Economic pressure, cultural adaptation stress, and marital quality among Mexican-origin couples.

Abstract

Based on data from a sample of 120 first-generation Mexican immigrant couples collected at the start of the Great Recession in the United States, this study tested an actor-partner interdependence mediation model (APIMeM) in which spouses' perceptions of stress related to economic pressure and cultural adaptation were linked to their own and their partners' reports of marital satisfaction through spouses' depressive symptoms and marital negativity. As hypothesized, results supported indirect links between economic and cultural adaptation stressors and spouses' marital negativity and satisfaction: (1) contextual stress was associated with depressive symptoms, (2) depressive symptoms were positively associated with marital negativity for both husbands and wives and negatively associated with marital satisfaction for wives only, and (3) marital negativity was inversely associated with marital satisfaction for both spouses. Two partner effects emerged: (a) husbands' depressive symptoms were positively associated with wives' reports of marital negativity and (b) husbands' marital negativity was inversely related to wives' marital satisfaction. From these findings, we can infer that the psychological distress that arises for Mexican-origin spouses as they respond to the challenges of making ends meet during difficult economic times while they simultaneously navigate adapting to life in a new country is evidenced in their marital quality. Specifically, this study found that contextual stress external to the marital relationship was transmitted via spouses' psychological distress and negative marital exchanges to spouses' marital satisfaction. Wives' marital satisfaction was shown to be uniquely vulnerable to their own and their husbands' depressive symptoms and marital negativity.

Marital Conflict of Chinese American Immigrant Couples: A Mediator of Socioeconomic Incorporation and Children’s Behavioral Problems

“…Thus, one pathway through which living in Chinese American families with a higher estimated per capita income might be associated with children's increased risk for behavioral problems is children's greater exposure to marital conflict. This result could not support the family stress model and is inconsistent with most previous studies, but similar to those obtained in studies conducted among economically disadvantage samples (e.g., Helms et al 2014;Robila and Krishnakumar 2005). In fact, that lower income immigrants are most likely to show a tendency toward nondisruption (Bean et al 1994;Sorensen and Enchautegui 1994), which suggests that the pattern is not entirely a cultural phenomenon, but rather a family adaptation strategy adopted to cope with economic and other immigrant related pressures.…”

“…In addition, lots of studies have suggested that economic stress was associated with marital conflict. Studies have shown that couples under economic pressure often interact with each other in destructive ways that lead to increased domestic problems and reduced positive marital quality (Helms et al 2014;Robila and Krishnakumar 2005). Moreover, couples' residence time in the U.S. is one of the indicators of immigrants' processes of ''Americanization''.…”

“…Challenged to cope with two different cultures, Chinese American immigrant families face many problems, such as economic pressures, language barrier, and difficulties in acculturation. These stressors might damage the relationship between couples and even impact on their children's adjustment (Helms et al 2014). Therefore, it is important to examine the marital conflict of Chinese American immigrants and explore the associations among family socioeconomic incorporation, couples' marital conflict, and their children's adjustment.…”

Marital Satisfaction, Negative Interaction, and Religiosity: A Comparison of Three Age Groups

“…MARITAL SATISFACTION AND WELL-BEING Satisfaction with marriage has been shown to be influenced by multiple, often interacting variables, with roots in premarital cognitions and behaviors (Johnson & Anderson, 2013). These wide-ranging predictors of marital satisfaction include dyadic coping strategies (Landis, Peter-Wright, Martin, & Bodenmann, 2013); family-of-origin influence (Peltz Dennison, Silverberg Koerner, & Segrin, 2014); personality similarities and differences (O'Rourke, Claxton, Chou, Smith, & Hadjistavropoulos, 2011); role balance (Chen & Li, 2012); workload and job satisfaction (van Steenbergen, Kluwer, & Karney, 2011); economic pressure, cultural adaptation stress, depression (Helms, Supple, Jinni, Rodriguez, Cavanaugh, & Hengstebeck, 2014); physical attractiveness of partner (Meltzer, McNulty, Jackson, & Karney, 2014); love attachment style (Ottu & Akpan, 2011); parenthood (Twenge, Campbell, & Foster, 2003); and characteristics of children (Mohammadi et al, 2012).…”

Coping with Economic Stress: A Test of Deterioration and Stress-Suppressing Models

“…The negative role economic stress plays in the quality of individual, marital, and family well-being is well established (Fonseca, Cunha, Crespo, & Relvas, 2016;Helms et al, 2014;Zurlo, Yoon, & Kim, 2014). Economic stress is associated with feelings of scarcity or threat due to uncertainty or inability to meet basic needs, to satisfy wants and luxuries, and to provide security, flexibility in choices, and a safety net.…”