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The new Editor-in-Chief, Spencer B. Olmstead, introduces himself and shares his vision for maintaining the journal's standing as a highly regarded and widely cited source in the field of family scholarship. He also highlights plans to broaden the journal's scope to include more international research, uphold a strong emphasis on studies addressing marginalized populations, and expand its reach by leveraging social media and innovative technologies.

Objective: This study examines the association between marital satisfaction and cognitive function, while distinguishing between the effects of improving and declining marital satisfaction. Moreover, potential differences in these asymmetric effects of marital satisfaction between middle‐aged and older adults are explored. Background: Marital satisfaction is known to promote cognitive function. However, previous studies have assumed that the effects of improving and declining marital satisfaction are symmetrical. Method: Using seven waves of data from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging 2006–2018 (N = 7407), we employ a novel asymmetric fixed effects model to estimate the effects of improving and declining marital satisfaction separately. Stratified analyses were conducted by age group and gender. Results: The association between declining marital satisfaction and cognitive function (b = −0.292, p <.001) was stronger than the association between improving marital satisfaction and cognitive function (b = 0.102, p <.001). These asymmetric effects were predominantly driven by older adults. The effect of declining marital satisfaction on cognitive function was significantly greater for older adults than middle‐aged adults (−0.395 vs. −0.148). We did not find gender differences. Conclusion: Findings suggest that the negative impact of declining marital satisfaction on cognitive function outweighs the positive effects of improving marital satisfaction, especially among older adults. Reducing marital dissatisfaction and fostering healthy marital relationships are crucial strategies to promote the cognitive well‐being of older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective and background: This study examined the longitudinal adverse influences of attachment anxiety and the dark triad on psychological intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration and victimization through daily negative emotions. Method: We conducted a 1‐year paired longitudinal study that followed married couples across three waves of assessment. The participants were 471 married couples in Japan. They completed measures of the dark triad and attachment anxiety (Wave 1), daily negative emotions (Wave 2: 1 month after Wave 1), and psychological IPV victimization (Wave 3: 1 year after Wave 1). Results: The actor–partner interdependence model showed that attachment anxiety and the dark triad were positively associated with psychological IPV perpetration 1 year later through different processes. Whereas attachment anxiety was related to psychological IPV perpetration through daily negative emotions for both men and women, the dark triad was directly related to psychological IPV perpetration across sex groups. In addition, attachment anxiety was positively related to psychological IPV victimization through daily negative emotions for men and women, but the dark triad was not. Conclusion and implication: Attachment anxiety and the dark triad were associated differently with psychological IPV perpetration 1 year later, whereas these processes are equivalent for men and women. Our results imply that for individuals with high attachment anxiety, interventions to regulate daily negative emotions such as depression and distress may buffer against both IPV victimization and perpetration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study analyzes the victimization trajectories of partner violence against women surrounding divorce, depending on whether the couple has children together. Background: Prior studies have found that partner violence is associated with an increased risk of divorce. No study has assessed the victimization trajectories surrounding divorce for women with and without children, although women with children may remain at higher risk of violence following divorce. Method: Using Finnish record‐linkage data of 22,468 divorced and 333,542 continuously married women and their husbands, we used repeated‐measures logistic regression analyses to assess changes in victimization for partner violence before and after divorce. The outcomes considered were police‐reported crimes committed by husbands against their wives and hospital‐treated assault injuries recorded for wives. Results: The risk of crime victimization for partner assault was already elevated from 2 to 3 years before divorce, peaked in the year prior to divorce, and then mainly leveled off 1–2 years after divorce. Hospital data show that the time of the greatest risk was from 6 to 12 months before divorce, when divorce is usually filed for. Women with younger children experienced elevated risks of physical violence shortly before divorce and remained at higher risk of menace than women without children for a year after divorce. Conclusion: Divorcing women committed assaults against their husbands, but these were mostly accompanied by victimization, suggesting that resistant violence was common for women as perpetrators. Women with a history of victimization need support, especially at the starts of their divorce processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Drawing on the family systems framework, this study investigated the reciprocal prospective associations between marital relationship quality, parent–adolescent closeness and conflict, and adolescent depressive symptoms among families in