Marital Behavior Research Articles

Household Behaviour and Social Norms: A Conjugal Contract Model with Conformism

This paper introduces conformism in a conjugal contract model, in order to explore the complex interactions between households' allocation decisions and conjugal social norms which are both endogenously determined in the model. In couples, men and women are assumed to be relatively autonomous in the allocation of their resources, but linked through the production and the joint consumption of a domestic public good. Given that their relative market wages will generally differ, the husband and wife have an incentive to negotiate and agree upon an income sharing rule - a 'conjugal contract' - in order to benefit from specialization gains. The model departs from the existing literature by introducing conformism in the bargaining process over the conjugal contract. Through the conformism of individuals, the conjugal social norm influences the marital behaviour of couples and the allocation of family resources. But the social norm itself results endogenously from the aggregation of couples' marital agreements. The model consistently explains some empirical evidence that challenge traditional economic models of household, notably the fact that women still bear the bulk of domestic tasks, even when they are better-paid than their partner in the labour market. The model shows that wage policies promoting gender wage equality 1 may lead men and women to share household duties more equally, but that conformism reduces their efficiency. The model also consistently explains the fact that new economic developments - such as women's increased labour force participation - contribute to reshape social expectations about the roles of men and women in domestic and child caring activities.

Education and transition from cohabitation to marriage in Lithuania

This article examines the role of individual educational resources in the transition from cohabitation to marriage in Lithuania over the past four decades that cover the communist and the transitional periods with various developmental stages of cohabitation. Two competing hypotheses were formulated based on cultural and structural approaches. The first hypothesis anticipated a stable negative effect of higher education, the second a positive gradient of education for the transition from cohabitation to marriage after the 1990s. Pooled data from two waves of the before Generations and Gender Survey is used to apply the descriptive and parametric event history analysis. The research results prove that the role of education in the transition from cohabitation to marriage is dynamic over time and across gender groups. The educational resources were not significant for the entry into marriage during the communist period that coincided with the initial stage of the diffusion of cohabitation in the society and this holds true for men's and women's matrimonial behavior. The transitional period marks the shift towards the positive educational gradient that is especially stable for the men. We conclude that the ‘pattern of disadvantage’ is pronounced in the contemporary Lithuanian society and this indicates the return to the socio-economically differentiated marital behavior.

Marital discord, past depression, and metabolic responses to high-fat meals: Interpersonal pathways to obesity

BackgroundLongitudinal studies have implicated both marital distress and depression in the development of the metabolic syndrome, a risk factor for diabetes and cardiovascular disease. This study addressed the impact of hostile marital interactions and a mood disorder history on obesity-related metabolic responses to high-fat meals. MethodsThis double-blind, randomized crossover study included serial assessments of resting energy expenditure (REE), fat and carbohydrate oxidation, triglycerides, insulin, glucose, interleukin 6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) before and after two high-fat meals. During two separate 9.5h visits, 43 healthy married couples, ages 24–61 (mean=38.22), received either a high saturated fat meal or a high oleic sunflower oil meal, both 930kcal and 60g fat. The Structured Diagnostic Interview for DSM-IV assessed mood disorder history. Couples discussed a marital disagreement during both visits; behavioral coding of these interactions provided data on hostile marital behaviors. ResultsMen and women who displayed more hostile behaviors and who also had a mood disorder history had significantly lower post-meal REE, higher insulin, and higher peak triglyceride responses than other participants, with nonsignificant effects for fat and carbohydrate oxidation. Participants with a mood disorder history had a steeper rise in postprandial IL-6 and glucose than those without a past history. Higher levels of hostile behaviors were associated with higher post-meal TNF-α. The two meals did not differ on any outcome assessed. ConclusionsPeople spend about 18 of every 24h in a postprandial state, and dining with one's partner is a common daily event. Among subjects with a mood disorder history, the cumulative 6.75-h difference between high and low hostile behaviors translates into 128kcal, a difference that could add 7.6pounds/year. Our findings illustrate novel pathways through which chronic marital stress and a mood disorder history synergistically heighten the risk for obesity, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular disease.

