Marital Attitudes Research Articles

Family of Origin Influences on Marital Attitudes and Readiness for Marriage in Late Adolescents

Using Bowenian family systems theory, this study examined the effects of the intergenerational transmission of anxiety in the family of origin through the processes of fusion, triangulation, and control on late adolescents' attitudes toward marriage and readiness for marriage. Participants ( N = 977) completed three measures of family processes in their families of origin, attitudes toward marriage, and readiness for marriage. The findings indicated that fusion and triangulation were related to negative opinions and feelings about marriage. They did not have a significant effect on perceived readiness for marriage or on waiting period before marriage. However, gender and age predicted readiness and waiting time. Implications for family therapists working with adolescents are discussed.

Effects of age on attitudes towards working women

Examines attitudes regarding female labour force participation among people of different ages using National Opinion Research Centre Social Survey data. Focuses specifically on the factors associated with a pro‐feminist attitude. Demonstrates that younger people have more positive attitudes towards women working outside their homes than do older people. Men are less pro‐feminist in their attitudes than are women. Men and women disapprove of a woman working if preschool children suffer by her working. In addition to age and gender, the factors influencing attitude are income, education, religious beliefs, urban residence, born in this country, having young children in the family or expecting more children, and work years and job security. A supportive attitude for working women was associated with higher education, higher family income, residence in urban areas, liberal viewpoints, and uncertainty about having more children. The absence of correlation between employment of women and attitudes towards participation in the workforce and between marital status and attitude were especially surprising. Discusses economic, social and political implications of the findings.

Marital Attitudes, Perceived Mate Availability, and Subjective Well-Being among Partnered African American Men and Women

This study examined attitudinal and structural correlates of personal and relationship well-being among 139 African Americans in romantic partnerships, including marriage. Multiple regression analyses indicated that marital valuation is an important predictor of subjective well-being among partnered African American men. Among women, the value of relationships more generally, rather than marriage, was predictive of happiness and marital/relationship satisfaction. Although perceived mate availability was not a salient predictor of subjective well-being in the overall sample, it was related to depressive symptomatology among men. Income and education were unrelated to well-being. Results suggest that men who value marriage are more likely to reap the benefits ofpartnerships. They also suggest that the relative shortage of available men has no direct impact on women's mental health, perhaps because of a sense that the situation is systemically determined rather than a measure of personal adequacy.

Anti-Marriage Attitudes and Motivations to Marry Amongst Adolescents with Divorced Parents

Results are reported from a study of white males and females aged 17-18 from different socioeconomic groups with married or divorced parents (n = 306). Teenagers from divorced backgrounds were less likely to say that they want to marry compared with teenagers from intact families. However, other indicators reveal that they may in fact marry early as they are more affected by variables associated with early marriage: leaving school; leaving home; and forming serious boyfriend/girlfriend relationships. Daughters of divorce were most affected by these pro-marriage influences. Distinctions are drawn between different groups of children of divorce and between marital attitudes and behaviour. It is suggested that the adolescent's own experience of intimate relationships and cohabitation can overcome negative attitudes to marriage arising from parental divorce.

A controlled study of couple therapy in chronic low back pain patients. Effects on marital satisfaction, psychological distress and health attitudes

This was a controlled, prospective study on the effectiveness of couple therapy in 63 chronic low back pain patients (CLBP) from primary health care centers. They were randomly allocated to a couple therapy (T) group, N = 33, and to a control (C) group, N = 30. Couple therapy consisting of five monthly sessions was conducted by two family therapists. All patients and their spouses participated in a 12-month follow-up. Marital communication improved in CLBP patients of the T-group, whereas it worsened in the C-group. Psychological distress decreased in male patients of the T-group, whereas it increased in male patients of the C-group. However, due to high initial levels of distress in male patients of the T-group no firm conclusion of therapy effect can be done. The trends in health attitudes of the patients were similar during the study year. No significant differences in any of the measures were found in spouses. It is concluded that couple therapy improves the quality of life in CLBP patients by enhancing marital communication.

Marital Attitude Survey: A Measure of Dysfunctional Attributions and Expectancies

The Marital Attitude Survey (MAS) was designed to assess potentially dysfunctional attributions and expectancies regarding relationship problems. The eight MAS subscales measure attributions regarding one’s partner’s malicious intent and lack of love, attribution of causality to one’s own behavior and personality, attribution of causality to the partner’s behavior and personality, perceived ability of the couple to change, and expectancy of change in the relationship. All subscales except the subscale assessing attribution of causality to own behavior exhibited adequate internal consistency and showed evidence of construct validity in relation to measures of marital dysfunction. Multivariate analyses indicated that considering subscales in combination increases the measure’s ability to discriminate between clinical and nonclinical samples. The results demonstrate the utility of the MAS as a measure of dysfunctional cognitions associated with marital distress.

