The current study presents findings regarding marital preparation for individuals in great marriages. Data from a national qualitative study of individuals in self-identified great marriages were used. Thirty-eight individuals were identified as being married for 20 years or less, and therefore, chosen as the subsample for the current study. Their rich, narrative responses were analyzed and coded, using a qualitative method, to identify what marriage preparation occurred for these couples prior to marriage and contributed to their successful marriages. Findings from this research provide helpful, descriptive data on the experiences and socialization of individuals that influenced their choice in a marriage partner as well as later marital success. Implications for practitioners, researchers, and individuals are provided.

The mode of expression used by individuals, in written or spoken word, offers insight into one’s cognitive and emotional processes. Over the past 25 years expressive writing has become an interest to researchers, therapists, and the public. Writing provides a symbolic way of expressing thoughts, feelings, and emotions. Analytical programs provide a way to study the structure and content of written communication. There is little research that includes marital relationships and expressive writing and no known research that includes marital relationships and writing analyses. In relationships, meanings are created to help make sense of situations and interactions. Symbols also include the process of evaluating relationships. The present study uses the Linguistic Inquire and Word Count (LIWC) to analyze the writing samples from participants and the Couples Satisfaction Index (CSI) to measure relationship satisfaction. To more fully understand the relationship between writing and couple satisfaction, this study focused on married couples. This study used a dyadic analysis approach so that partner effects could be analyzed. This study had two main goals: (1) to examine the relationship between first person pronoun use (singular and plural) and marital satisfaction, and (2) to examine the relationship between affective language use (positive and negative) and marital satisfaction. Each of these goals also included exploring possible sex and length of marriage differences. The results from this study indicate that individuals who use more first person plural pronouns (e.g., we) are more likely to report higher marital satisfaction. This indicates that individual perceptions of couple togetherness are related to higher marital satisfaction. Results also indicate that individuals who use more positive affective language are more likely to report higher marital satisfaction. Also, individuals whose partners use more positive affective language are more likely to report higher marital satisfaction. This suggests that positive affect in relationships is linked to higher satisfaction for both spouses. Although negative affective language was not related to marital satisfaction, if individuals used anger language it was negatively associated with marital satisfaction. This reveals the need for more research on the specific effects of anger on relationship satisfaction. Examining relationships from this new perspective may have valuable implications for couple therapy, interventions, and future research.

While there has been a relatively large number of studies conducted to investigate associations between financial problems and marital outcomes, little research has been done to examine possible relationships between materialistic attitudes, perceived financial problems, and marital outcomes. This study has been designed to examine a conceptual model linking materialism, perceived financial problems, and relationship satisfaction among married couples. Data obtained from 600 married heterosexual couples who took the RELATE test fit the model well. Findings indicate that wives' materialism is negatively related to husbands' marital satisfaction. Husbands' and wives' materialism is positively related with increased perception of financial problems which is in turn negatively associated with marital satisfaction. As expected, income was positively related to marital satisfaction, however, income had no relation to perception of financial problems. Materialism had a stronger impact on perception of financial problems than income. Distinct gender findings indicate that although husbands' variables had no significant relation with wives' outcomes, wives' variables were significantly related to husbands' outcomes. Specifically, wives' materialism is positively related with husbands' increased perception of financial problems, and wives' perceived financial problems is negatively associated with husbands' marital satisfaction. These findings support the notion that materialism is indirectly related to marital satisfaction, and in some ways directly related to marital satisfaction.

This study explored the extent of triangulation between elderly people and their adult children, and examines the relationship of triangulation with marital and individual outcomes such as problem solving, negative affective communication, time spent together, intimacy, depression, and marital satisfaction. Triangulation between adult children and elderly parents was found to be strongly related with negative outcomes for elderly parents in each of the dependent variables.

Previous literature has identified parental death as having a negative impact on the physical and mental health of the surviving adult child. In addition, research suggests that the marital satisfaction of a male or female adult child is negatively impacted after either a father or mother has died. The purpose of this research is to further study this topic by examining longitudinal dyadic data to determine how the death of a parent or death of an in-law impacts marital interaction when certain mediating variables are taken into account. Some of the mediating variables included quality of the parent-child relationship, caregiving, and gender. Data from 98 couples, with an average age of 47, from the USC Longitudinal Study of Generations, were examined using stepwise regression. During the 3 year interval between 1997 and 2000, 45 couples in the sample experienced the death of at least one of their parents. The main finding of the study was that marital satisfaction appears to remain fairly stable following the death of a parent. In other words, there were very few significant changes in positive or negative marital interactions for grieving sons and daughters. However, the few significant results indicated that sons who had a mother die experienced a significant decline in negative interaction with their wife. The death of a spouse's parent also did not impact perceived marital satisfaction in a significant way. Clinical implications are discussed, as well as recommendations for future research.

