Effects Of Marital Quality Research Articles

How sweet is your love? Disentangling the role of marital status and quality on average glycemic levels among adults 50 years and older in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

IntroductionThe health benefits of marriage have been widely documented and, to a lesser extent, the effects of marital quality. Marital relationships may be particularly relevant to the health of older...

The effects of marital quality on coparenting: A cross-level mediation analysis based on the common fate model

The effects of marital quality on coparenting: A cross-level mediation analysis based on the common fate model

Cognitive Functioning, Gender, and Marital Quality Among Older Married Couples: A Dyadic Approach

Older spouses influence one another in myriad ways, and dyadic effects of marital quality on health and well-being have been well-established. However, little attention has been paid to dyadic implications of cognitive functioning, including for spouses’ perceptions of the relationship itself. This study examines associations of older husbands’ and wives’ cognitive functioning with both partners’ reports of four marital quality outcomes. Structural equation modeling analyzed data from 1,414 opposite-sex couples drawn from the 2016 wave of the Health and Retirement Study. Findings revealed that (a) wives’ poorer cognitive functioning was associated with wives’ reporting greater closeness and higher ratings of enjoying time with a spouse, whereas (b) husbands’ poorer cognitive functioning was associated with wives’ reporting greater marital strain, lower marital support, lower closeness, and lower ratings of enjoying time with a spouse. This suggests that cognitive functioning/impairment has dyadic consequences for marital quality, which are highly gendered.

Is the Moderating Effect of Social Support on New Korean Mothers' Psychological Distress Contingent on Levels of Marital Quality?

This study examines how levels of marital quality change the effect of social support on postpartum psychological distress among new Korean mothers using the Panel Study on Korean Children (N = 1585). In accord with findings from previous studies, this study shows that low marital quality negatively affects new mothers' mental health, but that social support alleviates psychological distress independent of marital quality. The main finding of this research is that the moderating effect of social support is contingent on levels of marital quality. Aggregated social support moderates the effects of marital quality on new mothers' mental health only when the level of marital quality is low. Furthermore, each dimension of social support (emotional, informational, and instrumental) only has a moderating effect when marital quality is low. The findings highlight the fact that the moderating effect of social support varies with the individual context and so customized social support that fits individual needs matters for the mental health of new mothers.

"The Effect of Marital Quality to Career Management Self-Efficacy: Enrichment, Conflict, or Both"

In a dynamic business environment it is more important than ever for employees to be able to manage their own careers; career management self-efficacy (CMSE) has become essential for the career suc...

Does This Marriage Make Me Look Fat? Marital Quality as a Predictor of Perceptions of Body Weight, Activity Level, and Eating Habits

Survey data from the RELATE inventory (www.relate-institute.org) was gathered for married couples (N = 374) and was analyzed for effects of marital quality on perceptions of weight as a problem in the marriage, activity level, and eating habits. Results indicate that wife marital quality was positively associated with weight being a problem for wives, while husband marital quality was negatively associated with weight being a problem for both husbands and wives in the relationship. Wife marital quality was also positively associated with husband activity level, while husband marital quality was negatively associated with husband activity level. Implications for clinicians are discussed.

Marital Quality and Divorce Decisions: How Do Premarital Cohabitation and Nonmarital Childbearing Matter?

This study used the 1979 cohort of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (N = 3,481) to test whether the association between marital quality and divorce is moderated by premarital cohabitation or nonmarital childbearing status. Prior research identified lower marital quality as a key explanation for why couples who cohabit or have children before marrying are more likely to divorce than other couples. Using event history and fixed‐effects models, we found that the effect of marital quality on divorce is similar for cohabitors and noncohabitors, with cohabitors more likely to end both high‐ and low‐quality marriages. In contrast, the relationship between marital quality and divorce is weaker for women with nonmarital births; they are less likely than others to dissolve low‐quality marriages. We discuss how commitment norms and self‐efficacy might explain these differences in the association between marital quality and divorce.

