Congruence of parental perception, marital satisfaction, and child adjustment.

Ferguson, Lucy; Allen, Deborah R.

doi:10.1037/0022-006x.46.2.345

Cited by 21 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 3 publications

(3 reference statements)

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“…Additionally, previous research has found that spouses who are congruent about the way they see each other tend to express satisfaction with their marriage and to see their child as being well-adjusted (Ferguson and Allen 1978). Family resilience theoretical frameworks also have identified couple congruence or similar constructs (e.g., couples' collective perceptions [Ridenour et al 2009]) as a couple-level protective factor that is expected to lead to couple adaptation or resilient outcomes (McCubbin and Patterson 1982;Walsh 2002).…”

Section: Marital Congruence During the Transition To Parenthood And Imentioning

confidence: 96%

Congruence of the Marital Relationship During Transition to Parenthood: A Study with Couples Who Conceived Spontaneously or Through Assisted Reproductive Technologies

et al. 2011

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In this study we examined the congruence between partners' perceptions of their marital relationship during the transition to parenthood and the effect of depression during pregnancy on couples' congruence during the early postpartum period. Thirty-one couples who conceived spontaneously, along with thirty-five who conceived through assisted reproductive technologies (ART), provided data on their marital relationship and depression at their 24th pregnancy week and four months after the partum. All couples reported a decrease in marital congruence. Couples who conceived through ART reported lower marital congruence. For these subjects, women's depression was associated with lower congruence. Interventions that focus on strengthening the marital relationship across the transition to parenthood should assess and promote couples' congruence.

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Section: Marital Congruence During the Transition To Parenthood And Imentioning

confidence: 96%

Congruence of the Marital Relationship During Transition to Parenthood: A Study with Couples Who Conceived Spontaneously or Through Assisted Reproductive Technologies

et al. 2011

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“…Consistent with this hypothesis, dating couples who better understand one another’s ideal self-concepts report growing closer as time passes (Murstein, 1972). Satisfied intimates also hold more accurate or convergent perceptions of their spouses’ working models of attachment (Kobak & Hazan, 1991) and dispositions (Ferguson & Allen, 1978; Newmark, Woody, & Ziff, 1977). From this perspective, people are happiest in their relationships when they believe their partners know their true selves, yet accept them nonetheless (e.g., Swann, Hixon, & De La Ronde, 1992).…”

Section: Finding a Kindred Spirit Through A False Sense Of Consensusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Kindred spirits? The benefits of egocentrism in close relationships.

Murray¹,

Holmes

Bellavia³

et al. 2002

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

267

306

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The authors argue that people are happiest in their relationships when they believe they have found a kindred spirit, someone who understands them and shares their experiences. As reality may not always be that accommodating, however, intimates may find this sense of confidence by egocentrically assuming that their partners are mirrors of themselves. Both members of dating and married couples completed measures of satisfaction and felt understanding. They also described their own and their partners' traits, values, and day-to-day feelings. The results revealed that people in satisfying and stable relationships assimilated their partners to themselves, perceiving similarities that were not evident in reality. Such egocentrism predicted greater feelings of being understood, and feeling understood mediated the link between egocentrism and satisfaction in marriage.

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“…Another major unresolved issue concerns how empathic accuracy relates to long-term relationship stability. Marital partners who have incongruent perceptions of each other's attitudes, role expectations, and self-perceptions tend to have poorly adjusted marriages (Dymond, 1954; Ferguson & Allen, 1978; Murstein & Beck, 1972), and poor adjustment is a predictor of divorce (Gottman, 1979). Most previous research, however, has focused on the extent to which partners have concordant impressions of each other in nonthreatening situations.…”

Section: Empathic Inaccuracy and Relationship Maintenancementioning

confidence: 99%

When the head protects the heart: Empathic accuracy in dating relationships.

Simpson¹,

Ickes²,

Blackstone³

1995

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

251

229

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This study investigated circumstances in which romantic partners may be motivated to inaccurately infer each other's thoughts and feelings. Dating couples rated and discussed pictures of opposite-sex people with whom they might later interact in a dating context. Couples evaluated either highly attractive persons or less attractive persons. As predicted, dating partners who were close, who were insecure about their relationship, and who evaluated highly attractive opposite-sex persons displayed the least empathic accuracy when they tried to infer each other's actual thoughts and feelings from the videotape of the rating and discussion task. The effects of these variables were additive, and they were mediated by the degree of perceived threat to the relationship. Theoretical implications of these findings are discussed. Delusions are as necessary to our happiness as realities.-Bovee But love is blind, and lovers cannot see The pretty follies they themselves commit.-Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice Considerable attention has recently focused on empathic accuracy-the extent to which partners in a relationship can accurately infer each other's thoughts and feelings during an interaction episode (Ickes, 1993b). Empathic accuracy has become a focal construct because the degree to which partners can accurately infer what each other is thinking and feeling is presumed to be an indicator of several important facets of a relationship, including its satisfaction, openness, quality of communication, and overall functioning (Knudson, Sommers,

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Congruence of parental perception, marital satisfaction, and child adjustment.

Cited by 21 publications

References 3 publications

Congruence of the Marital Relationship During Transition to Parenthood: A Study with Couples Who Conceived Spontaneously or Through Assisted Reproductive Technologies

Congruence of the Marital Relationship During Transition to Parenthood: A Study with Couples Who Conceived Spontaneously or Through Assisted Reproductive Technologies

Kindred spirits? The benefits of egocentrism in close relationships.

When the head protects the heart: Empathic accuracy in dating relationships.

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