The relationship between marital standards, dyadic coping and marital satisfaction

Abstract

Different types of cognitions in close relationships have been identified. Yet, little is known about the nature and effects of most of them, such as marital standards. In our research project 'What makes marriages last?' we applied a German adaptation of the 'Inventory of Specific Relationship Standards,' a questionnaire measuring how much sharing, egalitarianism and investment spouses feel they should have and actually experience in their own marriage. We hypothesized that high, i.e., relationshipfocused standards, should be associated with dyadic coping processes as well as with marital satisfaction. Thereby, dyadic coping was expected to play a mediating role between standards and marital satisfaction. Based on a sample of 663 German married couples, we found significant correlations between standards, marital satisfaction, and dyadic coping processes. Moreover, supportive behavior in stressful situations had the expected partial mediating effect, which turned out to be slightly different for husbands and wives. Implications for preventive and therapeutic intervention are discussed.Over the last decades the question how marriages develop and what factors influence their success or failure has aroused the interest of psychological research (e.g.accumulated quite a solid knowledge about the relevance of communication processes and conflict resolution styles

Marital Quality and Gender Role Stereotype

“…The discrepancy between the West and the East may be an indicator of the different ways culture shapes one's beliefs about gender and marriage. Indeed, sex difference or its absence is meaningless unless the cultural connotations and other moderator personal-social variables are taken into account (Dillaway and Broman 2001;Wunderer and Schneewind 2008).…”

Couples Experiencing Financial Strain: What We Know and What We Can Do

“…One is the Dyadic Coping Inventory (DCI; Bodenmann, 1997) that was developed using Bodenmann's theory of dyadic coping. The DCI has exhibited strong reliability (e.g., Bodenmann, 2007;Wunderer & Schneewind, 2008) , 1996), assessing cognitive/affective strategies (e.g., help partner take perspective) and behavioral strategies (e.g., providing comfort/support) in responding empathically to a partner's strain. The internal consistency of the ERS has been reported to be .93 (O'Brien & DeLongis), but no validation tests have been conducted.…”

“…One is the Dyadic Coping Inventory (DCI; Bodenmann, 1997) that was developed using Bodenmann's theory of dyadic coping. The DCI has exhibited strong reliability (e.g., Bodenmann, 2007; Wunderer & Schneewind, 2008) and includes three subscales: Dyadic Coping by Oneself (Stress Communication, Supportive, Delegated, and Negative), Dyadic Coping by the Partner (Stress Communication, Supportive, Delegated, and Negative), and Common Dyadic Coping. It has demonstrated good construct and concurrent validity (Bodenmann; Wunderer & Schneewind), as well as internal consistency ranging between .71 and .95 for the subscales and between .92 and .96 for the total scale (Bodenmann).…”

Impact of Self Monitoring and Gender on Coping Strategies in Intimate Relationships Among Turkish University Students

“…Coping strategies may be more or less adaptive ways of coping with intimate relationship stressors. Recent studies in the USA (Mickelson et al 2006), Germany (Wunderer and Schneewind 2008) and Turkey (Büyükşahin and Demirtaş-Madran 2008) demonstrated that effective problem solving tends to increase relationship satisfaction and commitment. Studies in England (Chung et al 2003), the USA (Pollina and Snell 1999) and Turkey (Bilecen 2007) however, showed that avoidance coping strategies (e.g., mental and behavioral disengagement, social withdrawal) tends to be associated with relational depression, anxiety and traumatic stress reactions.…”