Using individual and couple interviews, this qualitative work examined relational maintenance behaviors of 13 African-American dual-career couples. Findings reveal that study participants employed a variety of routine and strategic behaviors which they identified as relevant to maintaining marital satisfaction and stability. Couples distinguished between strategies in their daily interactions and those implemented for the long-term sustainment of their marriages. Couples also engaged a series of repair behaviors designed to restore the marital relationship once a transgression occurred. A new category of maintenance was discovered as useful for these African-American couples -- seek a spiritual connection. Each finding is discussed in regard to how it advances understanding of relational maintenance behaviors. / Ph. D.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/30418 |
| Date | 04 May 1998 |
| Creators | Hamlin-Jones, Virginia |
| Contributors | Family and Child Development, Bird, Gloria W., Rogers, Cosby Steele, Fu, Victoria R., Sporakowski, Michael J., Hohenshil, Thomas H. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
| Relation | etd.pdf |
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