Master of Science / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Jared R. Anderson / The present study tests the reciprocal relationships between marital attitudes, time spent together, and marital satisfaction in a sample of newlyweds (N = 1220). Using cognitive dissonance theory and the investment model, this study tests two sets of theoretically derived unidirectional pathways to provide empirical evidence for longitudinal associations between these three constructs. Two separate models were tested, one for husbands, and one for wives. For both husbands and wives, results of the panel models indicated significant autoregressive paths among all three variables from T1 to T2, T2 to T3, and T1 to T3. Among husbands, significant cross-lagged paths emerged between T1 marital satisfaction and T2 marital attitudes, T1 marital satisfaction and T2 time spent together, T1 time spent together and T2 marital satisfaction, T2 time spent together and T3 marital satisfaction, and T2 time spent together and T3 marital attitudes. For wives, cross-lagged paths between T1 marital satisfaction and T2 time spent together, T1 time spent together and T2 marital satisfaction, and T2 time spent together and T3 marital satisfaction were found to be significant. Bootstrap test for indirect effects resulted in no significant mediating effects in the models. The results of these models are discussed and implications for future research and intervention are given.

A qualidade dos relacionamentos interpessoais tem grande influência nos diversos contextos da vida de qualquer indivíduo, aqui se incluindo o contexto conjugal, fonte potencial de prazer e realização ou frustração e transtornos psicológicos. Pesquisas têm mostrado a importância de habilidades sociais específicas para a maximização da qualidade do relacionamento conjugal, como sua estabilidade e duração, sugerindo seu impacto possível também sobre a satisfação conjugal, embora não se disponha, ainda, de estudos empíricos suficientes para sustentar esta última relação. Essa lacuna está, em parte, relacionada à falta de instrumentos para a avaliação das habilidades sociais conjugais e sua possível especificidade em relação às habilidades gerais dos cônjuges. Este estudo propôs-se verificar a relação entre a satisfação conjugal dos cônjuges e habilidades sociais gerais e conjugais e, concomitantemente, aperfeiçoar um instrumento de avaliação destas últimas. Participaram 406 respondentes de ambos os sexos (a maioria casais), com nível mínimo de escolaridade de segundo grau e idades entre 20 e 73 anos , que responderam ao Inventário de Habilidades Sociais (IHS-Del-Prette), Inventário de Habilidades Sociais Conjugais (IHSC) e à Escala de Satisfação Conjugal (ESC). Foram obtidos escores individuais para cada instrumento, procedendo-se a análises descritivas de cada um e a comparações entre eles, especialmente entre maridos e esposas, além de análise da influência de variáveis sócio-demográficas. Os resultados apontaram correlação significativa entre escores do IHS-Del-Prette, IHSC e escore da ESC, sugerindo que quanto mais elaborado o repertório de habilidades sociais (conjugais e gerais) do respondente, maior é sua satisfação com o casamento, confirmando a hipótese inicial do estudo. Correlações entre fatores do IHSC, IHS-Del-Prette e da ESC apontaram classes de comportamentos do respondente e de seu cônjuge especificamente associadas à satisfação conjugal. O IHSC apresentou boa consistência interna (Alfa de Cronbach = 0,81) e uma estrutura de seis fatores que explicaram 45,407 da variância total obtida. São discutidas a aplicabilidade do instrumento a novos estudos e ao contexto prático de atuação do psicólogo, bem como as implicações dos resultados obtidos para novas pesquisas. / The quality of interpersonal relations has a great influence on many life contexts, including here the marital context, a potential source of pleasure and accomplishment or of frustration and psychological disorders. Researches have shown the importance of specific social skills for the maximization of the marital relation quality as well as upon its stability and duration, suggesting a possible impact also upon the marital satisfaction. Nevertheless, these relations don\'t have enough supportive empirical studies. This gap is partially related to the lack of instruments to access the social marital skills and to its possible specificity in relation to the spouses\' global skills. This study was aimed to verify the relation between the spouses\' marital satisfaction and global and marital social skills and simultaneously to improve an instrument to evaluate social skills. 406 participants from both sexes (most couples, with high school educational level, age between 20 and 73 years) completed the Social Skills Inventory (SSI-Del-Prette), the Marital Social Skills Inventory (MSSI) and the Marital Satisfaction Scale (MSS). It was computed individual scores for each instrument, then proceeding to descriptive and statistical analyses, especially comparing husbands and wives and social-demographic variables influence. The results showed a significant correlation between the SSI-Del-Prette, MSSI and MSS scores, suggesting that the more elaborated was the respondent\'s social skills repertoire (marital and global), greater was his/her marital satisfaction, confirming the initial hypothesis. Correlations between the SSI, MSSI and MSS factorial scores showed which respondents social skills classes was specifically associated to the marital satisfaction. The MSSI presented a good internal consistency (Alpha of Cronbach = 0,81) and a six factors structure that explained 45,407 of the obtained total variance. It has been discussed the instrument applicability to new studies and to practical context of psychologist professional work as well as these results\' implications to further researches.

