This study examines the ability of relational history narratives collected through the Oral History Interview (OHI) to predict the trajectory of feeling flooded by a spouse's negative emotions, loneliness, depressive symptoms, and marital satisfaction across a three-year period, as the trajectory patterns of these marital factors are associated with divorce. Participants scoring highest on marital bond (a score ascertained from marital storytelling behaviors and representing positive perceptions of one's spouse and relationship) reported the highest levels of satisfaction and lowest levels of loneliness, flooding, and depression over time. There were significant differences between men and women on flooding, but for each of the other outcome variables, the couples with the lowest marital bond scores exhibited different gender patterns than the couples with higher marital bond scores. The identification of these precursors to divorce suggests therapeutic applications for relational history narratives.
This study examined how the marital bond, as indexed through the Oral History Interview (OHI), is related to future triadic family interactions. Families (N = 108), with a 7 – 9 year old child, participated in a longitudinal study (the Family Health Project) examining children’s emotional development throughout the transition to adolescence. Parental cohesion and family cohesion, warmth, structure, and problem solving were assessed via behavioral observation during family problem solving discussions and parent-child teaching interactions 18 – 24 months after the OHI. Results indicated that the marital bond was predictive of parental cohesion, family cohesion, warmth, and structure during teaching interactions. The marital bond was not significantly predictive of family problem solving or parental cohesion in problem solving interactions.
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