Marital satisfaction in four cultures as a function of homogamy, male dominance and female attractiveness

Widowhood and loneliness among Chinese older adults: the role of education and gender

OBJECTIVES

Widowhood is a significant predictor of loneliness in older adults and research on the underlying mechanisms of this link using longitudinal data is limited. This study examined whether education would moderate the effect of widowhood on loneliness, and whether such a relationship would differ by gender among Chinese older adults.

METHOD

A total of 2,704 older adults from the 2008 wave of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey were included. They were aged 65 years and above, were not lonely, and were married. Logistic regression models were applied to examine the interaction between widowhood, education, and gender on loneliness in the 2011 wave.

RESULTS

Widowhood was a significant predictor of loneliness and could increase the odds of becoming lonely by 193%. The interaction between widowhood and education was significant only in older women, not in older men. Literate older women reported lower loneliness than did their illiterate counterparts when they remained married during the follow-up. However, when their spouse passed away, literate women did not differ from their illiterate counterparts in loneliness.

CONCLUSION

This study revealed a gendered pattern in the interaction between widowhood and education on loneliness and demonstrated the complexity of the mechanisms. Furthermore, it highlighted the importance of considering the role of education and gender simultaneously in a Chinese context.

When and how does the number of children affect marital satisfaction? An international survey

The present global study attempts to verify the links between marital satisfaction and the number of children as well as its moderators in an international sample. Data for the study was obtained from our published dataset and included 7178 married individuals from 33 countries and territories. We found that the number of children was a significant negative predictor of marital satisfaction; also sex, education, and religiosity were interacting with the number of children and marital satisfaction, while there were no interactions with economic status and individual level of individualistic values. The main contribution of the present research is extending our knowledge on the relationship between marital satisfaction and the number of children in several, non-Western countries and territories.

Commitment, Dominance, and Mate Value: Power Bases in Long-Term Heterosexual Couples

We assessed the relative contribution of economic, personal, and affective power bases to perceived relationship power. Based on evolutionary studies, we predicted that personality dominance and mate value should represent alternative personal power bases. Our sample was comprised of 84 Czech heterosexual couples. We measured the economic power base using self-report scales assessing education, income and work status. Personal power bases were assessed using self-report measures of personality dominance (International Personality Item Pool Dominance and Assertiveness subscale from NEO Personality Inventory-Revised Extraversion scale), and partner-report measures of mate value (Trait-Specific Dependence Inventory, factors 2–6). The first factor of Trait-Specific Dependence Inventory, which measures agreeableness/commitment was used to assess the affective power base. Our results show that perceived relationship power is associated with a perception of partner’s high agreeableness/commitment. Moreover, women’s personality dominance and mate value are also linked with perceived relationship power, which supports our evolutionary prediction of dominance and mate value working as power bases for women. The stronger effect of women’s than men’s power bases may be due to gender differences in investment into relationships and/or due to transition to more equal relationships currently sought by women in the Czech Republic.

Power Distribution and Relationship Quality in Long-Term Heterosexual Couples

Power imbalance in romantic couples is associated with lower relationship quality. Reasons underlying this phenomenon remain, however, unclear. In 192 Czech and Slovak long-term heterosexual couples, we measured relationship quality (Dyadic Adjustment Scale) and assessed its link with perceived relationship power, control, decision making, and personality dominance. Decreased relationship quality was found in power-imbalanced couples, and power distribution affected perceived relationship quality especially in men. In women, lower perceived relationship quality was associated with their partners' control and personality dominance. Results are discussed in the context of interdependence and approach/inhibition theories of power, and some culturally specific explanations are provided.

Evidence for odour-mediated assortative mating in humans: The impact of hormonal contraception and artificial fragrances

There is substantial evidence for assortative partner preferences in humans based on physical characteristics. In contrast, evidence suggests that olfactory preferences tend to be disassortative, with people preferring body odour of potential partners who are dissimilar at key genetic loci, perhaps to gain fitness advantage through offspring heterozygosity. We compared ratings of perceived body odour similarity of real couples with those of randomly paired 'fake' couples. Contrary to prediction, we find that odours of real partners are perceived more, rather than less, similar to each other than fake couples. However, this applied only to natural odour samples: there were no differences in similarity levels of real and fake couples' samples which were collected while wearing artificial fragrances. Furthermore, in light of suggestions that hormonal contraception (HC) disrupts disassortative odour preferences in women, we compared odour similarity among real couples in which the female partner was using or not using HC at the time when the relationship began. We find that odours of HC-using couples are of intermediate similarity between non-using and fake couples, suggesting that HC use during partner choice could affect odour-influenced assortment. We also examined the association between relationship satisfaction and perceived similarity of unfragranced odours of real couples. We found that these are positively correlated in male partners but negatively correlated in the female partners, indicative of a sex difference in the relative favourability of odour similarity in partner preference. Finally, by comparing odour similarity ratings with those given by perfumers using a novel olfactory lexicon we found evidence that similarity judgements were based on the Spicy/Animalic aspects of individual odour profiles. Taken together, our results challenge the conventional view that odour-mediated partner preferences in humans are typically disassortative.