Parents of a child with a disability are at greater risk than other couples for having higher stress, adjustment difficulties, and lower marital quality. Respite care has been shown to reduce stress in parents of children with disabilities. This study focused on parents who have a child with Down syndrome and their reported marital quality and respite care received. One hundred and twelve couples, each consisting of a mother and a father who lived with their child with Down syndrome, completed questionnaires including the Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale, Experience in Close Relationships Questionnaire, Daily Hassles and Uplifts Scale, and a respite questionnaire. Results were mixed. Respite care did not predict marital quality for either wives or husbands. However, respite hours was related to wife stress, which was in turn related to wife marital quality. Respite hours was also related to husband stress, which was related to husband marital quality. In addition, wife uplifts was directly related to wife marital quality and to husband marital quality. Husband uplifts was related to husband marital quality. While not directly predicting marital quality, respite care was indirectly related to increases in marital quality through stress. Therefore, it is important that respite care be accessible and provided to parents who have a child with Down syndrome. Recommendations for policy makers and researchers are offered.

While there is ample research showing that adult children of divorced parents have more positive attitudes toward divorce and lower marital commitment, there has been no such research focused specifically on the Orthodox Jewish (OJ) population, which tends to view divorce more negatively. Prior to this study, it was thus unclear if the findings of existing research on marital competence applied to OJ children of divorce. Driven by social exchange theory, this study was designed to discover (a) whether OJ adult children of divorce differ significantly from OJ adult children of intact marriages in their marital commitment and marital satisfaction; (b) whether gender moderates the relationships between parental divorce, marital satisfaction, and marital commitment; and (c) if attitudes toward divorce mediate those relationships. Data from 162 adult OJ participants living in the United States were collected using quantitative cross-sectional survey methodology, and were analyzed using 1-way multivariate analysis of covariance, hierarchical multiple regression, and conditional process analysis. Results indicated that there were no significant differences between OJ adult children of divorce and OJ adult children of intact marriages in their marital commitment or marital satisfaction. Further, gender did not moderate the relationships between parental divorce and marital satisfaction or marital commitment, nor did attitudes toward divorce mediate those relationships. OJ community leaders may use the results of this study to help implement community awareness programs designed to reduce the stigma of parental divorce and its impact on the marriage prospects of OJ children of divorce.

Married couples often face serious issues that require them to make difficult decisions in their relationships. Many couples turn to marital counseling as a means to improve the marriage. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand and describe the experiences of heterosexual married individuals who participated in the Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program (PREP) and how they felt their participation had influenced their perceived satisfaction in their marriages. The theoretical framework that guided this study was social exchange theory, which is a basis for thinking about the influence individuals have on each other in personal relationships. The research questions in this study addressed the experiences of individuals in PREP and the subsequent impact on marital satisfaction. This qualitative phenomenological study was used to better understand the individuals' experiences through interviews with 10 married individuals who were selected using criterion sampling. Data analysis included reading transcripts, coding, labeling, and interpreting the experiences. The results of this study revealed that communication and conflict resolution had an impact on marital satisfaction and extended support and supplemental programs influenced the experiences of the participants. The implications for positive social change relate to improved communication between married couples that may result in lasting improvements in their marriages. Others can learn from these experiences to create further positive change. Counselors could provide support outside of class and provide a supplemental program in order to improve the experience, possibly increase marital satisfaction, and decrease the likelihood of divorce.

This thesis examined the influence that premarital preparation had on the level of complaints in marriages and the amount of perceptual accuracy that couples had in their marriage. The data for this thesis were taken from Wave I and Wave II of the Utah Governor’s Commission on Marriage study on newlyweds. The research examined four questions: (1) Do husbands and wives who have reported higher helpfulness of premarital preparation activities have fewer strong complaints in their marriage? (2) Do husbands and wives who have reported the helpfulness of premarital preparation activities have greater perceptual accuracy in their marriages? (3) Which types of premarital preparation activities are associated with strong complaints? (4) Which types of premarital preparation activities do husbands and wives find to be most helpful? Results revealed that those who reported the helpfulness of premarital preparation activities had fewer complaints than those who did not find those activities helpful. This study finds no statistical significance between the reported helpfulness of premarital preparation activities and perceptual accuracy. The relationship between premarital preparation activities and strong complaints is presented. Preparation activities that husbands and wives found to be most helpful are ranked and presented. A discussion of the findings, limitations, and suggestions for future research is also presented.