Taiwan. Background: The family systems theory posits reciprocity between family subsystems. However, the direction of influences between marital relationship quality, parent–adolescent relationship quality and adolescent well‐being may be more unidirectional in Chinese societies due to hierarchical family values. Method: Data were from a longitudinal survey of 2292 parent‐youth dyads in the Taiwan Youth Project. Cross‐lagged path models were used to test the bidirectional associations between marital relationship quality, parent–adolescent closeness and conflict, and adolescent depressive symptoms from ages 12 to 18. Results: Our primary hypothesis that marital relationship quality predicts parent–adolescent relationship quality, which then predicts adolescent depressive symptoms in a unidirectional manner was partially substantiated. Moreover, marital relationship quality directly predicted fewer depressive symptoms from middle to late adolescence and indirectly from early to late adolescence via parent–adolescent relationship quality in middle adolescence. We also found that child depressive symptoms predicted less parent–adolescent closeness, and more conflicts which predicted poorer marital relationship quality, particularly in early adolescence. Conclusion: Extending the family systems theory, findings suggest that marital relationship quality plays a dominant role in the health and well‐being of Taiwanese families, especially as adolescents mature. Results highlight the importance of testing theories in families from diverse cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study investigated the effect of temporary labor migration on spouses' marital quality. Background: How temporary international labor migration affects the marital relationship remains unclear. Research shows migration increases couples' risk of dissolution, whereas studies of spouses' marital quality—much of which is cross‐sectional and/or limited to either internal or joint migration—is more mixed. This lack of consensus masks the possibility that, under certain conditions, migration may improve spouses' marital quality. Method: This study uses data from the Chitwan Valley Family Study, a panel study set in Nepal, and primary data collected among a subsample of migrant husbands (in East Asia, Middle East) and their wives and nonmigrant couples (in Nepal). Results: Findings from linear regression models show that, relative to non‐migrant spouses, spouses engaged in temporary international labor migration report significantly higher marital quality—less conflict and more love—net of marital quality assessed 6 years earlier. However, these benefits are not enjoyed equally between spouses: husbands' marital quality improves, whereas changes in their wives' are less conclusive. Conclusion: The fact that these benefits (a) diverge from previous understandings and (b) vary by spouse's gender extends current understandings of the conditions shaping this association: social and structural forces supporting men as breadwinners, a strong husband–wife bond facilitating husbands' migration, and marriage‐protective social environments at both ends of migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The current study examined whether and how mothers' personal history of childhood maltreatment related to control strategies toward their children during infancy in mainland China. Background: Although previous studies have linked mothers' history of childhood maltreatment to negative control with their children, no study has systematically investigated the effect of maternal history of childhood maltreatment on control strategies varying in the levels of power assertion and its underlying mechanisms. Method: Drawn from a two‐wave observational study, participants were 233 Chinese mother–infant dyads. The mothers reported their history of childhood maltreatment at 6 months of child age (T2), and executive function and marital satisfaction at 14 months of child age (T2). Additionally, maternal control strategies toward children were coded from videotaped mother–infant interactions at both T1 and T2. Results: The results showed that T1 maternal history of childhood maltreatment was negatively predictive of T2 gentle control, after controlling for T1 gentle control and maternal education status. Furthermore, a chained mediation path from T1 maternal history of childhood maltreatment to T2 negative control through T2 executive function and then T2 marital satisfaction was found. Conclusion: Mothers with a childhood maltreatment history tend to use less gentle control toward their 14‐month‐old infants, whereas the intergenerational transmission of maternal history of childhood maltreatment to negative control is prevented by better executive function and higher satisfaction in marital relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To examine psychological health as a mechanism linking economic pressure and marital instability in the early middle years to poor physical health in later life. Background: Although previous research suggests that sustained stressful marital experience may lead to mental and physical health problems, little is known about how contextual factors, such as economic pressure, impact marital outcomes, and how changes in marital attributes influence health outcomes in a longitudinal and dyadic context. Method: Utilizing an actor‐partner interdependence model within a latent growth curve approach and prospective data from couples in enduring marriages, we examined the associations between family economic pressure, marital instability, and mental health over their early middle years (1989–1994) and subsequent physical health in later adulthood (2015). Analyses assessed a couple‐level pathway and an individual pathway involving within‐spouse and between‐spouse effects. Results: During the middle