Rural Youth in Russia: Their Status and Prospects for Development

Abstract This article analysed the place of rural youth in the socio-structural processes taking place in the Russian countryside, using the findings of Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey of the population’s economic condition and health (RLMSHSU); conducted between 1994 and 2011, and of the Integrated Survey of the Living Conditions of the Population carried out in all 86 Russian regions in 2011. Rural youth (15 to 30 year-olds) are the first generation socialized in the period of cardinal institutional changes and market economy formation. They make up a great part of the rural population. This investigation showed that; in spite of the rise in the educational level, the share of the unemployed and occupied in the informal sector of the economy is great in the rural youth employment structure, which leads to the growth of poverty and migration. The material and financial status of young countrymen’s households and rural youth’s marital behaviour were also examined.

Using multiple methods to examine gender differences in alcohol involvement and marital interactions in alcoholic probands

BackgroundThis study examined gender differences in alcohol involvement and marital interactions among probands with a past 1-year alcohol use disorder (AUD). MethodsAdults with alcohol dependence (37 males and 17 females) and their spouses were recruited from a local substance abuse treatment center and from the local community. Couples completed a series of self-report measures and a 15-min videotaped marital interaction task that was coded for negative and positive behaviors and sequential interactions. Couples also separately called in to an interactive voice response (IVR) system every night for 14 consecutive nights and reported on their spouse's negative and positive marital behaviors. ResultsCompared to male probands, female probands reported a) more negative marital interactions in the previous month; b) higher levels of negative reciprocity and a lower positive-to-negative ratio in the marital interaction task; and c) more daily and nightly marital conflict over the 14-day diary period. Negative marital behaviors in the evening by female spouses were associated with higher odds of intoxication among male probands on the following day. In contrast, a) negative marital behaviors by male spouses were cross-sectionally associated with higher odds of intoxication among female probands within the same day; and b) positive marital behaviors by male spouses during the day were associated with lower odds of intoxication among female probands that night. ConclusionsMarital conflict, assessed via multiple methods over multiple time scales, appears to be more frequent among female compared to male alcoholics. Marital conflict predicts daily intoxication among male and female probands.

BMI Changes in Russian Adults: The Role of Health Related Behaviors and Spousal Relationships

The paper investigates the effects of changes in marital status and health related behaviors (smoking and drinking) on the body mass index (BMI) in Russian adults over a ten-year period. Smoking and drinking behavior changes have played an important part in health status changes over 1994 to 2004. The results indicate that the individual weight/BMI changes asymmetrically in health determinants; the sign and the magnitude of the response are different depending on the starting point and whether there is an increase or a decrease in the explanatory variable. Males’ BMI decreases with smoking and increases with quitting smoking, but females’ BMI increases with drinking alcohol and decreases with stopping drinking. Losing a partner decreases only the females’ BMI, but gaining a spouse/partner is associated with increases in BMI for both genders. For married females and males, the change in spousal BMI is significantly positively related. Understanding interactions between individual health-related behaviors and the set of determinants that contribute to such behaviors is a fundamental step in the design of effective interventions.

Intermarriage among new immigrants in the USA

Using the 2003 New Immigrant Survey data, we explore marital behaviour among new immigrants in the USA. Marital assimilation with mainstream US natives was highest among European immigrants, followed by Latin Americans, Southeast Asians, East Asians, and finally South Asians. There is no single ‘Asian’ pattern of marital assimilation. While South Asians and East Asians defy the classical assimilation theory with their strong resistance to intermarriage within the mainstream despite their high degree of structural assimilation, Southeast Asians display high rates of such marital assimilation. Europeans, as predicted by classical theory, evince high rate of marital assimilation. Latin Americans and Southeast Asians lie in between the two extremes of Europeans and other Asian subgroups. While they seem to follow a path of segmented assimilation by demonstrating within-region endogamy, compared to Europeans they have only a slightly higher propensity to marry within their nationality, suggesting ongoing assimilation along classical lines.

Work-family enrichment, work-family conflict, and marital satisfaction: a dyadic analysis.