Love attitude and marital adjustment in the family life cycle

The present study examines husband and wife perceptions of attitude toward love and marital satisfaction through seven family life cycle stages. A significant relationship was determined between husbands’ and wives’ attitude toward love and marital satisfaction for couples in the early years of marriage with no children, and for couples with children in the preschool years. Marital satisfaction and attitude toward love seem to function more independently of one another in the other family life stages. Overall, husbands vary slightly more than wives on marital satisfaction and attitude toward love, but the pattern for both is similar in that each relationship is curvilinear.

Perceptual congruence of five attitudes among satisfied and unsatisfied couples.

In the present study, the perceptual congruence of five attitudes among satisfied and unsatisfied couples was examined. These attitudes were communication, availability, creativity, functional consensus and, manipulation. Attitude was defined by a rather permanent pattern of verbal and nonverbal behavior displayed toward the partner. It was assumed that perceptions of all marital sectors are influenced by such attitudes. Furthermore, the satisfied couple are less defensive with one another and, being less prone to perceptual distortions, should show better perceptual congruence of the five attitudes, as well as of the marital aspects, than the unsatisfied couple. Satisfied couples differed from unsatisfied couples in their perception of marital attitudes except for the manipulation attitude. For ail marital aspects, except the children's aspect, satisfied couples showed greater perceptual congruence than did unsatisfied couples.

Psychotherapy Training and Marital Stress

To test the psychodynamic premise that psychotherapy training induces emotional depletion and detracts from marital intimacy, 29 married mental health trainees completed the Jourard Self-Disclosure Questionnaire, the Marital Attitudes Evaluation, the Dyadic Adjustment Scale and an abbreviated version of the Sexual Interaction Inventory. Contrary to expectation, marital distress was not greater among psychiatric residents and psychology interns more deeply involved in psychotherapy training than among their less invested counterparts. The failure to confirm is discussed in relation to alternative theoretical formulations and methodological limitations.

Magnitude and directional effects of marital sex-role incongruence on marital adjustment.

The direction of differences in marital sex-role attitudes was estimated to play an important role in determining the direction of differences on the marital adjustment of husbands and wives. The more egalitarian in marital sex-role orientation the husband was relative to his wife, the better the marital adjustment of both spouses. The less egalitarian he was relative to his wife, the poorer the adjustment. This finding was examined within the historical context of differences in the social power of husbands and wives. A “magnitude-only” measure of marital sex-role attitude incongruence was not related to marital adjustment.

Changes in Lao Hmong Marital Attitudes After Immigrating to the United States

Hmong refugees from Laos have undergone tremendous social change as a result of their forced migration to the United States following the war in Indochina. This study explored changes in attitudes toward marriage for 134 Hmong refugee adults in Omaha, Nebraska. A questionnaire designed for an illiterate population was used to determine past and present marital attitudes. Significant change was present in many attitudes, while other attitudes toward marriage had experienced little change from Laos to the United States. Women were generally more traditional than men. Degree of marital attitude change was related to the refugee’s educational level. Implications for the future are discussed.

A Multiple Baseline Study of the Marriage Contract Game's Effect on Problem Solving and Affective Behavior

In a multiple-baseline design, four relatively untroubled couples were guided by the Marriage Contract Game and related instructions as they negotiated contracts. The results demonstrated generalization from clinic to home, and suggested that problem solving and affection are independent behavior domains. When problem-solving behavior was the target of intervention, the rate of problem-solving behavior increased significantly over baseline during generalization probes. When affective behavior was added as a target of training, the rate of affective behavior increased significantly over previous phases and the rate of problem solving continued to increase. Evidence about the interdependence of marital attitudes and behaviors also emerged. Subjective ratings of problems improved along with the increase in problem-solving behavior; mood ratings improved along with increases in problem-solving and in affective behavior. Training had no effect on ratings of marital happiness.

Marital attitudes over 40 years: a longitudinal and cohort analysis.

The present study investigated attitude change in adulthood within the context of historical change utilizing contemporary and archival data from the Terman Study of the Gifted. The study examined longitudinal comparisons of marital attitudes in light of a cohort comparison between the Terman subjects and a contemporary sample of 30-year-old individuals. The results indicated that significant change has occurred in marital attitudes for the Terman subjects over the 40 years from 30 to 70. These changes are in accord with current social trends. The changes for men and women differed in magnitude and areas of emphasis, and there was evidence for enduring sex differences in some areas. Changes occurring for the Terman women were of comparable magnitude to the cohort comparisons, whereas cohort differences for men were generally stronger than longitudinal changes.

