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Multivariate analyses reveals that non-Hispanic and White men at midlife find it more difficult to remain single than women. However, no marked difference exists in psychological well-being between married men and singles. While never-married, and separated men and women enjoy more autonomy than their married counterparts, separated women enjoy higher degree of personal growth. Single women are more advantaged in respect of mental ability and personality as compared to married women. Unmarried and separated men are less well-off than women.

Certain contrasting findings are indicated in the study concerning marital power and adjustment. Studies indicate that equal relationships represent a lack of structure, which lead to increased conflict in the process of decision making for problems or changes. However, it has also been argued that the lack of a power structure leads to higher flexibility and lower levels of conflict. The concepts of balanced and equal power are featured.

A study of parenting satisfaction (PS) and marital satisfaction (MS) reveals that PS and MS are generally unrelated among married couples, in the same manner that its respective changes are not related. However, the link between spouses' MS and change in MS proved to be stronger than the link between spouses' PS and change in PS. A typology of satisfaction with family life is proposed as a method of integrating the study of martial relationships and parent-child relationships.

In order to investigate the temporal disruption and social dislocation resulting from the birth of a child, 37 couples were studied at 4 time points: pre-birth (second trimester), and at 1, 4, and 12 months postpartum. A diary-based instrument (the Social Rhythm Metric-SRM) was used to evaluate the habitual times at which 17 events during the day took place, the proportion of events done alone, as a couple only, and with nonfamily members. Also evaluated were perceptions of the quality of the marriage relationship, feelings of depressive symptoms, and feelings of anger. The baby's birth had a major effect on the timing with which daily events were done, and on differences between mothers' and fathers' habitual times, especially in the morning. There were also dramatic differences (50-80% reductions) in the proportion of events done alone, as a couple only, and with nonfamily members. However, these effects were much more marked in mothers than in fathers and were attenuated when there were prior children. Changes in marital quality and mood were also observed. The birth was associated particularly with a decline in marital quality and in the levels of anger and depressive symptoms felt by parents at 1 month postpartum, although these effects interacted with gender and prior parental experience. Furthermore, the changes in well-being were related to changes in SRM indices, though differentially for mothers and fathers.

Aspects of intimacy and satisfaction were explored for a volunteer sample of 54 Mexican American (classified as either Hispanic-oriented or bicultural) and 30 Anglo-American married couples. Data were collected by questionnaire through network sampling. Measures included the Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans, a background inventory, the Love Attitudes Scale, and the Dyadic Adjustment Scale. Ethnic differences occurred for 3 love attitudes and 2 sex attitudes (e.g., Hispanic-oriented respondents were more pragmatic about love and less idealistic about sex). Passionate love was correlated with marital satisfaction for Anglo-Americans and both groups of Mexican Americans. Partner similarity was evident in all 3 groups, and marital satisfaction was best predicted for all groups by passionate love scores. Implications for counseling are discussed.

Married couples' decision regarding work and family are directed towards the construction of gender in marriages. The couples generally adopt traditional views which are in the men's favour. This restricts the economic independence of women. Traditional cultural methods are considered during the microstructural relationship processes. The family decisions depend on the couple's relationship, participation in paid work and gender attitudes in marriage.

Work history and marital timing influences the amount of time spent by husbands and wives in household work. The National Survey of Families and Households shows that the timing of the current jobs and employment history strongly affects the time spent in household activities by first married couples. In families where the wives go out to work, the husbands do the housework which is generally meant for the women and vice versa. Women's employment history has an effect on the type of work chosen which indirectly influences their contribution to the housework.

The hypothesis that marital conflict is more common in stepfamilies than biological families was analyzed. Findings revealed that remarriage and stepchildren do not necessarily bring about instability within the family. However, families with stepchildren experience more conflict than those with biological children when marriages are of longer duration. Marriages of shorter duration experience greater instability when offsprings are exclusively stepchildren.

Simultaneous factor analyses and systematically comparable data on elderly, married persons in the US and in India enable a cross-cultural examination of the effects of emotional social support of role relationships such as adult children, and friends and relatives. There is a marked similarity in the influences of the emotional support from these relationships on the well-being of the elderly. This study implies the similarity in role relationships between people of two countries, irrespective of their diverse cultural backgrounds.

Age of remarriage has generally been overlooked in the literature. Data from 6,454 marriage applications and licenses showed that a man or woman with more than one marriage is more likely to marry in the nonnormative age pattern - with the husband younger than the wife. Present analysis suggests that more variables need to be considered rather than just age at marriage. Not only are remarriages older because the time to experience the first marriage and 'put it aside' is included but the possible field of potential partners for remarriage is influenced by other social and demographic factors, e.g., number of marriages and how previous marriages ended.

This study examines differences in marital role attitudes and expected behavior among college students in mainland China and Taiwan. It is hypothesized that people in mainland China have become more egalitarian than have people in Taiwan with respect to the division of marital roles. Survey responses from 339 Taiwan students and 288 mainland China students are compared on four dimensions of marital role attitudes and six areas of traditional husband and wife role behaviors. These dimensions were determined through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. The data indicate that although most of the hypothesized societal differences are supported, some are not. Possible regressive changes in mainland China and progressive changes in Taiwan during the past decade were speculated to be responsible for the discrepancy between hypotheses and results.

