Although many African Americans share a sociohistorical background, empirical research on family and marital processes has often overlooked a great deal of heterogeneity within the group. In addition, African Americans face different stressors and life circumstances from the general population. Given that a high proportion of African American marriages end in divorce and that African Americans report relatively low levels of marital quality, it is important to consider factors that may not be addressed in models of marriage that were developed using the majority population. We introduce a model that includes components relevant to understanding marriage among African Americans, including financial strain, racial discrimination, and minority status. Using the model, we review the literature and highlight gaps in existing research.

We propose that two psychological dimensions, one relevant to relationships and group life (communion, C) and the other to skill acquisition, talent, and accomplishment (agency, A), aid people in interpreting their social worlds. Moreover, our analysis demonstrates the privileged nature of the C dimension and its relative stability compared to the A dimension across contexts and cultures. In Study 1 we use a standard compilation of culturally universal practices and show that the C dimension accounts for the majority of these universals, implying that the meaning of A traits varies more across cultures than that of C traits. In Studies 2 and 3, we provide evidence for this proposal using different judgment paradigms and cultural groups. The findings indicate that there is greater similarity and consensus in how people make sense of and judge information from the C than A dimension. We discuss the findings in terms of the recurring challenges people face over time as a result of living in groups.

This research examined associations between husbands’ and wives’ gender role attitudes, division of household labor, and marital quality in a sample of 697 newlywed African American couples residing in the southern region of the United States. Guided by a cultural ecological framework, we tested hypotheses specific to the unique socio-cultural context of African Americans using a mixed model ANCOVA design. Results revealed that: (1) couples reported lower marital quality when husbands had relatively more traditional gender role attitudes; (2) husbands reported lower marital quality when the couple engaged in a relatively more traditional division of household labor; and (3) husbands with more traditional attitudes who also engaged in a traditional division of labor reported lower marital quality compared to all other husbands. Although African Americans are thought to have more flexible gender role orientations than other racial/ethnic groups within the U.S., these results document within group variability in couple gender dynamics and its association with variability in marital quality.

Social acceptance and the development of one's competencies and status are fundamental aspects of the human experience, but the former (communion) should take precedence over the latter (agency) in self-judgment. Study 1 results indicated that (i) people across two cultures judged themselves as possessing higher communion than agency characteristics; (ii) communion self-judgments were more consistent across temporal perspective; and (iii) level of self-enhancement across cultures was similar for communion but different for agency. In Study 2, people across culture reported being more troubled and demonstrated a greater desire to repair their reputation when they imagined others perceived them as lacking in communion compared with agency. These findings support the idea that social life pressures people to view themselves as possessing communion traits and to ensure that others have this perception as well.

Although previous research has linked sibling relationship experiences to youth’s social competencies with peers, we know little about the role of siblings in youth’s romantic relationship experiences. Drawing on data from a longitudinal sample of 190 families, this study examined the links between sibling experiences and the development of perceived romantic competence from early adolescence into young adulthood (ages 12 to 20). The data were collected from 373 youth (50.7% female) in home interviews on up to 5 annual occasions. Multi-level models tested the moderating role of sibling gender constellation in romantic competence development and the links between (changes in) sibling intimacy and conflict, and romantic competence. The results revealed that youth with same-sex siblings showed no change in their perceived romantic competence, but those with opposite-sex siblings exhibited increases in romantic competence over time. Controlling for parent-child intimacy, at times when youth reported more sibling intimacy, they also reported greater romantic competence, and youth with higher cross-time average sibling conflict were lower in romantic competence, on average. This study illustrates that sibling experiences remain important in social development into early adulthood and suggests directions for application and future research.