Effects of Marital Quality on Children in Brazilian Families

There is substantial research on the relationship between marital satisfaction and its effect on child development, with empirical evidence suggesting that marital conflict and dissatisfaction among the parents is predictive of poorer child outcomes. These findings are consistent with systems theory, which suggests that dynamics in one subsystem have an effect on other systems in the family. However, there is little known about how these variables apply to the Latino population. With Latinos now comprising the largest minority population, it is important to understand the effect of marital distress on child outcomes in Latino families. Data for the study come from a larger longitudinal study of 126 families living in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Each family had a child ranging in age from 3 to 5 years old. Results from multiple regression analyses indicated that mother's (but not fathers') reports of marital conflict were associated with behavioral child outcomes. Positive marital interactions were not predictive of behavioral outcomes. These results extend the current literature on the impact of marital conflict on child outcomes to the Brazilian culture.

Depression and the Psychological Benefits of Entering Marriage

Past research has consistently documented the positive relationship between a transition to marriage and psychological well-being. In this study, we separate the depressed from the nondepressed to assess whether the benefits marriage has for psychological well-being depend on premarital depression. We also examine whether the effect of marital quality in moderating the psychological consequences of marriage differs for the depressed and the nondepressed. Results indicate that, on average, those who were depressed prior to marrying report larger psychological gains from marriage than those who were not depressed. The role of marital quality in moderating the effect of marriage on psychological well-being is similar for previously depressed and previously nondepressed respondents. These findings call into question the assumption that marriage is always a good choice for all individuals. What appear to be strong average benefits of marriage are actually highly dependent on a range of individual, interpersonal, and structural characteristics.

The differential effects of rheumatoid arthritis on distress among patients and partners

This study investigated primary and secondary stressors of distress in rheumatoid arthritis patients and partners, analysing data of 61 couples. Patients’ disability was found to be a primary stressor of their distress. In addition, it also had an indirect effect on partners’ distress through partners’ primary stressor, perceived burden. Marital quality and negative transactions can be considered joint secondary stressors for partners, not for patients. An indication of an indirect effect of marital quality on patients’ distress was found, through partners’ burden. Using a multilevel model, which takes into account the dependence between patients’ and partners’ distress, 36% of the variance in patients’ distress could be explained, whereas 68% of partners’ distress variance was explained. More knowledge on how patient and partner influence each other's distress is needed to develop psychosocial interventions that will help patients and partners minimize their psychological distress and prevent deterioration of their marital quality.

Effect of Marital Quality on Eight-Year Survival of Patients With Heart Failure

Recent evidence suggests that psychosocial factors such as self-efficacy, psychological distress, perceived social support, and marital quality have prognostic significance for morbidity and mortality after heart failure. Previously, we reported that interview and observational measures of marital quality obtained from 189 patients with heart failure (139 men and 50 women) and their spouses predicted all-cause patient mortality during the next 4 years, independent of the baseline illness severity (New York Heart Association class). We present additional follow-up results for this sample, with Cox regression analyses showing that a couple-level composite measure of marital quality continued to predict survival during an 8-year period (p <0.001), especially when the patient was a woman, and did so substantially better than individual (patient-level) risk and protective factors, such as psychological distress, hostility, neuroticism, self-efficacy, optimism, and breadth of perceived emotional support. In conclusion, relationship factors may be especially relevant in managing a difficult chronic condition such as heart failure, which makes stringent and complex demands on patients and their families.