This study was designed to examine whether spouses' work-to-family (WF) enrichment experiences account for their own and their partner's marital satisfaction, beyond the effects of WF conflict. Data were collected from both partners of 215 dual-earner couples with children. As hypothesized, structural equation modeling revealed that WF enrichment experiences accounted for variance in individuals' marital satisfaction, over and above WF conflict. In line with our predictions, this positive link between individuals' WF enrichment and their marital satisfaction was mediated by more positive marital behavior, and more positive perceptions of the partner's behavior. Furthermore, evidence for crossover was found. Husbands who experienced more WF enrichment were found to show more marital positivity (according to their wives), which related to increased marital satisfaction in their wives. No evidence of such a crossover effect from wives to husbands was found. The current findings not only highlight the added value of studying positive spillover and crossover effects of work into the marriage, but also suggest that positive spillover and crossover effects on marital satisfaction might be stronger than negative spillover and crossover are. These results imply that organizational initiatives of increasing job enrichment may make employees' marital life happier and can contribute to a happy, healthy, and high-performing workforce.

Marital behavior of the elderly population in Serbia

The aim of this paper is to examine contemporary marital behavior of the population in Serbia older than 65 years. Models of marital behavior are a reflection of culture, tradition, local customs, economic status, cultural and historical heritage, and as such are subject to change. Extending the life expectancy of the population, and the change of socio-economic and cultural circumstances, had led to changing in marital behavior and marital structure of the old population. To track these changes and comprehend the current situation, we analyzed indicators such as the marriage and divorce rates for this age group, as well as current marital structure, comparing them with previous values. It is particularly noteworthy that for the first time (based on data from the 2011 census), we can analyze the frequency and characteristics of informal marriage unions (cohabitation), which provides important insights into the marital life of the elderly.

Assessment of demographic and socio-economic factors on ailments and disability among elderly

The present study makes an effort to study the influence of demographic and socio-economic factors on ailments and disability among elderly people living in urban and rural areas of India. Data is collected through a well-structured questionnaire, specifically designed for the purpose, to obtain information on demographic factors like gender, marital status, educational qualification, kinship, etc., and socio-economic factors such as annual income, immovable properties, income generating livestock, etc. A sample of 288 elderly men and women above the age of 60 years is considered from both urban and rural household from the State of Odisha, India. Logistic regression method is tailored to fit the categorical dependent variables. The results indicate that the variables which show significant effect on aliments and disability in rural setting are marital status, risk behaviour, and kinship. Similarly, the variables which show significant effect on urban setting are livestock, ownership of house and risk behaviour. Risk behaviour comes out to be a significant factor in both the settings. It is observed that the elderly, having bad habits especially consumption of alcohol and smoking, are prone to ailments leading to disability in the long run.

Socioeconomic Determinants of Divorce in Sweden, 1960–1965

During the 1960s in Sweden, socioeconomic differentials decreased sharply and both the labor force participation of married women and aggregate divorce rates increased more rapidly than during any other period of the twentieth century. The aim of this paper is to investigate how the socioeconomic composition of the couple influenced the probability of divorce during this period of rapid restructuring. The study uses a large data set covering the entire married population of Sweden in 1960 and applies a binary model whereby the couples are analyzed as units rather than separate individuals to model divorce during the period from 1960 to1965. The main results show that the equalization process between genders and social classes during this period contributed to the decrease in marital stability. Dual-provider families exhibit substantially higher probabilities of divorce as compared to traditional single-provider families. We also find that the socioeconomic gradient of divorce had become negative by the early 1960s and that couples with low socioeconomic status contributed more to the increase in divorce than did couples in the higher strata. A difference between the results reached in this study and those from divorce research covering later decades is that children do not reduce the probability of divorce when the wife's labor force participation is controlled for. The results indicate that the determinants of divorce have varied across different phases of the divorce transition during the twentieth century and that a historical perspective is necessary if we are to understand the long-term process that has produced current marital behavior.

Autonomy and efficiency. An experiment on household decisions in two regions of India

Dyson and Moore (1983) posit that women in South India enjoy relatively more agency than in the North. Their conclusions have become part of the standard picture of Indian rural society. In this paper, using experimental data we examine the implications of the regional contrast in female autonomy for the efficiency of family decision-making. With a sample of 1200 couples (one rural and one urban area in the North (Uttar Pradesh) and one rural area in the South (Tamil Nadu)), we find continuing significant differences between North and South in the nature of marital behaviour. In our experiments we see large-scale and robust evidence of inefficiency and hiding of assets when possible. Men invest more and are more generous to their partners. Women are more willing to invest in a common pool when their income is earned through working and when assets are publicly observable. There are differences between responses to treatment but the key and striking difference between the North and the South is that in both rural and urban sites in the North household efficiency is considerably greater than in the South.

