Sex differences and similarities in married couples: patterns across and within cultures

Factors Associated with Subsequent Childbirth between Marriage Years in Korea

This study aimed to identify differences in factors associated with subsequent childbirth between the marriage years of 1996-2005 (Group 1) and 2006-2015 (Group 2) using the 2015 National Survey. A total of 5097 eligible participants (2492 and 2605 women in each group, respectively) were included. The main variables consisted of demographic characteristics, socio-economic status, value for child and son, and social support for raising child. For statistical analysis, discrete-time hazard models were used. The common factors associated with subsequent childbirth in both groups were son preference (Group 1: HR = 1.16; 95% CI = 1.06-1.27, Group 2: HR = 1.14; 95% CI = 1.04-1.24) and the favorable value on children (HR = 1.12; 95% CI = 1.01-1.25, HR = 1.11; 95% CI = 1.01-1.22). Only in Group 2, age at the first childbirth (HR = 1.35; 95% CI = 1.31-1.39) and more monthly income (≥4600, <6000: HR = 1.18; 95% CI = 1.04-1.33, ≥6000: HR = 1.15; 95% CI = 1.00-1.32) were significantly associated with subsequent children. Whereas, working women (HR = 0.86; 95% CI = 0.78-0.94) were less likely to have subsequent children. To increase fertility in Korea, the government must provide childcare and deal with factors associated with low fertility considering the reduction in role incomparability for women due to changes in demographic characteristics.

Dyadic adjustment in couples: How partners' social value within couple and emotional competences predict it

Knowing the determinants of couple adjustment is a challenge, both for predicting this adjustment and for helping couples in therapy in the best possible way. We based this study on the Person’s Social Value Theory (Beauvois, J.-L. [1976]. The topic of social conduct evaluation. Connexions, 19, 7-30) which postulates that two dimensions – social utility and social desirability – support self- and other- descriptions. This study aimed to evaluate the way the evaluation of own social value within couple and the evaluation of social value within couple of the partner influence the dyadic adjustment of the spouses. In addition, we took into account the duration of the couples and the emotional competences of the spouses (using the PEC). Participants were the spouses of 152 voluntary heterosexual couples who completed a booklet of questionnaires. The results showed that the two dimensions of person’s social value within couple influence partners' dyadic adjustment but in a different way for men and women and according to the duration of the couples’ relationship. Furthermore, the effect of social value within couple seems to cover partially the classic effect of emotional competences on couple experience and satisfaction. The discussion underlines the relevance and interest of using the social value within the couple in the study of conjugal relationships as well as in counselling couples.

Marriage is like a groundnut, you must crack it to see what is inside: Examining romantic relationship rules in Akan proverbs

Proverbs are a valuable part of African culture. They transmit messages of shared, communal values about different facets of life inter-generationally. In an exploration of one West-African ethnic group, the Akan, the present study investigates messages that proverbs communicate about interpersonal relationships. A total of 79 Akan proverbs that addressed romantic relationships were examined using thematic analysis. The main components of advocated values as captured in the proverbs were identified. The thematic analysis determined that Akan romantic relationships tend to lean towards a “work-it-out” approach as opposed to the “soul mate” approach typical of Western romantic relationship norms. Overall, this study demonstrates that analyzing cultural artifacts such as proverbs can teach us about cultural rules that define relationships.

The Associations of Dyadic Coping and Relationship Satisfaction Vary between and within Nations: A 35-Nation Study

OBJECTIVE

Theories about how couples help each other to cope with stress, such as the systemic transactional model of dyadic coping, suggest that the cultural context in which couples live influences how their coping behavior affects their relationship satisfaction. In contrast to the theoretical assumptions, a recent meta-analysis provides evidence that neither culture, nor gender, influences the association between dyadic coping and relationship satisfaction, at least based on their samples of couples living in North America and West Europe. Thus, it is an open questions whether the theoretical assumptions of cultural influences are false or whether cultural influences on couple behavior just occur in cultures outside of the Western world.

METHOD

In order to examine the cultural influence, using a sample of married individuals (N = 7973) from 35 nations, we used multilevel modeling to test whether the positive association between dyadic coping and relationship satisfaction varies across nations and whether gender might moderate the association.

RESULTS

RESULTS reveal that the association between dyadic coping and relationship satisfaction varies between nations. In addition, results show that in some nations the association is higher for men and in other nations it is higher for women.