This study compared how gay, lesbian, and heterosexual married couples (ns = 95, 61, and 145, respectively) allocated household labor. Partners in each couple lived together without children. Compared to both married and gay couples, lesbian couples tended to share tasks. Compared to lesbian couples, gay couples and married couples were likely to have one or the other partner perform the tasks; in married couples, this was most likely the wife. Compared to married couples, gay couples and lesbian couples were likely to split tasks so that each partner performed an equal number of different tasks. The relation between the extent to which household tasks were performed and personal power, gender role orientation, relationship satisfaction, and psychological symptoms generally varied by partner and type of couple. It is concluded that although gender is a powerful determinant of how household labor gets allocated in heterosexual married couples, no single variable carries as much weight with gay or lesbian couples.

Sex differences in MBA careers were investigated to test three hypotheses: (1) men will advance in management more than women, (2) women will show more emotional reaction to career stress than men, (3) single women will progress more equally to single men than will be true for married women compared to married men. All three of the hypotheses were supported. Men earned more. In 1990 Kazal-Thresher found starting sex segregation by industry and occupation to explain some differences in earnings. Men worked longer hours, had more stable employment, achieved a general manager position more frequently, and had higher job satisfaction than women. Women, especially married women, expressed more frustration about careers than did men. Single women were not significantly different from single men in earnings, hours of work, stability of employment, and job satisfaction. Single women did not achieve a position as general manager as frequently as did single men.

This study examines the reciprocal relationship between marital interaction and marital happiness with a three-wave panel study of a national sample of married persons. The overall findings support the hypothesis that there exists a positive reciprocal relationship between marital interaction and marital happiness, particularly demonstrating the important role of marital happiness in producing interaction net of macrostructural factors. This relationship holds for both men and women. The present study has also found that the strength of the impact that interaction and happiness have on each other varies with marital duration. It is suspected that there may be an interaction effect between the life course of the family and interaction-happiness relationship.

This article analyzes data from the Supplement on Aging of the National Health Interview Survey to examine gender differences in the configuration of care among married elderly couples living in two-person households. The rational choice model provides the conceptual framework for the analysis. Results support the hypothesis that husband caregivers are more likely to incorporate extra-household assistance than are wife caregivers. There were no gender differences, however, in the source of extra-household assistance.

Most research on the relationship between similarity and attraction has been informed by Byrne's (1971) effectance-arousal model. This model maintains that similarities promote attraction because the discovery of similarities, particularly attitudinal similarities, is reinforcing. The current paper offers an alternative account of the similarity/attraction relationship distinct from the effectance-arousal model both in the similarities it views as important and in the mechanism by which similarities influence attraction. Specifically, we propose that similarities in social-cognitive and communication skills promote attraction by fostering enjoyable interactions. Aspects of this model are tested in a study comparing similarities in the social skills of married couples. Sixty couples completed a task yielding measures of three communication skills; the participants also completed questionnaires providing assessments of interpersonal cognitive complexity, marital adjustment, and liking for one's spouse. The social skill levels of spouses were positively associated at moderate to strong magnitudes; further, married couples were more similar in levels of social skills than randomly generated nominal couples. Couples in which both partners had low levels of social skills were no less satisfied with their marriages or happy with their spouses than couples in which both partners had high levels of social skills. Regression analyses indicated that the degree of similarity in couples' social skills generally did not vary as a function of length of marriage. Finally, although distressed married couples exhibited weaker similarities in social skills than nondistressed couples, low power prevented the magnitudes of these differences from reaching conventional levels of statistical significance. Results of the study are discussed in terms of their implications for the alternative model of the similarity/attraction relationship.

Statistics provided by national surveys conducted from 1972 to 1984 show thatthere is no significant relationship between the educational attainment of blacks and levels of reported marital happiness. Such finding also holds true between the relative occupational prestige of blacks and levels of marital happiness. Moreover, it was found out that no relationship exists between educational attainment and overall life satisfaction or between relative occupational prestige and overall life satisfaction among blacks.

This study is unique in that it concerns the adaptation to retirement of women and their husbands, where both partners are retired. Among the 61 mutually retired spousal pairs studied a person's own health and the family's finances were less important to adaptation than the adjustment to retirement of his or her respective spouse. For retired wives their own higher education also aided adjustment. For retired husbands their retired wives' lower education was salient. The emergence of the retired wife as a key figure in the adaptation of the martial dyad is consistent with the theoretical perspective that women have a more dominant role in their later years.

When Phyllis Wong's husband, Leslie, was named president of Northern Michigan University, she found herself uncertain about how to approach her new role of first lady. The spouse of a [...]

THE IMPACT OF DIVORCE IS OFTEN MORE PAINFUL THAN CAN BE IMAGINED - EVEN BY THOSE FILING FOR DIVORCE. BREAKING AWAY FROM A SPOUSE OFTEN MEANS HAVING TO FACE YOUR [...]

The effect of marital status on the form and composition of social networks is examined using data from the 1985 General Social Survey. Evidence is found that network structure does differ by marital status. Married and widowed individuals have networks of higher density, greater proportion kin, and longer relationship duration than individuals who have never married or who have experienced marital disruption, and married respondents have networks of the lowest age heterophily. The effect of marital status on network characteristics does not vary by gender. This research suggests differences in access to resources across marital status, and also suggests that a process of network building occurs following divorce.