Marital Change Research Articles

Divorce Patterns in Nineteenth-Century New England

Sociological explanations of marital disruption and social change have relied on official governmental statistics that trace the emergence of divorce to the late 1800s. New data (N = 2,241) derived from an eight-county sample in three New England states during the 1800- 1860 period are compared with existing evidence for the late nineteenth-century. The findings indicate that divorce rates emerged in the early 1800s, increased sharply in the mid-century decades, and then leveled off toward the end of the century. These patterns are analyzed in terms of such variables as urbanization, the changing status of women, and the divorce laws and policies of the individual states, demonstrating that ideological changes were more important than forces associated with the industrial revolution.

Patterns of Marital Change across the Transition to Parenthood: Pregnancy to Three Years Postpartum

The purpose of this investigation is to advance the study of marital change across the transition to parenthood by moving beyond the study of central tendencies to examine variation in the matter and extent to which spouses experiences of their mates and their marital relationships changed from the last trimester of pregnancy through 3 years postpartum. Analyses of marital data collected at 4 points in time on 128 middle and working-class families rearing a firstborn child resulted in the identification of 4 distinct patterns of marital change which were labeled ACCELERATING DECLINE LINEAR DECLINE NO CHANGE and MODEST POSITIVE INCREASE. In a series of developmentally ordered discriminant function analyses efforts were made to distinguish decliners from increasers by using demographic personality and marital information collected prenatally; data on infant temperament and change in infant temperament obtained at 3 and 9 months postpartum respectively; and data on negative life events and income change collected at 3 years postpartum. Analyses revealed that patterns of marital change are determined by multiple factors and are largely identifiable prior to the infants birth. Postnatal information on infant temperament often improved the ability to discriminate marriages that declined and improved in quality across the transition to parenthood. (authors)

Work patterns and marital status change

The impact of marital status changes on the lives of adults and children has increased importance as marriage, divorce, and remarriage have become more frequent patterns of family composition change. These events can often be predicted by the family members involved so that they may be accompanied by changes in labor market activity prior to the events themselves. The study reported here uses panel data to examine the labor market activity changes that precede marital status changes. Women who become divorced increase hours of work in the year or two before the divorce occurs, and women who become remarried decrease hours of work in the year of the remarriage and thereafter. For men there seems to be little change in labor supply during these years. However, hours of housework for men do seem to change.

In‐law relationships in the American kinship system: the impact of divorce and remarriage

This paper reports on in‐law relationships in middle‐class kinship systems in which grandparents, divorcing parents and their children were studied longitudinally. The analysis first includes the definitions and meanings individuals assign to in‐law relationships during the processes of divorce and remarriage. Second, the structure and organization of the family and kinship system are mapped as they change with marital change. The patterns of cleavages and coalitions formed were found to be associated with the difficulty grandparents have in gaining access to grandchildren affected by divorce. Models were constructed that expressed the duality of oppositions found between relatives by blood, by marriage and by divorce. [American kinship, in‐laws, divorce, remarriage]

Assessing Marital Change during the Transition to Parenthood

Assessing Marital Change during the Transition to Parenthood

Marital Change Across the Transition to Parenthood

Recent studies of the transition to parenthood which advance understanding over to earlier, cross sectional and retrospective investigations are examined with regard to what they indicate about how marriages change that occur in marital activities/interactions and sentiments, design issues pertaining to this recent research are considered, specifically the need for and meaning of a childless comparison group. An analysis of studies which employ and do not employ such contrast groups indicates that across the transition household of labor becomes more traditional, couple leisure activities become less frequent, positive interchanges decrease whereas conflict increases, and overall satisfaction with the marriage and feelings of love for the spouse decline, especially in the case of wives. It is observed, however, that these changes are modest in magnitude (at least as currently measured) and probably represent the accentuation of changes that typically take place in marital relationships over time. The need...

Contemporary Marriage: Comparative Perspectives on a Changing Institution.

This is a collection of essays by various authors on aspects of contemporary marriage. The geographic focus is on the developed countries as a whole and on the United States in particular. The book begins with a general review of the meaning and significance of marriage in contemporary society. Part 1 contains four papers on the revolution in marital behavior and includes an article concerning the future of marriage an analysis of differences between blacks and whites in the decline of U.S. marriages and studies on consensual unions in France and the United States. Part 2 examines the limits of variation in marital patterns. Part 3 contains comparative studies of marital change concerning the United States Japan China Southern Africa and the Mormons. Part 4 is concerned with the law and changing sex roles and Part 5 with calculation and emotion in marriage.