Determinants of marital behaviour in five Apennine communities of Central Italy inferred by surname analysis, repeated pairs and kinship estimates

The work makes use of surname analysis, repeated pairs and kinship estimates in 11,009 marriage records celebrated in five communities of the Italian Central Apennine (Celano, Lecce dei Marsi, Ortucchio, Roio, Villavallelonga) from 1802 to 1965 with the objective to deepen knowledge of the relative influence of several determinants on their marital behaviour. These towns are part of the same geographic and economic environment: the slopes of the ancient Fucino Lake. This work further elaborates the results from previous studies on the bio-demographic model of the region. The data were analyzed according to three periods of approximately 50 years. Results show the highest inbreeding coefficients in the pastoral towns of Roio and Villavallelonga. Repeated pair analysis highlights a certain degree of population subdivision which declined in time in Celano, Lecce dei Marsi and Ortucchio. The highest and increasing values of RP-RPr in time in Roio suggest a general reduction in genetic heterogeneity. This is possibly due to the celebration of marriages among families selected on the economic basis of pastoralism, as this town historically has had a leading tradition of sheep-farming. Villavallelonga, excluding isonymous marriages, shows an increase in repeated pair unions in time, thus revealing a substructure with marriages among preferred lineages. This is in line with previous results on consanguineous marriages which indicated the tendency of avoiding unions between close relatives in this small geographic isolate. This study demonstrates the influence of geographical (altitude) and social factors (pastoralism) on the marital structures of the investigated populations.

Marital processes, arranged marriage, and contraception to limit fertility.

An international transition away from familially arranged marriages toward participation in spouse choice has endured for decades and continues to spread through rural Asia today. Although we know that this transformation has important consequences for childbearing early in marriage, we know much less about longer-term consequences of this marital revolution. Drawing on theories of family and fertility change and a rural Asian panel study designed to measure changes in both marital and childbearing behaviors, this study seeks to investigate these long-term consequences. Controlling for social changes that shape both marital practices and childbearing behaviors, and explicitly considering multiple dimensions of marital processes, we find evidence consistent with an independent, long-standing association of participation in spouse choice with higher rates of contraception to terminate childbearing. These results add a new dimension to the evidence linking revolutions in marital behavior to long-term declines in fertility and suggest that new research should consider a broader range of long-term consequences of changing marital processes.

The Interpersonal Legacy of a Positive Family Climate in Adolescence

In this research, we evaluated how well overall levels of positive engagement in adolescents’ families of origin, as well as adolescents’ unique expressions of positive engagement in observed family interactions, statistically predicted marital outcomes approximately 20 years later. The sample consisted of 288 focal individuals and their spouses, drawn from the Iowa Youth and Families Project (IYFP). Data for focal individuals’ family-of-origin positive engagement were taken from IYFP assessments from 1989 to 1991. Data for outcomes of interest, including focal individuals’ and spouses’ marital behavior, were drawn from the IYFP between 2007 and 2008. Individuals’ unique expressions of positive engagement in their families of origin were linked to the degree of positive engagement these adolescents later exhibited toward their spouses. A positive family climate during adolescence for one marital partner was also associated with positive marital outcomes for both partners. Overall, our results suggest that the climate in one’s family of origin may have long-term significance for one’s interpersonal relationships.

Chaucer and the Culture of Love and Marriage by Cathy Hume (review)

