Marital Strain and Psychological Distress in Same‐Sex and Different‐Sex Couples

Abstract

Objective: This study examines the association of marital strain-as reported by each spouse-with psychological distress and considers whether the associations vary for men and women in gay, lesbian, and heterosexual marriages. Background: Prior studies show that marital strain is associated with psychological distress. However, most studies rely on only one spouse's perspective and do not consider how appraisals of strain from both spouses may contribute to distress. Moreover, possible gender differences in these associations have been considered only for heterosexual couples. Method: The analyses are based on 10 days of dyadic diary data from 756 midlife U.S. men and women in 378 gay, lesbian, and heterosexual marriages. Multilevel modeling is used to examine the association of selfand spouse-reported marital strain with psychological distress; actor-partner interdependence models explore possible gender differences in these associations. Results: Both self-reports and spousal reports of marital strain are associated with psychological distress, with notable gender differences. The associations of self-and spouse-reported marital strain with distress are stronger

Sexual‐ and Gender‐Minority Families: A 2010 to 2020 Decade in Review

“…Beyond these population trends, a novel component of research on relationships and health is an attempt to explain these health trends and differences, typically with qualitative data. For example, qualitative and daily diary research suggests that gay and lesbian couples appear to be more concordant in health behavior (Holway, Umberson, & Donnelly, ; Reczek, ; Reczek & Umberson, ), are more likely to care for each other when sick (Thomeer, Reczek, & Umberson, ; Umberson, Thomeer, Reczek, & Donnelly, ), and are differentially impacted by marital strain (Garcia & Umberson, ) than heterosexual couples. Moreover, it appears that gay and lesbian couples face higher levels of discrimination and stress than heterosexual couples (Cao et al, ; Frost et al, ), and marriage bans are shown to worsen health among SGM people (Hatzenbuehler et al, , ; Kail, Acosta, & Wright, ).…”

Associations between individual and couple-level minority stressors and relationship stress in queer women’s interracial/interethnic couple relationships

“…Relationships are a key part of women's lives and their identities (Simon & Barrett, 2010;Whitton & Kuryluk, 2014). Stress is strongly associated with relationship stress and problems (Horwitz, White, & Howell-White, 1996;Randall & Bodenmann, 2017) which in turn are associated with distress (Garcia & Umberson, 2019), particularly for women (Garcia & Umberson, 2019;Proulx, Helms, & Buehler, 2007). However these associations are not well-understood in queer women's relationships which may be disproportionately affected by multiple sources and levels of stress due to the marginalization of both the individuals and the relationship.…”

“…The strain of stressful relationships may be disproportionately detrimental to queer women given that it may compound the effects stigma, discrimination, and lower levels of overall social support . However, recent research suggests that in comparison to women who are married to men, women in same-sex marriages may evince less of an association between relationship strain and distress, possibly due to the lower gendered power differentials in same-sex relationships (Garcia & Umberson, 2019) or because external stressors may bring couples closer together (Reczek, 2015). Given the importance of stable and positive relationships to health, it is imperative for research to shed investigate whether stressors faced by queer women may strain relationships.…”

“…Among heterosexual couples, ample research (see Randall & Bondenmann 2017 for a review) demonstrates that each partner's experiences of stress has effects on the other member of the couple and on the relationship. Stress and distress from one member of the couple may "spill over" to the other member of the couple thereby increasing their own stress and distress (Falconier et al, 2014;Garcia & Umberson, 2019;Neff & Karney, 2009) and possibly increasing relationship stress. Thus, dyadic data is needed to better account for the complexities of the effects of stress on relationships.…”

Does the Marriage Tax Differential Influence Same‐Sex Couples' Marriage Decisions?

“…Extant research indicates that marriage is important for same‐sex couples (SSCs), providing evidence of the benefits associated with marriage, including lower levels of psychological distress (Wight et al, 2013) and better health (Denney et al, 2013; Liu et al, 2013), relative to their unmarried cohorts. The evidence suggesting that benefits accrue to married individuals motivates researchers to explore antecedents and deterrents of same‐sex marriage (SSM) (Garcia & Umberson, 2019; Gates, 2015; Gates & Brown, 2015; Ocobock, 2018; Verbakel & Kalmijn, 2014).…”