Marital dissolution and distress in a psychiatric population: A longitudinal design

AbstractThere has been interest in recent years in the relationship between marital distress and psychopathology. It has been rare, however, for investigators to follow patients after their release from the hospital and observe the course of their marital relationships. The present study included patients meeting criteria for three DSM III DISORDERS (MAjor depressive, bipolar, and schizophrenic) and a normal control sample, all of whom are participants in an ongoing longitudinal study of children at risk for psychopathology (Stony Brook High‐Risk Project; Weintraub & Neale, 1984). Marital Adjustment Test (MAT; Locke & Wallace, 1959) scores were collected on patients at entry into the project (Phase I) and at a three year follow‐up (Phase II). Course of marriage was defined as negative if the couple's marital adjustment was rated as poor at Phase II or resulted in divorce or separation at Phase II. It was found that only the depressed group differed from the normal group in having significantly worse course of marital relationship; 84% of the depressive couples showed a “negative” course of marital change over time. However, all three patient groups had significantly higher rates of divorce by Phase II. MAT scores at Phase I successfully predicted course of marital relationship for all diagnostic groups. Implications for aftercare of psychiatric inpatients are discussed.

Outcomes of sexually open marriages

This study follows up a 1978 matched sample of 82 couples to find out if there were differences in marital stability between the sexually open and the sexually exclusive couples. In 1983 no statistically significant difference in marital stability was found. Of couples providing follow‐up data, 23 (68%) of the 34 sexually open couples and 32 (82%) of the 39 sexually exclusive couples were still together. Of the 23 couples who were sexually open in 1978, two couples had changed from a contract of sexual openness to one of sexual exclusivity; of the 32 couples originally exclusive, one couple changed in the interim to a sexually open marriage. In addition, data on marital happiness, extramarital sex, jealousy, changeableness, job change, and additional education are reported and a comparison between the two groups made. Differences between the two groups were found in number of people living in the household, job change, and additional education. Couples in the sexually open group were more likely to have e...

Perceived marital changes following marriage guidance training

Abstract Training to become a marriage guidance counsellor in Scotland involves a relatively demanding 18 months' programme of both didactic and experiential learning. Changes in the counsellors' marital relationships following training were evaluated using the Marital Adjustment Test and two ad hoc questionnaires. Of the 49 counsellors who (a) began training between 1976 and 1980, (b) completed the training and (c) were still counselling in February 1983, 33 participated, as did 30 of their partners. In general, the counsellors and their partners reported increased marital satisfaction following the training period, though five counsellors and two partners reported a decrease. The findings from the ad hoc questionnaires were also encouraging.

Perceived Marital Changes Following Marriage Guidance Training

Abstract Training to become a marriage guidance counsellor in Scotland involves a relatively demanding 18 months' programme of both didactic and experiential learning. Changes in the counsellors' marital relationships following training were evaluated using the Marital Adjustment Test and two ad hoc questionnaires. Of the 49 counsellors who (a) began training between 1976 and 1980, (b) completed the training and (c) were still counselling in February 1983, 33 participated, as did 30 of their partners. In general, the counsellors and their partners reported increased marital satisfaction following the training period, though five counsellors and two partners reported a decrease. The findings from the ad hoc questionnaires were also encouraging.

Marital Adjustment as Related to Personal and Marital Changes Accompanying Parenthood

Using data on 90 middle class fathers and 115 middle class mothers who responded to a mailed questionaire in the US this paper examines the amount and quality of life changes accompanying parenthood as they relate to parents marital adjustment. Marital adjustment in this study was measured by using the Locke-Wallace marital adjustment short form. Findings show: 1) in the area of personal life wives with high marital adjustment scores perceived more overall change than those with low marital adjustment scores 2) husbands with low marital adjustment scores reported perceiving significantly more change than did husbands with high marital adjustment scores and 3) negative personal and marital changes accompanying parenthood appear to be more difficult for wives than for husbands. These findings suggest that the perceived amount of change accompanying the birth of a child is associated with the sex of the parent and with their level of marital adjustment. The birth of a child precipitates a higher degree of positive change in the lives of parents high on marital adjustment than those low on marital adjustment. It may be that marital adjustment is 1 of the more important variables in explaining the way parents experience personal and marital changes accompanying parenthood. Adding the parenting role when there is stress in ones marital life may compound the difficulties and the amount of stress experienced. Knowledge of the positive and negative personal and marital changes associated with parenthood are relevant to parenthood educators in providing realistic parenthood education to current and prospective parents.

Life circumstances and the use of mental health services. A five year follow-up.