Reviewed by: Chaucer and the Culture of Love and Marriage by Cathy Hume Gillian Adler Cathy Hume, Chaucer and the Culture of Love and Marriage (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer. 2012) 240 pp. Beginning at least with G.L. Kittredge’s discussion of the so-called Marriage Group, a variety of historicist readings have explored Chaucer’s representations of lovers and married men and women against the background of medieval canon law, theology and the liturgy, contemporary writings, patristic literature, and the institutional and ideological phenomena of late medieval England. These frameworks have posited the relevance of social, cultural, and political events to contemporary expectations of male and female behavior in love and marriage, and moreover, to expectations of Chaucer’s literary figures. In Chaucer and the Culture of Love and Marriage, Cathy Hume similarly situates Chaucer’s stories about courtship and marriage in the historical milieu in which they were written. However, Hume suggests that prior studies have “less than fully contextualized” Chaucer’s works (4). Looking beyond “the writings of the Church Fathers, twelfth-century theology and legal codes ... sermons, wills and records of legal cases,” Hume addresses two understudied sources, advice literature and a body of letter collections, in which to locate [End Page 280] evidence of fourteenth-century ideals and practices of love and marriage (5). This material, according to Hume, becomes a new framework for appreciating the “horizons of expectation” with which Chaucer’s contemporary readers would have approached his work. Within this context, modern readers can learn how fourteenth- and fifteenth-century readers might have responded to his lustful, loyal, and lovelorn characters. Thus, while the introductory survey of recent historical-literary scholarship on the history of love and marriage in late medieval England provides a foundation for the eight chapters that explore Chaucer’s preoccupation with these subjects, Hume’s most original contribution is her assessment of advice literature for women, a set of texts concerned with the virtuous living of a wife, courtly and marital behavior, as well as the more practical rules of marriage; and English letter collections dated from the fifteenth century, composed by gentry and merchant families, including the Pastons, revealing the negotiations of marriage, illicit flirtations, and other transactional activities of real medieval marriages and amorous relationships. Hume works under the assumption that, although some of her sources were written after the death of Chaucer, ideals in relation to love and marriage were preserved up until the late fifteenth century. Using advice literature and letter collections, Hume convincingly reconstructs the expectations of audiences who received Chaucer’s poetry, offering modern scholars a fresh approach to late medieval reception history. The first four chapters of this study concentrate on married life and the roles constructed for husbands and wives in the Franklin’s Tale, Clerk’s Tale, Ship-man’s Tale, and Merchant’s Tale. Hume reads Dorigen in the Franklin’s Tale in the context of the Paston Letters to remind us that Chaucer’s wives share many more experiences with real medieval wives than with literary predecessors, and in particular, that they share the concern for upholding their honor in marriage and their reputation. The advice literature which surrounds the Griselda story that Chaucer rewrites in the Clerk’s Tale portrays the obedience ideal ambiguously, rather than as unequivocally necessary, and ultimately supports Chaucer’s endeavor to show that limits must be placed on the testing of the wife and to highlight the ethical problems of a wife’s docility and submission. Walter’s own disobedience, furthermore, points to Chaucer’s more serious interrogation of the hierarchies of marriage. In the Shipman’s Tale, the wife manipulates her domestic, wifely roles as hostess, social networker, housekeeper, and business assistant, and reflects medieval wives’ behavioral roles, which were sometimes at odds with the principles of coverture in late medieval England. Hume’s study of the Merchant’s Tale argues for May’s similar subversion of wifely roles to suit her own ends. The final treatment of the Canterbury Tales include readings of aristocratic marriages in the Man of Law’s Tale and the Knight’s Tale. The chapter on the former suggests the familiarity of the Constance of Anglo...

HIV sero-conversion rate and risk factors among HIV discordant couples in Zhumadian city, Henan province

To analyze the sero-conversion rate and risk factors among HIV discordant couples in Zhumadian. Sero-discordant couples had been followed up during 2006 - 2011. Information were collected from the National Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Information Management System and the HIV discordant couples Follow-up Management Information System including demographic characteristics of sero-negative spouses, the characteristics of infection and antiretroviral therapy information of index spouses, marital sexual behavior and social support etc., on a biannual basis. Blood specimens of sero-negative spouses were also collected and tested. Cox proportional-hazard model was used to analyze the related risk factors on HIV sero-conversion. Among 4813 sero-discordant couples, 127 HIV sero-conversion spouses were identified, with a total sero-conversion rate as 0.63 per 100 person-years. The one-year sero-conversion rate in 2006 - 2011 ranged from 0.29 to 1.28 per 100 person-years. Factors that associated with increased risk of HIV sero-conversion were: sero-negative spouses with lower education level (RR = 1.50, 95%CI: 1.02 - 2.21, P = 0.04), index spouses not received ART (RR = 3.16, 95%CI: 2.20 - 4.56, P < 0.01) and last recorded CD4(+) cell counts as < 200 cells per µl (RR = 2.11, 95%CI: 1.40 - 3.19, P < 0.01), marital sexual contacts in the past 6 months with frequency of ≥ 4 times per month (RR = 4.27, 95%CI: 2.89 - 6.30, P < 0.01) but never used condoms (RR = 6.40, 95%CI: 3.67 - 11.17, P < 0.01), couples had not received any financial support and care assistance in the past 6 months (RR = 4.75, 95%CI: 2.34 - 9.64, P < 0.01). During 2006 - 2011, the sero-conversion rate among sero-negative spouses in Zhumadian had been stabilized and the rate was lower than it was in the last years. The increase of ART acceptance and its adherence and social support should be improved and focused on the follow-up management towards the serodiscordant couples.

