Trajectories of Marital Satisfaction in Diverse Newlywed Couples

Williamson, Hannah C.; Lavner, Justin A.

doi:10.1177/1948550619865056

Cited by 30 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…We found support for our second hypothesis that husbands and wives would have diverging marital experiences during the newlywed years. Unlike prior work, which found low‐income husbands and wives demonstrated a significant decline in satisfaction (Williamson & Lavner, 2019), we found husbands did not report a significant decline in their marital satisfaction. In contrast, for most wives, it appears more difficult to sustain initially high satisfaction, and declines are not concentrated to those with lower initial satisfaction (Proulx et al, 2017).…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Understanding the Early Years of Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Couples’ Marriages

Kanter

Proulx

2020

Family Process

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Recent research has identified significant differences in how satisfaction in newlywed relationships progress, with the majority of spouses reporting relatively high marital satisfaction. However, most studies have focused on white, middle class, childless couples, and it is not clear whether these findings hold for socioeconomically disadvantaged couples (those with low educational attainment or income). Further, previous work has largely ignored differences between spouses within the same marriage and the circumstances under which interpersonal processes between spouses are influential to prospective marital satisfaction. Using dyadic growth‐mixture modeling and three waves of data from 530 newlywed couples in the Supporting Healthy Marriages study, we simultaneously modeled husbands’ and wives’ marital satisfaction and identified two classes of couples, labeled the Relatively satisfied class and Husbands’ moderate intercept, wives’ low, and increasing satisfaction class. Husbands consistently reported better marital satisfaction than their wives regardless of class membership. Wives’ perceptions of interpersonal processes during experiences of financial stress predicted class membership. Dissolution rates also differed between classes. We conclude by providing practical implications for working with socioeconomically disadvantaged families.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Understanding the Early Years of Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Couples’ Marriages

Kanter

Proulx

2020

Family Process

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“…Yet the novelty and exploratory nature of the analyses does not mean the lack of theoretical implications. For example, the estimation of the unconditional growth model is consistent with prior research identifying variability in the developmental trajectories in marital quality across time (Williamson & Lavner, 2020). Those who started with higher happiness and satisfaction experienced few changes across time, whereas those who started with lower happiness and satisfaction became increasingly distressed over time.…”

Section: Limitations and Future Research Directionssupporting

confidence: 81%

External stressors and trajectories of marital quality during the early years of Chinese marriage: Buffering effects of resources at multiple ecological levels

Curran

Butler

et al. 2021

Journal of Social and Personal Relationships

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Drawing from the stress resistance process within the conservation of resources theory, this study examined how resources at multiple ecological levels—personal (self-esteem), relational (spousal support), and social network (relationships with parents and parents-in-law)—moderate the spillover and crossover effects from external stressors to trajectories of marital quality. We used three-annual-wave, dyadic data from 268 heterosexual Chinese couples who were at the beginning stages of marriage. Consistent with theory, personal, relational, and social network resources all buffered the detrimental effects of external stressors for marital quality. Further, nuanced findings emerged, likely given the social cultural context in contemporary China. Specifically, gender differences emerged in whether a specific resource attenuated the detrimental effects of external stressors (e.g., husbands’ vs. wives’ self-esteem attenuated detrimental effects of external stressors). Moreover, opposite patterns existed for the short-term versus long-term results for husbands’ relational resources. In sum, our findings highlight that when helping couples cope with stressors, it is necessary to (a) include available resources at multiple ecological levels (personal, relational, social network) and (b) consider whether social cultural backgrounds may have influenced the effectiveness of a specific resource.

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“…ER organisations or voluntary sector support organisations could consider relationship training education best practice guidelines suggested in Bakhurst, Loew [ 100 ] and adapt these to ER families experiences. The review, however, found a lack of evidence regarding the prevalence of relationship satisfaction in ER couples which is an important variable to assess long-term relationship trajectories and their relationship with work-stress spillover [ 101 , 102 ]. Finally, the review papers did not assess the sexual dimension of couple relationships and how intimacy and relationships are affected by work burdens, time spent together and distress, hence this is an important factor that should be taken into account with regards to ER relationships and wellbeing [ 103 ].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The mental health and wellbeing of spouses, partners and children of emergency responders: A systematic review

Sharp

Solomon²,

Harrison

et al. 2022

PLoS ONE

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Emergency responders (ERs), often termed First Responders, such as police, fire and paramedic roles are exposed to occupational stressors including high workload, and exposure to trauma from critical incidents, both of which can affect their mental health and wellbeing. Little is known about the impact of the ER occupation on the mental health and wellbeing of their families. The aim of the current study was to investigate what mental health and wellbeing outcomes and experiences have been researched internationally in ER families, and to examine the prevalence and associated risk and protective factors of these outcomes. We conducted a systematic review in accordance with an a priori PROSPERO approved protocol (PROSPERO 2019 CRD42019134974). Forty-three studies were identified for inclusion. The majority of studies used a quantitative, cross-sectional design and were conducted in the United States; just over half assessed police/law enforcement families. Themes of topics investigated included: 1) Spousal/partner mental health and wellbeing; 2) Couple relationships; 3) Child mental health and wellbeing; 4) Family support and coping strategies; and 5) Positive outcomes. The review identified limited evidence regarding the prevalence of mental health and wellbeing outcomes. Family experiences and risk factors described were ER work-stress spillover negatively impacting spousal/partner wellbeing, couple relationships, and domestic violence. Traumatic exposure risk factors included concerns family had for the safety of their ER partner, the negative impact of an ER partners’ mental health problem on the couples’ communication and on family mental health outcomes. Protective factors included social support; however, a lack of organisational support for families was reported in some studies. Study limitations and future research needs are discussed. Progressing this area of research is important to improve knowledge of baseline needs of ER families to be able to target interventions, improve public health, and support ER’s operational effectiveness.

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Trajectories of Marital Satisfaction in Diverse Newlywed Couples

Cited by 30 publications

References 26 publications

Understanding the Early Years of Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Couples’ Marriages

Understanding the Early Years of Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Couples’ Marriages

External stressors and trajectories of marital quality during the early years of Chinese marriage: Buffering effects of resources at multiple ecological levels

The mental health and wellbeing of spouses, partners and children of emergency responders: A systematic review

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