Gender-typed attributes and marital satisfaction among Mexican immigrant couples: A latent profile approach

Intergenerational solidarity and digital communication during the Covid-19 pandemic in South Korea: Implications for dyadic well-being

Previous research has not considered how digital communication fits with the established intergenerational solidarity paradigm, although the paradigm has undergone other refinements over time. Consequently, less is known about how the use of digital communication creates new types of intergenerational solidarity between parents and adult children, and how they are associated with their well-being. With this foundation, we aimed to identify new dyadic patterns of intergenerational solidarity between parents and adult children during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea, with an emphasis on digital communication (texting, video call, and social media interaction), its intersection with other dimensions of solidarity, and its association with parents' and children's well-being (depressive symptoms, self-esteem, and life satisfaction). Using an online survey method, we collected data from 407 parent-adult child dyads between April and June 2022 from the Seoul Metropolitan area in South Korea. Three-step latent class analysis was used for data analysis. We identified four classes describing intergenerational solidarity between parents and adult children (tight-knit, distant-but-digitally-connected, conflictual, and independent). We found that among dyads of parents and adult children who had tight-knit and distant-but-digitally-connected relationships with each other, parents reported better well-being on all three outcomes, and children reported better life satisfaction compared to dyads who had conflictual relationships. Our findings suggest that incorporating digital communication into the intergenerational solidarity paradigm is useful to better understand the multidimensional characteristics of intergenerational relationships between older parents and their adult children.

More than the sum of their parts: A dyad-centered approach to understanding adolescent sexual behavior

BACKGROUND

Research has documented multiple levels of influences on adolescent sexual behavior, but has generally focused less on the relational nature of this behavior. Studies with dyadic data have provided important findings on relationship process, including the role of gender in different-sex dyads. However, both of these bodies of literature typically utilize a variable-centered approach, which examines average influences of particular variables on sexual behavior. This study expands upon this research by presenting a dyad-centered approach to adolescent sexual behavior that can identify types of couples based on patterns of multidimensional risk and protective factors.

METHODS

I demonstrate the dyad-centered approach using data from different-sex dyads in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health to uncover profiles marked by individual, parent, peer, and religion predictors for both male and female partners.

RESULTS

Analyses uncovered five classes of dyadic influences, four of which were marked by relative similarity between partners and one marked by lesser approval of sex for women compared to men. Dyads marked by both partners intending to have sex and being in a context that is more approving of sex were more likely to engage in sexual intercourse.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings demonstrate the heterogeneity of influences and intentions to have sex among adolescent couples, and identify profiles of dyads who are more likely to engage in sexual intercourse. This approach can explicate dyadic processes involved in sexual behavior and the types of couples that exist in a population, leading to more tailored and efficacious interventions.

Temporary Labor Migration and Spouses' Marital Quality: Evidence from Nepal

OBJECTIVE

This study investigated the effect of temporary labor migration on spouses' marital quality.

BACKGROUND

How temporary international labor migration affects the marital relationship remains unclear. Research shows migration increases couples' risk of dissolution, whereas studies of spouses' marital quality-much of which is cross-sectional and/or limited to either internal or joint migration-is more mixed. This lack of consensus masks the possibility that, under certain conditions, migration may improve spouses' marital quality.

METHOD

This study uses data from the Chitwan Valley Family Study, a panel study set in Nepal, and primary data collected among a subsample of migrant husbands (in East Asia, Middle East) and their wives and nonmigrant couples (in Nepal).

RESULTS

Findings from linear regression models show that, relative to non-migrant spouses, spouses engaged in temporary international labor migration report significantly higher marital quality-less conflict and more love-net of marital quality assessed 6 years earlier. However, these benefits are not enjoyed equally between spouses: husbands' marital quality improves, whereas changes in their wives' are less conclusive.

CONCLUSION

The fact that these benefits (a) diverge from previous understandings and (b) vary by spouse's gender extends current understandings of the conditions shaping this association: social and structural forces supporting men as breadwinners, a strong husband-wife bond facilitating husbands' migration, and marriage-protective social environments at both ends of migration.

Gender role conflict: Is it a predictor of marital dissatisfaction? A cross sectional study in Tehran

Background: Gender role, sex-oriented attitudes, behaviors, cognitions, and emotions play an essential role in interpersonal relationships. Along with other factors, marital relationships and satisfaction can also be affected by a person’s gender role. The increased rate of divorce is related to a decrease in marital satisfaction. The aim of this study was to evaluate the predictor power of gender role conflict on marital satisfaction considering the role of demographic variables (age, income, number of children, and number of family members), marriage-related factors (duration of the marriage, family functioning), and mental health disorder.

Methods: This was a cross sectional study. Participants were selected from couples who were attending West of Tehran health center. A total of 123 married couples aged 18 to 60 years who did not have mental or other medical disorders were recruited. Data gathering tools were McMaster Family Assessment Device (FAD), ENRICH Marital Satisfaction Scale, Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI), a sociodemographic questionnaire, and Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI). Pearson correlation, chi-square, t test, ANOVA, Scheffe post hoc, and linear regression tests were used to analyze the data. Data were analyzed using SPSS 16, and in all statistical tests, significance level was set at p<0.05.

