Spousal Roles Research Articles

Marital Interaction Problems and Depression

This study examines the relationship between marital role problems and depression at four stages in the family life cycle. A randomly selected sample of 336 couples (672 respondents) was interviewed and asked questions concerning role conflict, role performance and depression. It was found that there were significant relationships between role conflict, dissatisfaction with self and spouse's role performance and depression. The relationships were differentiated between sexes and across the life cycle. Possible explanations for these findings are discussed.

Female Retirement: Effects on Spousal Roles and Marital Adjustment

PAST research on retirement has nearly exclusively centered on the adjustment problems of male retirees. This trend is particularly obvious in studies on the effects of retirement on the marital relationship. Data from a pilot study of 25 female retirees and their husbands indicate that female retirement can, indeed, influence a couple's marital satisfaction and task allocation patterns. The retirement of the wife does not always lead to a redistribution of household tasks, nor do all female retirees experience a full-time household role after retirement is entirely positive ways. Effects of the wife's retirement on the marital relationship are often described as positive: Many couples feel relieved from the stresses associated with their dual work and family obligations and enjoy their new togetherness and joint leisure time activities. Negative effects on the marital relationship can occur, however, if the wife experiences serious retirement adjustment problems or if the spouses feel irritated by each other's continuous presence at home.

Dual-Career Couples Who Live Apart: Two Types

Increasingly, over the last decade, dual-career couples have met the mobility demands of each spouse's career by deciding to maintain separate residences. This study analyzes the rewards and strains associated with the lifestyle of dual-career couples who live apart. Analysis of interviews with 43 spouses, representing 28 marriages, suggests that the heritage of traditional marriage norms aft~cts spouses' views o/ftheir own roles in these nontraditional marriages. A distinction between two types (mainlyv younger adjusting and older established couples) is helpful in sorting out ways in which traditional marital norms frame evaluations of spousal roles in these relationships.

The Soap Opera Game: A Teaching Aid for Sociology of the Family

offamily and marital interaction. Spouse roles were assigned to undergraduate students when then confronted a series of crises or episodes which reflected ideas discussed in the assigned readings. Students coped with the nine episodes, kept a record of decisions and reactions and produced a paper applying sociological theory and researchfindings to their own simulated marital experience. Assessment of the game's merit was based upon ability of the students to successfully complete the written assignment, students' evaluations of the experience and comparisons of student course evaluation with and without use of the

The Long‐Term Effects of Parental Divorce in Childhood on Adult Adjustment

Relationships between experiencing a parental divorce or separation prior to age 16 and a variety of measures of adult adjustment and psychological functioning are examined using data from two national cross‐sectional surveys conducted nearly 20 years apart. Although few differences between adults from parentally‐divorced and intact family backgrounds persist when controls for contemporary life circumstances and other social background factors were included, two modest trends are still evident. First, although associations between psychological distress and early experience with parental divorce have weakened somewhat over the past two decades, coming from a non‐intact family of origin still has some significance for adult psychological well‐being. Second, men and women from non‐intact families of origin display different patterns of adjustment to and valuation of the major life roles of spouse and parent. Nevertheless, because such relationships are not very powerful, it is concluded that contrary to much of the literature and popular thought, these early experiences have, at most, a modest effect on adult adjustment.

The spouse's role in home hemodialysis.

The role of the spouse as a factor in the success or failure of home dialysis becomes increasingly important as expectations rise that hemodialysis patients be home-trained. Home hemodialysis offers advantages to the patient but may add stress to the spouse. We present cases illustrating the types of responses spouses have to home hemodialysis. Present conditions are such that the spouse's ability to participate in home hemodialysis may be less affected by aspects of the patient-partner's chronic renal disease than the potential change in the marital relationship that can derive from home hemodialysis. Success in home dialysis is at risk when the spouse is naturally dependent on the patient-partner. These spouses will often require special supportive measures.

Role Satisfaction of Vocational Students as Individual, Parent, and Spouse

This study was concerned with individual, parent, and spouse role satisfaction of recent graduates of Wisconsin's Vocational, Technical, and Adult Education system. Responses from 1,302 subjects were analyzed. Subscores on the “Life Skills” Inventory determined the level of satisfaction.Scores indicated overall satisfaction with preparation for life skills. However, analysis of variance revealed significant differences on Individual Role scores by sex, age, and current residence. Spouse Role scores were significantly different for marital status and current residence. Significant differences due to sex, marital status, and number of children were found for Parent Role scores. Differences in satisfaction with life skills imply that curriculum development for education for individual, parent, and spouse roles should proceed differently for persons differing in sex, age, residence, marital status, and number of children.

Spousal Role Differentiation and the Socialization of Severely Retarded Children

Aspects of the Parsons-Bales theory of socialization processes provide a basis for propositions pertaining to the father's role with severely retarded children. Data are presented which tend to support hypotheses predicting that fathers of severely retarded children are less adaptable than are mothers and are apt to be more vulnerable to socially imposed criteria and extrafamilial influences. Additional hypotheses are proposed which suggest a number of consequences of fathers' sensitivity to extrafamilial pressures.

Dominance, Persistence, Self-Confidence, and Spousal Roles in Decision Making

(1961). Dominance, Persistence, Self-Confidence, and Spousal Roles in Decision Making. The Journal of Social Psychology: Vol. 54, No. 2, pp. 349-358.

Sex of Observer and Spousal Roles in Decision Making

Sex of Observer and Spousal Roles in Decision Making

The Interrelation of Occupational and Spousal Roles in a Middle Class Negro Neighborhood

The Interrelation of Occupational and Spousal Roles in a Middle Class Negro Neighborhood

Traditional Family Ideology and Spousal Roles in Decision Making

Traditional Family Ideology and Spousal Roles in Decision Making