years, family financial difficulties were linked to reduced marital stability, which was associated with increased mental health challenges. The findings also reinforced the salient role of psychological distress for subsequent physical health outcomes as husbands' and wives' anxiety symptoms over their early middle years contributed to declines in their physical health outcomes in later adulthood. A partner effect was noted between husbands' anxiety and wives' physical health. Conclusion: For couples, experiences of financial and marital stress in their early middle years can have long‐lasting detrimental impacts on their physical health in later adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The current study examined the contributions of cultural and economic contexts and family, child, and parent characteristics to explain variation within and between mothers' and fathers' mental state talk (i.e., cognition, desire, modulation of assertion, and other mental state talk) to their 6‐month‐old infants. Background: Growing evidence supports the importance of mental state talk for children, yet few studies have examined factors that might contribute to this type of verbal input. Method: In a sample of 582 African American and European American mothers and 582 African American and European American fathers living in low‐wealth rural areas, we explored the extent to which cultural context (ethnicity), economic context (income), family characteristics (partners' use of mental state talk), child characteristics (gender, attention, distress to novelty), and parent characteristics (parental sensitivity) contribute to mothers' and fathers' use of mental state talk in a series of multilevel models. Results: Results suggest that parental sensitivity was positively associated with mental state talk for both mothers and fathers, and child attention was positively associated with mental state talk for mothers with significant but small effect sizes. Fathers' mental state talk contributed positively to mothers' mental state talk, but this was true only for African American families. Conclusion: Our identified main effects and significant interaction enhance our understanding of factors that contribute to mothers' and fathers' mental state talk with their preverbal infants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study considers how the provision of daily emotion work may affect the psychological well‐being of the emotion worker, and how this linkage may vary for men and women in same‐ and different‐sex marriages. Background: Emotion work–work intended to bolster a spouse's well‐being by reading and managing the spouse's emotional needs—is common within marital relationships and often gendered, with women more aware of and concerned with emotion work than men. Yet, the psychological cost of performing emotion work is largely unexplored. Method: This study relies on 10 days of daily experiences data from spouses in same‐ and different‐sex marriages (n = 756 individuals). Mixed effects multilevel regression modeling is used to examine how the provision of emotion work is associated with the emotion workers' psychological well‐being. Results: Providing emotion work is inversely associated with emotion workers' psychological well‐being, especially when provided for a spouse with elevated depressive symptoms. These estimated effects are generally similar for men and women but greater for those married to a man than for those married to a woman, whether in a same‐ or different‐sex marriage. Conclusion: Emotion work appears to adversely affect the worker's own psychological well‐being, especially when a spouse has elevated depressive symptoms and when one's spouse is a man. These results point to the importance of dyadic approaches and consideration of gendered relationship dynamics of same‐ as well as different‐sex couples in studies of emotion work and other marital processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study tested a transactional model of associations between couple relationship intimacy and one's own and one's partner's depressive symptoms across 10 years. Background: Depressive symptoms and couple relationship intimacy are important aspects of individual functioning and family well‐being. Partners' mental health and experiences in couple relationships may be interdependent. Method: Six waves of data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development were used. At each wave, 654 couples (654 men and 654 women all married and/or living together) reported their relationship intimacy and depressive symptoms. An actor–partner interdependence random intercept cross‐lagged panel model was estimated to examine reciprocal relations between men's and women's depressive symptoms and couple relationship intimacy. Results: The cross‐lagged paths showed that higher than personal average couple relationship intimacy perceived by men and women predicted intraindividual increases in their partner's perceptions of couple relationship intimacy at the next time point. Moreover, for women, higher than personal average relationship intimacy predicted subsequent intraindividual decreases in their depressive symptoms (while the reverse was not true), whereas for men, lower than average depressive symptoms predicted intraindividual increases in self‐perceived relationship intimacy (while the reverse was not significant). Conclusion: We found reverse temporal precedence of depressive symptoms and couple relationship intimacy for men and women. Partners' relationship intimacy was interdependent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the impact of disability on older adults daily mood such as frustration and happiness. Topics include exploration of gender and marital status differences, harmful effects of stress on well-being, and family relationships and support.

