Longitudinal changes in marital satisfaction during middle age in Taiwan

Abstract

The current 8-year panel study explored changes in marital satisfaction among 614 married middle-aged persons with seventh-grade children. It also examined how individual health (physical health and depressive moods) and role changes (parenting transitions and life stress) were related to trajectories of marital satisfaction and investigated the buffering effect of family cohesion on these associations. Growth curve analyses show an inverted-U shape in marital satisfaction during middle age. This indicates that regardless of the gender or age of the respondents, marital satisfaction among middle-aged adults increased when their children were in the 9 th and 12 th grade, and then declined when their children were in their sophomore year of college. Declining physical health and an increase in depressive moods were related to a drop in marital satisfaction. Stressful events in midlife had negative effects on marital satisfaction, and family cohesion served as a buffer to mitigate the adverse impact of life stress on marital satisfaction. Overall, these results highlight the role of adolescent children in understanding why marital satisfaction changes among middle-aged parents and emphasize the importance of health and life stress in relation to midlife marital satisfaction. These findings are discussed with life course perspectives and Taiwanese cultural values in relation to familism and academic achievement among children.

Behavioral problems and their relationship to maternal depression, marital relationships, social skills and parenting

“…Correlations between the scores concerning the indicators of depression and difficulties in marital relationships were found in the group with depression, a finding that agrees with the results reported by other studies (Hsiao, 2017 ; Najman et al, 2014 ; Neves & Duarte, 2015 ). Positive parenting practices were strongly associated with children’s social skills and contextual variables (Rovaris & Bolsoni-Silva, 2018 ).…”

“…Relationships between the mothers’ different repertories are highlighted, in which positive practices were associated with positive marital relationships and negative practices with negative marital relationships, in addition to an inverse direction between positive and negative marital relationships and marital satisfaction, which seems to agree with the literature (Hameister et al, 2015 ; Rovaris & Bolsoni-Silva, 2018 ). Depression, in turn, was inversely associated with positive marital relationships and directly associated with negative marital relationships, suggesting once again that maternal mental health influences marital relationships (Hsiao, 2017 ; Najman et al, 2014 ; Neves & Duarte, 2015 ).…”

“…The quality of marital relationships and their associations with parenting and child behavior have been addressed by several studies, such as (a) associations between marital conflicts, negative parenting practices, and behavioral problems (Fantinato & Cia, 2015;Hameister, Barbosa, & Wagner, 2015;Ramirez Castillo, 2007;Rhoades, 2008); (b) marital relationships related to parenting (Kanoy, Ulku-Steiner, Cox, & Burchinal, 2003); (c) associations between marital conflict and child adjustment (Schoppe-Sullivan, Schermerhorn, & Cummings, 2007); (d) marital conflicts predicted children's inferior social competence in terms of coping strategies and/or adjustment (Shelton & Harold, 2007); and (e) the presence of marital conflicts was associated with family members' mental health problems, including depression (Hsiao, 2017;Najman et al, 2014;Neves & Duarte, 2015).…”

Apakah Ekspresi Cinta Memprediksi Perasaan Dicintai? Kajian Bahasa Cinta Pasif dan Aktif

“…Sebagai contoh, durasi suatu hubungan dapat berkontribusi pada kepuasan hubungan (Abe & Oshio, 2018). Variabel hubungan romantis seperti kepuasan pernikahan umumnya tidak statis atau linear melainkan mengikuti pola kurva-linear (Hsiao, 2017). Penelitian kali ini telah menggambarkan ekspresi cinta dan perasaan dicintai pada satu periode waktu (cross-sectional).…”

Instrumentos de avaliação na pesquisa e na prática clínica: questões relevantes para a produção de evidências na TAC

“…Ainda que não haja consenso sobre as variáveis que levam à satisfação conjugal, ela tem sido associada a bons níveis de comunicação, afetividade e resolução de problemas (Scorsolini-Comin & Santos, 2010) e conflitos conjugais têm sido associados a problemas de comportamento, práticas educativas aversivas (Fantinato & Cia, 2015) e problemas de saúde mental (Hsiao, 2017;Scorsolini-Comin & Santos, 2010). A partir da literatura de treinamento de habilidades sociais (Del Prette & Del Prette, 2001) e dos estudos sobre relacionamento conjugal, foram selecionados os comportamentos listados na Tabela 2.…”