Theory and Measurement in Marital Communication Training Programs

s International, 1979, 39, 6998A. Lebow, J. Issues in the assessment of outcome in family therapy. Family Process, 1981, 20, 167-188. Lewis, R. A., & Spanier, G. B. Theorizing about the quality and stability of marriage. In W. R. Burr, R. Hill, F. I. Nye, & I. L. Reiss (Eds.), Contemporary theories about the family (Vol. 1). New York: Free Press, 1979. Lind, R. W. Sex knowledge, birth control, and marital attitudes of a rural population. Journal of Home Economics Research, 1976, 5(1), 47-53. Matteson, R. Adolescent self-esteem, family communication, and marital satisfaction. Journal of Psychology, 1974, 86,

Social Class and Marital Attitudes and Behavior

Several studies demonstrate strong relationships between indices of social class and characteristics of marital attitudes and behavior. Two possible explanations for these relationships are described: one emphasizing the formative effects of occupations and work experiences and the second emphasizing the formative effects of educational attainment. Because most indices of social class are a function of both occupational and educational attainment, the results of previous research do not permit discrimination between the two explanations. Accordingly, national survey data were used to evaluate the validity of each theory. It was found that, net of education, neither female nor male occupational groups differed with respect to fourteen indices of marital attitudes and behavior. Instead education emerged as a major predictor of marital attitudes and behavior. The results of additional analyses of divorce rates provide further support for this conclusion.

Husbands and Wives in Lagos: The Effects of Socioeconomic Status on the Pattern of Family Living

This study explored with tape-recorded interviews the family life of a small sample of Nigerians. The sample consisted of 8 middle income and 12 low income married couples living in Lagos Nigeria a large urban center. 9 couples were interviewed in a rural farming community near Lagos. The data from the interviews indicated that in most areas of family life the middle-income couples had different attitudes and behavior patterns from the rural and urban low income couples. In some cases however the middle and low income urban couples differed from the rural couples. The data also indicated that husbands and wives seldom agreed in either their marital attitudes or reported behavior.(AUTHOR ABSTRACT)

Sex and Parental Education as Determinants of Marital Aspirations and Attitudes of a Group of Iranian Youth

This paper summarizes responses to a questionnaire on marital attitudes and preferences by a group oflranian youth. Subjects were 574 boys and 473 girls, aged between 16 and 19, attending grades 10-12 of several secondary schools in Shiraz city, southern Iran. Findings are presented separately for boys and girls belonging to three socioeconomic levels as indicated by father's education. Interesting differences are found with regard to both sex and socioeconomic status on a number of dimensions. The group as a whole seems to be in favor of modernization of marriage with a view to safeguarding the young people's rights and freedom of choice. Girls have taken a stronger position on this point. Subjects with better educated parents have also indicated a more modern approach to marriage and family life. Despite these trends towards modernization, there is much consistency between the expressed attitudes and preferences of the group as a whole and the established values and traditions of Iranian culture. A similar consistency holds with regard to other aspects of life covered by the questionnaire and indicates that the presumed generation gap is much less in evidence in this segment of Iranian society.

Sex Knowledge, Birth Control, and Marital Attitudes of a Rural Population

Most human research in rural areas has been problem‐oriented, focused on poverty, health, lack of education, and inadequate housing. This study deals with a random sample of rural Montanans who fit a pattern of relative affluence and education.Sex knowledge of rural Montanans, their attitudes toward birth control, their marriage role expectations, and marital communication were investigated. Respondents were 134 males and 198 females aged 18 or older who lived in 12 randomly selected counties, repres enting all six geographic regions of the state. The survey instrument included data related to personal background, birth control attitudes, sex knowledge, marriage role expecta tions, and marital communication.As age decreased, attitudes toward birth control were more favorable and sex knowledge was more extensive. Favorable attitudes toward birth control were also associated with more years of education, smaller family size, and better marital communication. Mean scores for the sample revealed generally favorable attitudes toward birth control, rather strong equalitarian views of marriage roles, and a relatively high level of marital communi cation. A majority responded correctly to more than half of the items on thesex knowledge inventory, indicating a fair, but by no means extensive, grasp of information relating to human reproduction.

Differential fertility by religious group in East Pakistan.

To compare the fertility levels of Muslim Caste and Schedule Caste Hindus in East Pakistan the ratio of children aged 0-9 to currently married and ever-married women aged 20-39 is used as the fertility index. The unadjusted and adjusted mean child to ever married woman ratios are 2.82 and 2.89 for Muslims 2.74 and 2.82 for Caste Hindus 2.53 and 2.59 for Schedule Caste Hindus. The difference between Muslims and Schedule Caste Hindus is statistically significant (p. less than .05). The higher fertility of the Muslims might be due to a higher proportion of extended marital experience higher infant mortality unfavorable attitudes to family planning and less ritual abstinence than among the Schedule Caste. The lower fertility of the Schedule Caste Hindus may be due to its higher mortality at younger ages reduced fertility due to malnutrition or dietary habits undercounting of children higher proportion married and adherence to traditional Hindo norms.