2002), few studies take into account the behaviors of both caregivers in exploring these relations. The goal of the current study is to employ an actor–partner mediator model to examine the complex relations among psychological distress, negative couple interactions, and parenting. Using a sample of 162 African American couples with children, we find evidence that the psychological distress of each caregiver has an effect on couple interactions for both men and women. The effects from each caregivers' distress to parenting are mainly indirect through the interactional behaviors of the mother toward the father, consistent with the father vulnerability hypothesis (e.g., E. M. Cummings, M. Goeke‐Morey, & J. Raymond, 2004).

Determinants and Long-Term Effects of Attendance Levels in a Marital Enrichment Program for African American Couples.

Although most efficacious marital enrichment programs are multisession, few studies have explored whether outcomes differ according to session attendance, particularly among minority groups with lower than average participation in prevention programs. This study therefore investigates attendance levels and long-term improvements in couple functioning among 164 couples participating in the Promoting Strong African American Families program. Structural equation models indicated session attendance predicted 2-year changes for men's reports of communication, commitment, and spousal support (marginally) but not for women's. Individual and couple characteristics that predicted attendance levels were also identified. Results highlight distinct gender differences in the effects of sustained attendance as well as characteristics that provide early identifiers for African American couples at increased risk of low program attendance.

Perceptions of Emotional Closeness and Commitment Among African American Couples: Implications for Promoting Relationship Stability

This study investigated how married and cohabiting African Americans define and experience emotional closeness and commitment because these processes have been shown to be directly linked to relationship stability. Thirty married and 30 cohabiting African American couples participated. Couples were between the ages of 21 and 45 years and had been in their relationship between 3 and 15 years. Interviews were conducted with the couples in their homes and were aimed at yielding a co-construction of couples’ views of these constructs. Specifically, this co-construction involved an examination of the ways men and women in married and cohabiting relationships define and experience emotional closeness and commitment. Special attention was devoted to examining the themes elicited from these interviews and illuminate the specific ways in which married and cohabiting African American couples consider emotional closeness and commitment. In general, few differences were apparent in their perceptions of emotional closeness. However, married couples were more likely to report that commitment played a large role in their decision to be together. Conversely, cohabiting couples expressed different views of commitment, often stating that commitment played a minimal role in their relationship or that they experienced commitment in ways that were not linked to the legal affirmation of their relationship. Implications for future research and practice include the importance of pinpointing the individual and cultural deterrents that affect the relationship stability of low income African American couples.

In Circle: A Healthy Relationship, Domestic Violence, and HIV Intervention for African American Couples

While marriage and healthy relationship education has grown, limited interventions have been developed specifically to support the development and flourishing of African American couples. African Americans are also disproportionately impacted by HIV/AIDS and are more likely to experience lethality and serious injury due to domestic violence compared to Whites. Despite this, African American couples have been resilient and managed to thrive in relationships. Little has been done to capture these strategies, build on cultural strengths, and design an intervention specifically crafted for this population. This article describes an intervention “In Circle” developed, implemented, and evaluated for African American couples to support healthy relationship and healthy marriage education. The intervention is based on an Ancient Egyptian value system and undergirded by three integrated theoretical perspectives. The article also includes implications for practice and research.

Does Spousal Support Moderate the Association Between Perceived Racial Discrimination and Depressive Symptoms among African American Couples?

Social stress theory proposes that stress resulting from one's social position in society leads to fewer coping resources, and subsequently causes an increase in mental health problems. Guided by this framework, we investigated whether the relationship between perceived discrimination and depressive symptoms was moderated by spousal social support in a sample of 487 African American heterosexual couples. Using the actor-partner interdependence model, findings suggested that female partner's perceived racial discrimination was predictive of her depressive symptomology irrespective of spousal support and male partner's perceived racial discrimination was predictive of depressive symptomology only among men with low levels of spousal support. No partner effects were present. The results demonstrate the need to examine variability in social stress and mental health outcomes for those in close relationships.

African American Couples' Coparenting Satisfaction and Marital Characteristics in the First Two Decades of Marriage.

This study charted the trajectory of coparenting satisfaction during the first and second decades of marriage and examined links between marital characteristics and coparenting satisfaction. Data came from a 3-year study of 145 African American mother-father dyads with pre-to late- adolescent-age offspring. Multi-level growth curves revealed an inverted U-shaped pattern of change in coparenting satisfaction; this effect was qualified by youth age such that the quadratic pattern was evident in families with older but not younger offspring. Controlling for cross-time averages of marital characteristics, changes in marital love were positively related, and changes in marital conflict were negatively related to changes in coparenting satisfaction, with stronger links for fathers than mothers. Inter-parental incongruence in childrearing attitudes moderated the effects of love, such that parents with more incongruent attitudes and lower levels of love reported the lowest levels of coparenting satisfaction.

Gender Dynamics Predict Changes in Marital Love Among African American Couples.