The authors used the 2003 to 2012 American Time Use Survey to examine marital status variation in mothers' leisure time. They found that never-married mothers have more total leisure but less high-quality leisure when compared with married mothers. Never-married mothers' leisure is concentrated in passive and socially isolated activities that offer fewer social and health benefits. Black single mothers have the highest amount of socially isolated leisure, particularly watching television alone. Results suggest that differences in the context and type of leisure are salient dimensions of the divergent and stratified life conditions of married, divorced, and single mothers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Everyday support given to aging parents is a salient aspect of married life that may have implications for marital quality. Among 132 middle-aged couples drawn from Wave 1 of the Family Exchanges Study, the authors examined the moderating effects of each spouse's normative and motivational beliefs about helping parents on associations between the frequency of everyday support that wives and husbands gave to their own parents and marital satisfaction. Husbands' more frequent provision of support was linked to wives' greater marital satisfaction when reports of personal rewards linked to helping parents were high for wives or low for husbands. Conversely, wives' more frequent provision of support was linked to husbands' lower marital satisfaction when reports of filial obligation were low for husbands or high for wives. Findings highlight the interdependence within couples and indicate that both spouses' perceptions are important in understanding linkages between intergenerational support and marital satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although much research examines the association between fathers' relationship aggression and mothers' parenting, little attention is given to mothers' aggression, mutual aggression, or fathers' parenting. Using a sample of coresiding couples from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study ( N = 973), the authors examine the association between mothers' and fathers' relationship aggression, measured as frequency and perpetration-victimization types (mutual, mother only, father only), and mothers' and fathers' parenting. Fixed effects regression models show that fathers' aggression is positively related to mothers' parenting stress, whereas father-only or mother-only aggression is related to fathers' stress. For both parents, aggression perpetration is negatively related to their own engagement with children. Mother-only aggression is negatively related to mothers' spanking and positively related to fathers' spanking. These findings suggest the importance of examining both parents' aggression and perpetrators' as well as victims' parenting to better understand the link between relationship aggression and parenting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from the 2006 Family Module of the East Asian Social Survey ( N = 3,096), this article examines associations of marital satisfaction with divisions of housework and gender ideology in four East Asian societies: urban China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. Compared with Japanese and Korean married women and men, Chinese and Taiwanese spouses were more satisfied with their marriage and had more egalitarian divisions of housework, but simultaneously they held less egalitarian gender ideologies. Multivariate analyses showed that relative share of housework was negatively associated with marital satisfaction for Japanese and Korean men and for Korean and Taiwanese women. Egalitarian gender ideology was significantly associated with lower marital satisfaction only among Taiwanese women. In addition, the negative association between housework and marital satisfaction was more pronounced for Taiwanese women who espoused more egalitarian gender ideologies. The authors discuss how differences in macro-level social contexts explain these cross-society variations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When parents divorce, grandparents can play a supportive role in the lives of their grandchildren, but a parental divorce may also put grandchild-grandparent ties under pressure. In this study the authors investigated how grandchildren of married and divorced parents differ in the frequency of face-to-face contacts with grandparents and how this is mediated by postdivorce residence arrangements. Based on the multi-actor survey 'Divorce in Flanders,' they used reports of contact provided by more than 1,000 grandchildren and compared them with more than 1,100 grandparent reports for validation. The results showed that grandchildren from divorced parents have fewer contacts with their grandparents than grandchildren whose parents are married but that it is the postdivorce residence arrangement of grandchildren that produces this result. When grandchildren live with their divorced father or in a shared residence arrangement, they even see paternal grandparents more often than grandchildren with married parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conflict with a spouse or child may generate spillover, defined as short-term affective changes in parents that affect their behavior with other family members. In a diverse sample of 86 parents, this 56-day diary study examined daily bidirectional spillover between conflict in the marital or parent-child dyad and parents' irritable, frictional behavior with their child or spouse, respectively. Tests of daily associations between conflict and parent behavior revealed robust spillover effects