Results: No significant correlations were observed between marital satisfaction and age, number of family members, duration of the marriage, number of children, and income (p>0.05). The presence of gender role conflict was correlated with lower marital satisfaction. Family functioning, gender role conflict, and presence of psychotic problems were predictors of marital satisfaction (p<0.001, R2=0.419).

Conclusion: Screening couples who applied for divorce due to psychiatric problems and gender role conflict and evaluating their family functioning may have a positive effect on reduction of divorce rate.

Within-couple configuration of gender-related attitudes and its association with marital satisfaction in Chinese marriage: A dyadic, pattern-analytic approach

OBJECTIVE

This study seeks to understand the ways in which spouses' gender-related attitudes are configured within couples and how such configurations are linked to marital satisfaction in Chinese marriage.

METHOD

Latent profile analysis was conducted using dyadic data from a nationwide large sample of Chinese couples from the China Family Panel Studies (N = 7,257 couples; M_{years of marriage} = 28.36, SD = 12.84; M_{age for wives} = 52.38, SD = 12.63; M_{age for husbands} = 50.51, SD = 12.37).

RESULTS

Four profile groups were identified: the "modern female and traditional male" group (MFTM); the "traditional female and modern male" group; the "child-oriented" group; and the "traditional female and traditional male" group. Husbands' and wives' marital satisfaction varied across groups in different patterns (yet all relevant effect sizes were modest). In general, husbands in the congruent group reported higher satisfaction than did those in the incongruent groups, whereas wives in the "MFTM" group reported lower satisfaction than did those in the other groups.

CONCLUSIONS

Such findings shed light on the understudied heterogeneity that inherently exists in the within-couple patterning of gender-related attitudes and its implications for marital well-being in a Chinese cultural context.

Stress and Dyadic Coping in Personal Projects of Couples - A Pattern-Oriented Analysis

Relational accounts of goal striving have barely considered dyadic coping as an element of the process, nor has dyadic coping research utilized the unique advantages of the goal construct (e.g., in form of personal project assessment) so far. Therefore, the primary aim of the present study was to explore stress and dyadic coping experiences associated with the personal projects of partners in a close relationship. Moreover, we approached data analysis in a pattern-oriented way, instead of using variable-centered linear models. We used cross-sectional data from 270 married and cohabiting Hungarian heterosexual couples (mean age 40.1 ± 11.2 and 37.8 ± 10.9 years for male and female partners, respectively). Partners individually completed an adapted version of the Personal Project Assessment procedure. First, they named an important but stressful personal project. Respondents appraised their experiences with the chosen personal project along several predefined aspects. These included: (1) stress experiences; (2) dyadic coping, using the adapted Dyadic Coping Inventory; (3) positive emotions; and (4) sense of community. The Relationship Assessment Scale was also assessed. Cluster analysis of both partners' stress experiences, positive and negative dyadic coping strategies in their own personal projects revealed six relationship-level clusters. Cluster solutions represented typical variations of the stress and dyadic coping patterns of the couples, and could be arranged in a three- (lower, medium, and higher stress) by-two (positively vs. negatively balanced dyadic coping pattern) array. Further analyses indicated the general trend that couples with lower (vs. higher) stress together with more positively (vs. negatively) balanced dyadic coping may have experienced better functioning in projects (more positive emotions and higher sense of community) and higher relationship satisfaction. Results confirm that the partners' pursuit of their personal projects is embedded in their relationship, and their functioning in these projects may partly depend on dyadic coping with the stress that arises during the accomplishment of the project. By using a pattern-oriented approach to dyadic data, we were able to distill stress and coping patterns that capture the specific types of couples' relationships and indicate the non-linear and multidimensional nature of stress and dyadic coping processes.

A dyadic typology of social desires in couples

OBJECTIVE

Employing a couple-centered approach to social motivation in intimate relationships, we developed a dyadic typology based on the ABC model of communal and agentic social desires.

METHOD

Using latent profile analysis, 631 heterosexual couples (age women: M = 39.7, SD = 13.6; age men: M = 42.0, SD = 14.1) were categorized regarding both partners' self-reported desires for closeness with partner, for affiliation with friends, and for being alone. Couple types were described using self-reported indicators of relationship functioning. Relationship stability was assessed after 1 year, and in stable couples, social desires were reassessed to examine continuity and change.

RESULTS

We identified four motivational couple types. Three profiles showed similar orientations between partners and were labeled the communion, closeness, and distance couple types. Additionally, the distanced-man type was characterized by a low desire for closeness and a high desire for being alone in men, but not women. The communion and closeness types showed better relationship functioning than the other types, and the distanced-man type showed an increased rate of relationship break-up.

CONCLUSIONS

A couple-centered, typological approach provides a viable way of studying complex dyadic motivational constellations and their consequences. This is beneficial for researchers as well as practitioners.