The Actor, Partner, Similarity Effects of Personality, and Interactions with Gender and Relationship Duration among Chinese Emerging Adults

Understanding personality effects and their role in influencing relationship quality, varied according to gender and relationship duration, could help us better understand close relationships. Participants were Chinese dating dyads and were asked to complete both the Big Five Inventory and Perceived Relationship Quality Component scales. Males and those who had a long-term relationship perceived better relationship quality; individuals who scored higher on agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness, and emotional stability enjoyed better relationship quality; gender and/or relationship duration moderated the actor effect of extraversion and the partner effects of conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness on relationship quality. Regarding the profile similarity, those couples who were more dissimilar in their profile personality had better relationship quality, especially when they were in a relatively long-term relationship. Meanwhile, with an increase in profile similarity, the males' perceived relationship quality decreased.

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.

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.

Prioritization of Potential Mates' History of Sexual Fidelity During a Conjoint Ranking Task

This series of studies is the first to use conjoint analysis to examine how individuals make trade-offs during mate selection when provided information about a partner's history of sexual infidelity. Across three studies, participants ranked profiles of potential mates, with each profile varying across five attributes: financial stability, physical attractiveness, sexual fidelity, emotional investment, and similarity. They also rated each attribute separately for importance in an ideal mate. Overall, we found that for a long-term mate, participants prioritized a potential partner's history of sexual fidelity over other attributes when profiles were ranked conjointly. For a short-term mate, sexual fidelity, physical attractiveness, and financial stability were equally important, and each was more important than emotional investment and similarity. These patterns contrast with participants' self-reported importance ratings of each individual attribute. Our results are interpreted within the context of previous literature examining how making trade-offs affect mate selection.

Romantic relationships in intra-ethnic and inter-ethnic adolescent couples in Germany: The role of attachment to parents, self-esteem, and conflict resolution skills

We investigated romantic relationships in a sample of 380 adolescents who formed 190 heterosexual couples (mean age: females 17 years; males 18 years): 173 intra-ethnic (German) couples and 17 inter-ethnic couples. Factor analyses revealed two types of love experiences: (a) experiences of attraction and a passionate focus on the partner (passionate love) and (b) experiences of affiliation (companionate love). No differences were found between intra-ethnic and inter-ethnic couples in romantic experiences, self-esteem, and conflict resolution skills. Adolescents in intra-ethnic couples had more close relations with parents than adolescents in inter-ethnic couples. Actor—Partner Interdependence Models (APIMs) showed that companionate love was indirectly predicted by the quality of attachment towards parents; this relationship was mediated by self-esteem and conflict resolution skills. Whereas the quality of girlfriends’ attachment to the father (not to the mother) predicted conflict resolution skills in romantic relationships, boyfriends’ conflict resolution skills were predicted by the quality of attachment to the mother (not to the father). Furthermore, cross-partner effects were observed: girlfriends’ experiences of companionate love were not only predicted by attachment to their own mother, but also by the relation between their boyfriend and his mother.

Do People Know What They Want: A Similar or Complementary Partner?

The present study examined the extent to which individuals seek partners with similar, as opposed to complementary, personality characteristics. Results showed that whereas individuals desired a partner who resembles them in terms of personality, when asked about their preferences in general, most individuals indicated that they desired a complementary partner instead of a similar one. In addition to a similar partner with regard to personality, women also desired a more conscientious, less neurotic and more extraverted partner than men. These results are discussed with reference to the importance of matched personalities in marital success.

Positive illusions about one's partner's physical attractiveness

This study examined couples' ratings of self and partner physical attractiveness. On the basis of the theory of positive illusions, it was expected that individuals would rate their partners as more attractive than their partners would rate themselves. Both members of 93 heterosexual couples, with a mean relationship length of about 14 years, provided ratings of both their own and their partner's physical attractiveness. Results support the theory that individuals hold positive illusions about their partner's physical attractiveness. Implications of these results in terms of relationship-enhancing biases are discussed.

Cultural and Evolutionary Components of Marital Satisfaction

Couples assess their satisfaction with one another according to numerous culturally determined criteria. However, evolutionary perspectives on marriage emphasize that husbands and wives are also concerned with their adaptive fitness, and this suggests that some aspects of marital satisfaction may be cross-culturally homogenous. We examined whether marital satisfaction reflects both `culturally unique' and `adaptively universal' concerns of husbands and wives. Approximately 2000 couples from Britain, Turkey, China and the United States completed a multidimensional measure of marital satisfaction that we assessed for measurement invariance. Measures of romantic love and spousal support functioned similarly for couples within all four cultures, indicating the possibility of a ubiquitous pair-bonding component of marital satisfaction. However, invariant measurement structure was less robust across these samples, suggesting a culturally derived component of marital satisfaction. In general, results suggest that invariance analyses may be used to elucidate cultural and evolutionary perspectives on marriage.