Parent Characteristics and Early Coparenting Behavior at the Transition to Parenthood

AbstractThis study examined parent characteristics as correlates of coparenting behavior in 57 primiparous couples. Parents' negative emotionality and perceptions of maternal acceptance in childhood, mothers' beliefs about fathers' roles, and observed marital behavior and family socioeconomic status were assessed during the third trimester of pregnancy, and coparenting behavior was observed at 3.5 months postpartum. Couples who exhibited high‐quality marital interaction showed higher supportive coparenting behavior, but couples who showed lower quality marital interaction demonstrated higher supportive coparenting behavior when mothers held more progressive beliefs about fathers' roles. Couples showed more undermining coparenting behavior when family socioeconomic status was lower and when fathers were higher on negative emotionality. Greater perceived maternal acceptance in childhood was only associated with lower levels of undermining behavior when prenatal marital interaction was high in quality. Thus, the characteristics of both parents, especially in combination with preexisting marital behavior, are important determinants of coparenting behavior.

Stress spillover in early marriage: The role of self-regulatory depletion.

Stressful experiences external to a marriage (e.g., work stress, finances) are often associated with poor relationship functioning and lowered marital satisfaction, a phenomenon called stress spillover. To date, however, little attention has been devoted to understanding the specific mechanisms through which stress may lead to maladaptive relationship patterns. Drawing from theories of self-regulatory depletion, it was predicted that coping with external stress is an effortful process that consumes spouses' regulatory resources, leaving spouses with less energy to effectively respond to their relationship issues. The current study relied on a sample of newly married couples to examine whether self-regulatory depletion may account for the link between external stress and relationship well-being. Couples were asked to complete a 14-day daily diary that assessed their daily stress, their state of self-regulatory depletion, their marital behaviors, and their daily marital appraisals. Within-person analyses revealed that, on average, couples experienced stress spillover, such that on days when their stress was higher than usual they reported enacting more negative behaviors toward their partner and endorsed less positive appraisals of the relationship. Further analyses confirmed that self-regulatory depletion accounted for a majority of these spillover effects. These findings suggest that even happy couples may find it difficult to engage in adaptive relationship processes under conditions of stress.

DemoDiff: A Dataset for the Study of Family Change in Eastern (and Western) Germany

Researchers who study family and fertility view Germany as unique among countries. West Germany is a forerunner in trends towards very low fertility, high childlessness and low transition rates to higher order births in Europe. Furthermore, the particular demographic situation in East Germany represents an exceptional case. In 1990, a new institutional framework, that of West Germany, was implemented in East Germany. At reunification, it was generally expected that eastern Germans would quickly adopt western German behavioral patterns. While this did occur in many areas, marked East-West differences in behavior and attitudes remain more than 20 years after reunification (Krause / Ostner, 2010). In the realm of family life, pronounced differences between East and West in fertility and nuptiality patterns persist (Goldstein /Kreyenfeld, 2011). Marital behavior differs sharply between the two previously separate German states, as unmarried parenthood is very common in the East, where more than 60% of children are born to unmarried mothers. In addition to a large EastWest gap in nuptiality patterns, eastern and western Germans differ sharply when it comes to women’s employment patterns and attitudes towards maternal employment, and these differences have been found to persist even among the generation of eastern and western Germans who were born and raised after reunification (Bauernschuster /Rainer, 2012).