The influence of religiosity in adolescence on several variables that have been shown to be predictors of marital quality and stability was examined using a nationally representative sample of 3,151 youth, aged 13 to 17 years, from the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR). Religiosity was defined to incorporate multiple characteristics including religious beliefs, attitudes, participation, experiences, and identities. The effect of religious affiliation and religiosity was also examined for seven premarital predictors, which included relationship with parents, ideal age for marriage, right and wrong, academic achievement, sexual behavior, attitude toward cohabitation, and attitude toward divorce. Data were collected through telephone interviews using a random-digit-dial method between 2002 and 2003. Youth were categorized into eight religious groups: Conservative Protestant, Mainline Protestant, Black Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Other Christian, and Not Religious. Research questions were analyzed using ANCOVA, OLS regression, and logistic regression. Results indicated that all three research hypotheses were supported by the data. Specifically, religious affiliation significantly predicted level of religiosity, religiosity was related to each of the seven premarital predictors of marital quality and stability, and religious affiliation acted as a moderator in the relationships between religiosity and the seven premarital predictors. Comparison of the eight religious groups revealed that religiosity has a unique influence on youth in the different groups in relation to these outcome variables. In light of these findings, implications, limitations, and future directions for research are discussed.

The current study aims to explore the potential mediating role of emotional experiences and expression during conflictual situations in marital relationships. Past studies have documented a strong relationship between attachment dimensions and/or styles and relationship satisfaction. It was also shown that negative emotions and dysfunctional and destructive expression of emotions have detrimental effect on marital functioning. The current study aims to empirically tie these two areas of research by exploring the mediating role of emotional experience and expression in the relationship between attachment dimensions (i.e., attachment anxiety and avoidance) and marital adjustment of couples using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM, Kashy &amp / Kenny, 2000). It was expected that attachment dimensions of wives and husbands would predict the experience of three negative emotions, namely, anger, sadness, and guilt and destructive expression of these emotions, and in turn, these emotions would predict both partners&rsquo / marital dissatisfaction. Initially, two pilot studies using both qualitative and quantitative methods were conducted to see whether there were culture-specific ways of emotional experience and expression in Turkish cultural context. The findings confirmed the reliability and validity of the three separate emotional experiences scales assessing anger, sadness, and guilt. Based on the findings of the initial studies, the main study involving a sample of 167 married couples who were in the early years of their marriages was conducted. Couples separately completed multiple measures of adult attachment and experience and expression of emotions, and marital quality. Mediating effects of emotional experience and expression in the relationship between the attachment dimensions and marital adjustment were tested utilizing a series of path analyses using the APIM analyses. The results revealed that attachment avoidance, rather than attachment anxiety, of both wives and husbands was the strongest predictor of own and partners&rsquo / marital adjustment in the conflictual situations. In terms of emotional experience, wives&rsquo / regret and husbands&rsquo / anger were the marker mediating emotions. Regarding anger expression, wives&rsquo / and husbands&rsquo / distributive aggression styles mediated the relationship between attachment dimensions and marital adjustment. Analyses on sadness expression yielded only one significant actor mediation effect suggesting that avoidant husbands used more solitude/negative behavior, and this in turn, decreased their marital adjustment. However, guilt expression styles of wives and husbands did not mediate the relationship between attachment dimensions and marital adjustment of both partners. The current study extended the previous studies by providing evidence on the influence of the each partner&rsquo / s attachment orientation on the emotional experience and expression during marital conflict and marital adjustment of both spouses. The implications of the study for theory, practice, and future research were discussed.

The study explored spousal accuracy and positive marital behavior (PMB) and negative marital behavior (NMB) areas&rsquo / three different evaluations which were frequency, emotional impact and attributed importance in distressed and nondistressed couples. Participants of the study were 81 married couples. All 162 spouses filled out Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS), Communication Skills Inventory and Information Form. Additionally one spouse in each couple filled out Spouse Observation Checklist (SOC) Form A whereas the other spouse filled out SOC Form B. Spousal accuracy were assessed by partial pairwise intraclass correlation. R-to-z transformation was used to find on which PMB and NMB areas&rsquo / accuracy distressed and nondistressed couples differ. Six Repeated Measures MANOVAs were conducted to explore differences in distressed and nondistressed couples / wives and husbands / self-report and spouse-report in three evaluations of PMB and NMB. In order to find most important PMB and NMB areas&rsquo / frequencies in terms of their relationship with marital adjustment, two Roy-Bargmann Stepdown Analysis were conducted by controlling for positive affect, negative affect and communication skills. Principal component analysis was employed to the self and spouse reports of marital behavior areas&rsquo / frequencies and then two stepwise multiple regression analyses were used to identify which factors of marital behavior play a significant role in predicting marital adjustment. Results revealed that nondistressed spouses were more accurate in predicting their partners&rsquo / reports of emotional impact and attributed importance / more frequently engaging in PMB, less frequently engaging in NMB, feel more positive about and attribute more importance to PMB compared to distressed spouses. Spouse report of marital behavior explained more variance than self report of marital behavior / NMB and affectional marital behavior explained more variance than PMB in marital adjustment.

Project (M.P.P.) - Simon Fraser University, 2006. / Theses (Master of Public Policy Program) / Simon Fraser University. Also issued in digital format and available on the World Wide Web.