This study examined the implications of gender attitudes and spouses' divisions of household labor, time with children, and parental knowledge for their trajectories of love in a sample of 146 African American couples. Multilevel modeling in the context of an accelerated longitudinal design accommodated 3 annual waves of data. The results revealed that traditionality in husbands' gender attitudes was linked to lower levels of love. Furthermore, divisions of household labor and parental knowledge moderated changes in love such that couples with more egalitarian divisions exhibited higher and more stable patterns of love, whereas more traditional couples exhibited significant declines in love over time. Finally, greater similarity between spouses' time with their children was linked to higher levels of marital love. The authors highlight the implications of gender dynamics for marital harmony among African American couples and discuss ways that this work may be applied and extended in practice and future research.

Marriage Expectations Among African American Couples in Early Adulthood: A Dyadic Analysis

Using Family and Community Health Study data consisting of 168 unmarried, primarily African American couples, the current study sought to understand the dyadic interplay among school, work, and partner-specific marriage expectations in early adulthood. Drawing on the economic prospects, adult transitions, and work - family literatures, the authors hypothesized and found ample support that expectations to marry a romantic partner were linked not only to one's own school and work-related experiences but also to those of a partner. These associations held while controlling for relationship satisfaction, general views of marriage, and other covariates that have been posited to explain racial inequalities in relationship and marriage patterns. Furthermore, the authors found that actor covariates of marital expectations differed from partner covariates, a finding that highlights the advantages of dyadic analyses in helping researchers understand marriage as both a developmental and interpersonal process.

Understanding the Psychosocial Issues of African American Couples Surviving Prostate Cancer

African Americans are disproportionately affected by prostate cancer, yet less is known about the most salient psychosocial dimensions of quality of life. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of African American prostate cancer survivors and their spouses of psychosocial issues related to quality of life. Twelve African American couples were recruited from a National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Center registry and a state-based non-profit organization to participate in individual interviews. The study was theoretically based on Ferrell's Quality of Life Conceptual Model. Common themes emerged regarding the psychosocial needs of African American couples. These themes were categorized into behavioral, social, psychological, and spiritual domains. Divergent perspectives were identified between male prostate cancer survivors and their female spouses. This study delineated unmet needs and areas for future in-depth investigations into psychosocial issues. The differing perspectives between patients and their spouses highlight the need for couple-centered interventions.

Marital Quality of Newlywed African American Couples: Implications of Egalitarian Gender Role Dynamics

This research examined associations between husbands' and wives' gender role attitudes, division of household labor, and marital quality in a sample of 697 newlywed African American couples residing in the southern region of the United States. Guided by a cultural ecological framework, we tested hypotheses specific to the unique socio-cultural context of African Americans using a mixed model ANCOVA design. Results revealed that: (1) couples reported lower marital quality when husbands had relatively more traditional gender role attitudes; (2) husbands reported lower marital quality when the couple engaged in a relatively more traditional division of household labor; and (3) husbands with more traditional attitudes who also engaged in a traditional division of labor reported lower marital quality compared to all other husbands. Although African Americans are thought to have more flexible gender role orientations than other racial/ethnic groups within the U.S., these results document within group variability in couple gender dynamics and its association with variability in marital quality.

Processes of Change in Relationship Education for Lower-Income African American Couples

The current study examined 181 lower income unmarried African American couples who were expecting or had a child (3 months or younger). All couples received couple relationship education (PREP). We examined whether changes in communication quality and perceived social integration were related to changes in relationship satisfaction and dedication and whether these associations were consistent for men and women. The results demonstrated that men's and women's change in positive communication and social integration were related to higher ratings of their own dedication and relationship satisfaction. Men reported more relationship satisfaction when their partner's negative communication decreased and when their partner reported more social integration; however, there was no association between women's rating of relationship satisfaction and men's changes in negative communication or social integration.

Association Between Body Mass Index and Depressive Symptoms of African American Married Couples

This study examined (a) associations between body mass index (BMI) and depressive symptoms in African American husbands and wives, (b) transactional associations between husbands and wives in this relationship, and (c) mediating and moderating role of couples’ behavioral closeness in this association. Data came from a sample of 450 African American married couples residing in a southern state. The study found that (a) husbands’ and wives’ BMI is positively associated with their own depressive symptoms, (b) only the wives’ BMI is positively associated with their partners’ depressive symptoms, (c) only the wives’ BMI is positively associated with their own and their partners’ depressive symptoms indirectly through couples’ behavioral closeness, and (d) among wives, the association between BMI and depressive symptoms is mediated and moderated by couples’ behavioral closeness. Family interventions need to increase indoor, outdoor, and intimate partner activities, thereby reducing the association between depressive symptoms and body weight for African American couples.

Sexual Satisfaction, Perceived Availability of Alternative Partners, and Marital Quality in Newlywed African American Couples

The goal for this project was to examine the manner in which husbands’ and wives’ sexual satisfaction was related to their perceptions of the availability of alternative partners and overall marital quality. Participants were 470 newlywed African American couples residing in the southern region of the United States. Path analysis was used to simultaneously examine actor (individuals’ sexual satisfaction on their own outcomes) and partner (individuals’ sexual satisfaction on their partners’ outcomes) effects. Wives’ and husbands’ sexual satisfaction was strongly and positively associated with their own reports of marital quality, although it was not associated with their partners’ reports of marital quality. For both wives and husbands, higher sexual satisfaction was associated with lowered perceptions that they would be able to find other acceptable partners should their current relationship end. Perceived availability of alternative partners was, in turn, negatively associated with reports of marital quality.