MaritalEnqing: An Examination of Its Relationship to Spousal Contributions, Sacrifices, and Family Stress in Chinese Marriages

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to extend understanding of Chinese couples' enqing, a culturally specific component of marital affection that involves the expression of feelings of gratitude and admiration toward one's spouse. In this study, the authors examined family stress, spousal contributions, and sacrifices to study their possible effects on enqing in Chinese marriages. Participants were 455 married people living in northern Taiwan. Overall, the results highlighted the importance of spousal contributions and sacrifices in the development of marital enqing. Additionally, the results indicated that family stress moderated the spousal economic contribution--enqing relationship and the spousal sacrifices--enqing relationship for wives, but not for husbands.

First-Time Mothers Psychiatric Health Status During the Transition to Motherhood

“…The differences in changes to marital intimacy may be due to the different ways that Taiwanese and western couples express affection, as outlined in the ''Introduction'' section. In Taiwanese culture, marital affection is reinforced by contributing to and sacrificing for one's marriage (Chen and Li 2007), and childbirth is a very meaningful event in the marriage. Future studies might find it fruitful to explore this different dynamic in marital intimacy, with a goal of helping Western couples to find ways to build, rather than erode, intimacy following childbirth.…”

“…This may differ by country. In Asian culture, marital affection is based on contributing to and sacrificing for one's marriage, while Western couples tend to base their intimacy on self-and partner-disclosure (Chen and Li 2007). Li (1999) found that when faced with a stressful family event such as the transition to parenthood, Taiwanese couples' marital intimacy was strengthened due to spousal contributions.…”

Marital satisfaction and depressive symptoms in China.

“…The effect of these changes has been to promote individual marriage choice and to increase the equality of women in families, as well as in society (Hershatter, 2004), Subsequent laws have further strengthened the position of women in marriage and established more liberal divorce laws. Gradually, the purpose of marriage, especially in urban areas, has shifted from utility and responsibility toward mutual respect, admiration, and an expression of love between individuals (Chen & Li, 2007;Guo & Huang, 2005), Despite these changes, China remains a strong collectivist society. With China having the largest population in the world, it is an ideal setting to test the validity of the marital discord model of depression in a collectivistic society.…”

The Intersection of Gender and Culture in Chinese International Student Couples

“…In previous research on Chinese couples, standardized instruments that have been developed based on Western ideals have been translated into Chinese and used to draw inferences regarding these couples (e. g., Shek, 1995). More recently, this practice has been challenged as not useful in understanding relationships for Chinese couples (Chen & Li, 2007). Although these instruments may be standardized for couples living in a Western context, they do not possess enough validation for couples from Eastern cultures, such as China.…”

“…In collectivist societies such as the Chinese culture, there are expectations in place that promote the idea of sacrifice, putting the needs of others before oneself, especially in the context of couples, putting the needs of one's partner before oneself (Chen & Li, 2007). However, according to the tenets of feminist theory (Baca-Zinn & Dill, 1996) in a context in which one gender may have more power than the other, it may be the case that the gender with less power often does more of the sacrificing.…”