Perceived community disorder, hostile marital interactions, and self-reported health of African American couples: An interdyadic process

Abstract

Using a sample of African American husbands and wives, this study investigates whether marital interactions and health are linked to their perceived community disorder. Findings suggest that only husbands' perceived community disorder is associated with their hostile behaviors toward their wives. Although wives' perceived disorder is strongly associated with husbands' perceived disorder, wives' perceptions are not directly associated with their hostile behaviors toward their husbands. Findings also suggest that husbands' and wives' hostile behaviors are strongly associated with each other. In general, spouses' hostile behaviors toward their partners are associated with their own as well as their partners' physical and mental health. Furthermore, husbands' perceived community disorder is directly associated with their own physical and mental health.

Out Drinking the Joneses: Neighborhood Factors Moderating the Effects of Drinking on Relationship Quality over the First Four Years of Marriage

“…Consistent with past cross‐sectional findings on neighborhood perceptions (Wickrama et al., ), we found that couples tended to have lower quality relationships over the first 4 years of marriage in neighborhoods where they observed more problems. Importantly, neighborhood disorder also moderated the effect of fluctuations in alcohol use, where relative increases in couple drinking were associated with marginal improvements in husband satisfaction in low‐disorder neighborhoods and marginal drops in satisfaction for wives in high disorder neighborhoods.…”

“…Importantly, neighborhood disorder also moderated the effect of fluctuations in alcohol use, where relative increases in couple drinking were associated with marginal improvements in husband satisfaction in low‐disorder neighborhoods and marginal drops in satisfaction for wives in high disorder neighborhoods. This small moderation effect helps highlight the fact that if alcohol use has the potential to draw out both positive and negative behaviors and expressions (Jacob & Krahn, ; Leonard & Roberts, ), it will become more problematic in contexts that elicit more hostility (Wickrama et al., ). This pattern of results is consistent with the VSA model (Karney & Bradbury, ), as it presents community context as an external stressor eliciting notably different responses.…”

“…There is a substantial body of research linking the absence of neighborhood resources to relationship functioning and negative relationship processes such as conflict and IPV. Such links have been found consistently using a diverse array of neighborhood measures including those assessing residents' perceptions of neighborhood disorder www.FamilyProcess.org 962 / FAMILY PROCESS (e.g., levels of graffiti, vandalism, noise, crime;Cunradi, 2009;Wickrama, Bryant, & Wickrama, 2010) and those capturing neighborhood disadvantage as captured by archival data (e.g., poverty, unemployment, high school dropout; Benson, Fox, DeMaris, & Van Wyk, 2003;Cutrona et al, 2003;Harris, Hilton, & Rice, 2011;Miles-Doan, 1998). Despite the consistency of findings within this growing body of work, a majority of these studies were cross-sectional, leaving the direction of causality unclear.…”

Marital Quality of Newlywed African American Couples: Implications of Egalitarian Gender Role Dynamics

“…Data were gathered from 697 newlywed African American couples involved in an on-going three wave longitudinal study of African American marriage and health (see also, Stanik and Bryant 2011; Wickrama et al 2010). Participants were identified through marriage license applications filed in a southern state.…”

The Contribution of Community and Family Contexts to African American Young Adults’ Romantic Relationship Health: A Prospective Analysis

“…General community deviance and personal victimization both have been found to facilitate the development of negative emotions and foster a sense of loss of control over one’s life (Sieger, Rojas-Vilches, McKinney, & Renk, 2004). This may result in a heightened level of stress that can influence the behaviors that individuals direct toward their romantic partners (Beach, Smith, & Fincham 1994; Wickrama, Bryant, & Wickrama 2010). …”