Although research has been conducted on marriage and volunteerism in later life, little is known about the impact of volunteerism on marital quality, particularly intense volunteer experiences. Missionary couples for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) leave their homes for a period ranging from 6-18 months and dedicate the majority of their time to working in church assignments. Qualitative interviews were collected from couples who had served senior couples missions for the LDS Church and returned home in the last year. The mean age of participants was 69, and the mean length of marriage for couples was 37 years. Twelve couples were interviewed conjointly about the experience of their missions, and their perceived marital quality before, after, and during their missions. Qualitative analysis was conducted on these interviews, and several themes emerged from the data, as well as subthemes. The themes were divided into those that occurred prior to serving a mission, those that occurred during the mission, and a separate section for marital themes. Pre-mission themes included factors affecting decision to go on a mission, prior experience. Mission themes included type of mission, adjustments, things enjoyed, and things not enjoyed. Marital themes included arguments, closeness, power, and stress. Each section included an in-depth discussion of what each theme incorporated, as well as quotes from the interviews. Overall, couples felt like their missions had a positive impact on their marriages. Comparisons were done among couples serving different types of missions, as well as couples in first, second, and third marriages. Type of mission and number of marriages had little overall impact on a couple's perception of the effect of their mission on their marriage. Therapists can use these results to inform couples who are contemplating an intense voluntary experience.

The objective of this study is to examine the types of problems faced by Brazilian couples in the sample, the gender differences in the perception of marital problems, and the associations between marital problems and marital satisfaction. The sample used in this study was part of the third wave of data collection of a longitudinal study of 126 families living in Porto Alegre, a city in southern Brazil. The RDAS was the instrument used to assess marital satisfaction. Marital problems were identified by asking participants to check the problems they perceive in their marriage from a list of common marital problems (money, children, sex, jealousy, mother's family of origin, father's family of origin, drugs, alcohol, other). Data analysis consisted of the study of frequencies, Pearson's correlations between the number of problems identified by husbands and wives and their RDAS scores and test comparisons between groups of husbands and wives. A total of 16 regression analyses were performed to identify the impact of each marital problem on marriage satisfaction of both husbands and wives. Husbands' and wives' RDAS scores were the dependent variable in all regressions and each problem, age, race, number of children, and income were the independent variables. Results showed that money, children, jealousy, sex, and family of origin were common problems faced by Brazilian couples in the sample. There were few gender differences, with the only differences being that wives were more likely to report sex as a problem and husbands were more likely to report that their wife's family of origin was a problem. The number of problems had a negative effect on marital satisfaction of husbands and wives. Results also show that sex had a significant impact on marital satisfaction of both wives and husbands and alcohol had a significant impact on marital satisfaction of wives in the sample.

Satisfaction is one of the most common dependent variables in the research of adult intimate relationships. Research has demonstrated that length of time married and sex of participants influence the characteristics of marriage, yet little research has been done to determine the characteristic changes in relationship satisfaction over time and across sexes. A review of theory and research suggests both the manners and specific items of satisfaction that vary between groups. RELATE data was used to uncover significant differences in the importance of specific items of marital satisfactions between groups based on relationship length, and between husbands and wives.

Caregiver burden results from the stress that parents feel due to their responsibilities as a caregiver. This study was performed to analyze a proposed model of variables that predict caregiver burden of parents raising a child with type 1 diabetes, as well as determine differences in mothers' and fathers' models of caregiver burden. The predictor variables of caregiver burden were based on mothers and fathers perceptions of marital conflict, marital satisfaction, depression, child externalizing behaviors, number of children in the family, and family income. The results showed that for mothers, marital conflict, depression, and child externalizing behaviors had significant direct relationships to caregiver burden. For fathers, marital satisfaction, depression, and income had significant direct relationships to caregiver burden. The gender comparison showed a difference in the relationships of depression, marital conflict, and marital satisfaction with caregiver burden for mothers and fathers. Marital satisfaction had a stronger relationship with fathers' caregiver burden than with mothers', and marital conflict had a stronger relationship with mothers' caregiver burden than fathers' caregiver burden. Depression was significantly related to both mothers' and fathers' caregiver burden with fathers' depression having the stronger association with caregiver burden. These findings provide an increased understanding of the caregiver burden of parents who have a child with diabetes.

The purpose of the study was to provide evidence-based outcomes related to a couples adaptive sports event intended to facilitate posttraumatic growth, increase marital satisfaction, leisure satisfaction, feelings of competence in sports, and reduce symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for veterans with PTSD and their significant others. The sample consisted of three groups of couples, experimental Group A had five couples, experimental Group B had six couples, and the Control Group had six couples. ANCOVA analysis indicated significant differences between Group A and the Control Group for overall PTSD and the subscale of hyperarousal. There were also significant increases in marital satisfaction, leisure satisfaction, significant decreases in the symptoms of posttraumatic stress overall, and in all three subscales: re-experiencing, avoidance/emotional numbing, and hyperarousal. Findings supported Kleiber's, Hutchinson's, and Williams' (2002) four functions of leisure in transcending negative life events. Findings indicated participation in a couple's adaptive sports program has positive impacts on the veteran's and their significant other's marital satisfaction and reduces symptoms of PTSD. It is recommended that recreation providers facilitate couple adaptive sports programs for veterans and their significant others to reduce symptoms of PTSD and increase marital satisfaction.