The study is concerned with the connection between life circumstances, as examined from the viewpoint of the social support theory, and the use of mental health services. The material comprises 200 successive psychiatric patients from a mental health centre and a central mental hospital in Finland. The follow-up period was five years. — The results of the analysis of the use of mental health services according to marital status, employment status and changes in social relationships were in keeping with social support theory. In the out-patient material economic security and employment at the out-set of the study were the most important variables in predicting whether or not the patient used mental health services for more than one year. The strongest correlation in the in-patient material was between age and rehospitalization.

Sex typing and division of labor as determinants of marital change across the transition to parenthood.

This investigation examines the proposition that wives who describe their personality in ways that deviate from sex stereotypes will become less positive and more negative about their marriage from before to after they become mothers, particularly when the transition to parenthood is accompanied by an increase in the traditionalism of marital roles. Sixty-one couples were studied longitudinally from the last trimester of pregnancy through the third postpartum month. The wives completed the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (Spence & Helmreich, 1978), which measures the extent to which they ascribe personality attributes stereotyped as "masculine" (i.e., instrumental, agentic) and "feminine" (expressive, affectional) to themselves, and several questionnaires assessing the marital relationship at both times of measurement. Results revealed that the more division of labor changed toward traditionalism, the greater the decline in wives' evaluations of the positive aspects of marriage and that changes in wives' evaluations of both positive and negative aspects of marriage can be significantly predicted by the interaction of the wives' expressivity and changes toward increased traditionalism in division of labor. Additional analyses showed that wives who do not ascribe female sex-typed attributes to themselves (relative to those who see themselves in sex-stereotyped ways) are more apt to evaluate their marriage less favorably from before to after parenthood when roles shift toward greater traditionalism.

Sex typing and division of labor as determinants of marital change across the transition to parenthood.

This investigation examines the proposition that wives who describe their personality in ways that deviate from sex stereotypes will become less positive and more negative about their marriage from before to after they become mothers, particularly when the transition to parenthood is accompanied by an increase in the traditionalism of marital roles. Sixty-one couples were studied longitudinally from the last trimester of pregnancy through the third postpartum month. The wives completed the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (Spence & Helmreich, 1978), which measures the extent to which they ascribe personality attributes stereotyped as "masculine" (i.e., instrumental, agentic) and "feminine" (expressive, affectional) to themselves, and several questionnaires assessing the marital relationship at both times of measurement. Results revealed that the more division of labor changed toward traditionalism, the greater the decline in wives' evaluations of the positive aspects of marriage and that changes in wives' evaluations of both positive and negative aspects of marriage can be significantly predicted by the interaction of the wives' expressivity and changes toward increased traditionalism in division of labor. Additional analyses showed that wives who do not ascribe female sex-typed attributes to themselves (relative to those who see themselves in sex-stereotyped ways) are more apt to evaluate their marriage less favorably from before to after parenthood when roles shift toward greater traditionalism.

Exploring Individual Differences in Marital Change across the Transition to Parenthood: The Role of Violated Expectations

The major purpose of this investigation is to test the hypothesis that spouses whose prenatal expectations proved too positive or insufficiently negative relative to their actual postnatal experiences would experience the greatest decline in marital functioning across the transition to parenthood. A 2ndary goal involves the simple comparison of prenatal expectations and postnatal experiences to determine the general accuracy of prenatal expectations about how the transition to parenthood is likely to affect individual and family functioning. The 61 middle class families particiapting in the project provided information on themselves during the last trimester of pregnancy and at 3 and 9 months postpartum. Prenatal assessment questions asked how parents-to-be expected the baby to affect a number of aspects of their lives. At 3 and 9 months the questions requested that parents evaluate how the birth of the baby and the transition to parenthood actually affected these same domains in their lives. Respondents were queried about 6 specific domains of individual and family life: marital conflict and cooperation overall marital relationship personal opinion of self relations with extended family with friends and neighbors and shared caregiving arrangements. A measure of violated expectations was created on the basis of the discrepancy between parental expectations and postnatal reports. In general prenatal expectations and postnatal experiences were similar. The effects of having a baby on the marriage turned out to be significantly less positive than anticipated for the sample as a whole; and parents-to-be expected husbands to be more involved in child care than they turned out to be. As predicted it is found that parents whose postnatal experiences turned out less positive and more negative than anticipated experienced more negative change in marriage. This is especially the case for mothers and for marital change between the last trimester of pregnancy and 3 months postpartum. The analyses clearly indicate that violated expectations had a much less powerful effect on marital change from 3 to 9 months. That the impact of violated expectations was more evident in the case of women may be explained by the fact that it is mothers who invariably bear the major burden of the transition to parenthood. Because women experience the greatest lifestyle change following the arrival of a 1st baby it seems to be the case that failure to anticipate accurately the nature of the babys influence and especially the tendency to overestimate the positive effects of this event are associated with negative change in the marital relationship as evaluated by women.