CONCLUSIONS

Cultural and gender differences across the globe influence how couples' coping behavior affects relationship outcomes. This crucial finding indicates that couple relationship education programs and interventions need to be culturally adapted, as skill trainings such as dyadic coping lead to differential effects on relationship satisfaction based on the culture in which couples live.

Evidências de Validade da Versão Brasileira da Escala Amor do Marriage and Relationships Questionnaire (MARQ)

Resumo O amor romântico é um sentimento relacionado à criação e manutenção de laços afetivos. Entre os instrumentos desenvolvidos para aferi-lo, destaca-se o Marriage and Relationships Questionnaire por sua abrangência e replicabilidade em diversas culturas. Ele contém 12 escalas, entre as quais, uma afere o nível de vínculo emocional entre parceiros em relacionamento amoroso: a Escala Amor. Este trabalho teve como objetivo buscar evidências de validade da versão adaptada para o Brasil da Escala Amor. Participaram da pesquisa 176 pessoas em relacionamento estável. Realizou-se uma análise fatorial exploratória e verificou-se adequação da estrutura unifatorial do instrumento, além de satisfatória consistência interna e relações com questões critério, conforme hipotetizadas. A escala foi capaz de detectar maiores níveis de vínculo emocional entre as pessoas que nunca pensaram em se separar de seus parceiros, quando comparadas àquelas que pensaram com maior frequência. Considera-se que o instrumento adaptado se mostrou adequado para utilização no Brasil.

I Am Right for Your Child! : Tactics for Manipulating Potential Parents-In-Law

Parents and children have converging as well as diverging interests with respect to the latter's mate choices. Diverging interests frequently result in children choosing mates who do not gain the approval of their parents. Manipulation then arises wherein parents try to drive away undesirable prospective sons- and daughters-in-law, and the latter employ counter manipulation to make the former to change their minds. The present research aims to identify and measure the effectiveness of manipulation tactics that individuals employ to influence their partners' parents to accept them as mates for their daughters and sons. Study 1 recruited a sample of 106 Greek-Cypriots and, using open-ended questionnaires, identified 41 acts that individuals employ on their partners' parents. Using principal-components analysis, in a sample of 738 Greek-Cypriots, Study 2 classified these acts into seven broader manipulation tactics and identified the ones that are more and the ones that are less likely to be employed. Study 3 examined in a sample of 414 Greek-Cypriots the effectiveness of these tactics in altering parents' minds and finds a moderate effectiveness, with some tactics being more effective than others. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Sources of Marital Conflict in Five Cultures

This analysis of previously collected data examined four fitness-relevant issues for their possible role in marital conflict. These were sex, finances, division of labor, and raising children, selected in light of their pertinence to sex differences in reproductive strategies. Over 2,000 couples in five diverse cultures were studied. Marital conflict was assessed by the Problems with Partner scale, which was previously shown to demonstrate measurement invariance across cultures and genders. All four issues were significantly related to perceived marital problems in almost all cases. Thus, conflict tended to arise around issues relevant to reproductive strategies. A few cultural idiosyncrasies emerged and are discussed. In all cultures, wives reported more problems than husbands. Another important issue was kindness. The results suggest that a key factor in marital success or failure may be kindness necessary to sustain this prolonged and intimate relationship of cooperation for raising one's offspring.

Women in Lesbian Relations

When a lesbian couple conceives through donor insemination, the partners transform their relations to each other. In this article, I explore how women in lesbian relations depict their parental roles in relation to the notion of equality. Drawing on critical discursive psychology, I conducted and analyzed interviews with 96 Swedish lesbian parents. Findings show how the interviewees draw on three different interpretative repertoires when they talk about their parental roles. In one repertoire, parents describe themselves as being spontaneously equal in relation to the child. In a second repertoire, equality is depicted as a potential result of struggling, where some parents claim to have achieved equality, whereas others describe being frustrated about their unequal situation. Finally, in a third repertoire, inequality is depicted as a given starting point, drawing on a biologistic rhetoric. Although most parents present equality as idealized, most also refer to biology as a reality that sets the benchmark. Findings in the present study could be useful for clinicians working with lesbian couples; rather than assuming that a lesbian couple is more or less equal, it is important to consider the specific couple and their descriptions.