Tarpusavio santykių kokybė Lietuvos šeimose

This article is dedicated to the exploration of marital quality in the Lithuanian families and based on the analysis of the sociological survey data (N=500). Marital quality is measured with the Marital Satisfaction (EMS) scale. The article examines the effect of marital quality on the emotional cohesion, conflict level, conflict management style, role sharing in the domestic work and attitudes toward the partnership formation patterns. &#x0D; Married or cohabiting women in Lithuanian society are more dissatisfied with the marital quality than men are. Gender is the strongest factor, which predicts marital quality. Testing other variables, i.e. class, age, family structure or family background proved no significant connection with the marital quality. Marital quality positively affects the emotional cohesion of partners, reduces the conflict level and leads to the symmetrical role sharing in the couple. Higher levels of satisfaction with marital life are bound with the positive attitudes toward the institutional partnership formation patterns.

Marital quality, maternal depressed affect, harsh parenting, and child externalising in Hong Kong Chinese families

The present study used a family systems approach to examine harsh parenting, maternal depressed affect, and marital quality in relation to children’s externalising behaviour problems in a sample of 158 Hong Kong primary school children. At two time points, peers and teachers provided ratings of children’s externalising behaviours, and mothers completed questionnaires assessing depressed affect, marital quality, and harsh parenting. Path analyses showed that maternal depressed affect had both direct effects on child externalising and indirect effects through harsh parenting. The effect of marital quality on child externalising was not direct but was mediated through harsh parenting. These findings reflect family processes that have similarities with those found in Western samples as well as differences in terms of how Hong Kong Chinese culture may facilitate and inhibit these processes.

Symptom Study in Context: Effects of Marital Quality on Signs of Parkinson’s Disease during Patient-Spouse Interaction

Hypokinesia, the inability to initiate or maintain movement, represents one of the most disabling aspects of Parkinson's disease (PD), and displays intriguing moment-to-moment variability from environmental stressors. Correlates of orofacial hypokinesia (characteristics of spontaneous eye blink and speech) were coded from videotaped interactions for PD patients in maritally distressed and nondistressed dyads. Significant changes occurred only for the patients in distressed relationships on the two strongest neurophysiologic measures of orofacial hypokinesia, rate and duration of spontaneous eye blink. Further analyses suggest two possible explanations for these temporal symptom changes. Distressed spouses may exacerbate symptoms by exposing the patient to negativity. Alternately, nondistressed spouses may compensate for the demands of the interactional task by assuming a greater share of the conversation relative to the patient's contribution. Results are linked to existing literature; the role of social and familial support in chronic illness is discussed.

The Frequency and Determinants of Marital Disagreements in a Community Sample

Although information about marital disagreements is included in most scales of marital quality, disagreements have generally not been studied as outcomes of importance in their own right. This is unfortunate in light of recent research documenting that marital disagreements have a powerful effect on mental health over and above the effects of marital quality. In this report, we describe a prospective analysis of the frequency and determinants of marital disagreements aimed at taking a first step toward treating disagreements as important in their own right. The analysis is based on a two-wave community survey of married couples that obtained basic descriptive information about both the frequency of marital disagreements and a variety of social and personal characteristics that might be their determinants. Results show that nearly all respondents report having marital disagreements at least some of the time, with the vast majority reporting average frequencies between one and two disagreements per month. Prospective analyses of daily diaries obtained from a random subsample of the survey respondents confirmed the accuracy of these retrospective frequency estimates. Multiple regression analyses revealed that personality and social support are the most powerful predictors of disagreement frequency. We close with a discussion of the implications of these results for future research on marital disagreements.

Gender, Marriage, and Psychosocial Well-Being

Using national survey data, this article examines gender differences in the relationships of marital status and of marital quality to psychosocial well-being in order to test hypotheses that the former is more important for the well-being of men and the latter is more crucial for the well-being of women. Findings suggest that it is the quality of marital interaction rather than marriage per se that is more important for individual well-being, and that the effects of marital quality are stronger among women than among men. Further examinations of the data find little support for the idea that the effects of marital quality on women's well-being are due to their greater reliance on marriage for self-validation or to a lack of alternate sources of role gratification in comparison with men. The possibility that women's higher expectations for intimacy and emotional support within marriage are implicated in findings of gender differences in the effects of marital quality on well-being are discussed.