Stability and Change in Marriage across the Transition to Parenthood: A Second Study

This 2nd longitudinal study of the transition to parenthood focuses on 67 middle class caucasian primiparous couples residins in Pennsylvania US and substitutes a measurement system more differentiated than the widely used Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS) for evaluating marital change. The instruments selected for this 2nd longitudinal study require respondents to rate their subjective evaluations of various interaction events of their partners and of the relationship in general. Data were therefore gathered on activities moods and attitudes concerning the marital relationship. An attempt is made to replicate and extend the several trends discerned in the 1st study. It is hypothesized that mean levels of satisfaction with marital interactions with the relationship in general and with the partner would decline across the transition to parenthood and that spouses characterizations of the marriage as a romance would decrease while their characterizations of the marriage as a partnership would increase. At the time of the interview couples had been married an average of 4.2 years. Fathers and mothers mean ages were 28 and 26.5 years respectively; and the 2 parents averaged 15.8 and 14.4 years of education. For 2 of every 3 couples the 1st birth was planned. Each family was studied at several points in time beginning in the last trimester of pregnancy via interviews observations and questionnaires through the 9th postpartum month. In addition at 1 3 and 9 months postpartum each family was observed at a time when both parents were home in order to assess family interaction. Across the 1-year period of study both sets of spouses became increasingly dissatisfied with the positive behaviors of their partners wishing that they were displayed more often. Spouses reported change in feelings of love satisfaction and ambivalence also reflected behavioral changes. For husbands and wives alike satisfaction and love declined linearly over time. This decline was most evident in the case of wives. Follow-up testing of the main effect for time revealed that while sense of friendship declined in a linear fashion over time sense of romance significantly decreased and sense of partnership significantly increased between the last trimester of pregnancy and the 3rd postpartum month. The naturalistic observations of marital interaction chronicled significant changes in overall engagement baby-related communication and the display of positive affection across the babys 1st 9 months of life. Husband-wife correspondence analysis reveals a consistent pattern of statistically reliable convergence between reports within a family. Discussion of these results focuses on the repeatedly found patterns of change in the marital relationship experienced by the average couple and spouse as well as the stability of individual differences. Scales such as those used in this study provide a better basis for examining the interrelations of patterns of behavior and subjective feelings over time. Yet it must be concluded that there is little difference between the picture painted using the oft-criticized DAS approach to assessing marriage and a more conceptually differentiated approach when it comes to evaluating stability and change over time.

The Work-Family Interface and Marital Change Across the Transition to Parenthood

This article examines the effects of work-family interference and support on couples experiencing the transition to parenthood. Correlational relationships between measures of work-family interference and support and assessments of marital change (based on measures taken prenatally and at three- and nine-months postpartum) were examined. The findings suggest that husbands and wives experiencing high levels of work-family interference report an increase in marital conflict across the first two measurement occasions. In addition, husbands also report increased marital satisfaction when work-family support is high. Difference scores reflecting marital change from three to nine months indicate a decrease in wives' satisfaction with communication and positive feelings in the relationship as a result of high work-family stress. These findings suggest that the work-family relationship, as one determinant affecting the transition to parenthood, deserves further study.

Marital and Parent-Child Relationships in Family of Origin and Marital Change Following the Birth of a Baby: A Retrospective Analysis

In order to explore the relationship between recollected experiences in one's family of origin and changes in marriage following the birth and rearing of a new baby, data collected as part of a larger and more extensive study of infant and family development were analyzed. Multiple regression analyses revealed that retrospective reports of how one was reared by parents and of how parents got along as husband and wife in one's family of origin reliably predicted changes in marriage from the last trimester of pregnancy through the time the baby was 9 months of age. Most significantly, results indicated that husband-wife differences in evaluations of marital adjustment increased over time when individuals recalled being reared in a cold-rejecting as opposed to warm-supportive manner, especially when individuals also recalled their own parents as not having an especially harmonious marital relationship. These findings are discussed in terms of potential processes by which experiences in one's family of origin may affect the way couples adjust to the birth and rearing of a new baby.

Marital and Parent-Child Relationships in Family of Origin and Marital Change Following the Birth of a Baby: A Retrospective Analysis

Marital and Parent-Child Relationships in Family of Origin and Marital Change Following the Birth of a Baby: A Retrospective Analysis