according to parent as well as spouse and child reports. Parents' daily negative mood and child externalizing behavior contributed to several but not all of these associations. Daily spillover findings were largely unaffected by parents' neuroticism, suggesting that parents' day-to-day fluctuations in negative mood, not average levels of negative affectivity, promoted spillover. Significant direct effects of conflict on parent behavior even when controlling for negative mood, however, implicate additional cognitive or social processes as contributors to conflict spillover in families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family systems reorganize during transitional periods, such as the birth of a new child. Longitudinal research, however, on family dynamics during the transition to parenthood is lacking. Accordingly, the authors aimed to identify family system trajectories from pregnancy to the child's first birthday and to examine their contextual predictors. Both parents ( N = 702) reported autonomy and intimacy in marital (wife-to-husband, husband-to-wife) and parenting (mother-to-child, father-to-child) relations during pregnancy and at child's ages of 2 months and 12 months. Finite mixture modeling revealed 7 unique family system trajectories: (a) Cohesive (35%), (b) Disengaged (5%), (c) Enmeshed Declining (6%), (d) Enmeshed Quadratic (5%), (e) Authoritarian (14%), (f) Escalating Crisis (4%), and (g) Discrepant (15%) families. Parental education in interaction with duration of partnership and parity predicted family trajectory membership. The study demonstrates how different family types reorganize during the transition to parenthood; this includes decline, growth, and stability in autonomy and intimacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Demand-withdraw communication is a set of conflict-related behaviors in which one partner blames or pressures while the other partner withdraws or avoids. The present study examined age-related changes in these behaviors longitudinally over the course of later life stages. One hundred twenty-seven middle-aged and older long-term married couples were observed at 3 time points across 13 years as they engaged in a conversation about an area of relationship conflict. Husbands' and wives' demand-withdraw behaviors (i.e., blame, pressure, withdrawal, avoidance) were objectively rated by trained coders at each time point. Data were analyzed using dyad-level latent growth curve models in a structural equation modeling framework. For both husbands and wives, the results showed a longitudinal pattern of increasing avoidance behavior over time and stability in all other demand and withdraw behaviors. This study supports the notion that there is an important developmental shift in the way that conflict is handled in later life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated differences in the trajectory of marital satisfaction in the first 7 years between couples in covenant versus standard marriages. The authors analyzed data on 707 Louisiana marriages from the Marriage Matters Panel Survey of Newlywed Couples, 1998-2004, using multivariate longitudinal growth modeling. When the sample was restricted to couples who remained married over the duration of the study, a marginal benefit of covenant status was found for husbands. This effect was largely accounted for by covenant husbands' more extensive exposure to premarital counseling. The linear decline in marital satisfaction over time that obtained for both husbands and wives was not, however, any different for covenant marriages versus standard marriages. Couples characterized by more traditional attitudes toward gender roles were significantly less satisfied than others. High premarital risk factors, initial uncertainty about marrying the spouse, and the presence of preschool-age children in the household were all corrosive of marital satisfaction at any given time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the United States, low marriage rates and high divorce rates among the poor have led policymakers to target this group for skills- and values-based interventions. The current research evaluated the assumptions underlying these interventions; specifically, the authors examined whether low-income respondents held less traditional values toward marriage, had unrealistic standards for marriage, and had more problems managing relational problems than higher income respondents. They assessed these issues in a stratified random sample that oversampled low-income and non-White populations (N = 6,012). The results demonstrated that, relative to higher income respondents, low-income respondents held more traditional values toward marriage, had similar romantic standards for marriage, and experienced similar skills-based relationship problems. Low-income groups had higher economic standards for marriage and experienced more problems related to economic and social issues (e.g., money, drinking/drug use) than did higher income respondents. Thus, efforts to save low-income marriages should directly confront the economic and social realities these couples face. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigates whether first sexual intercourse during adolescence is associated with increased risk of first marriage dissolution and tests whether the results are consistent with causal or selection explanations. Drawing on a sample of 3,793 ever-married women from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth, this study estimated event-history models of first-marriage dissolution. Results indicate that wanted sexual debut in later adolescence does not directly increase the risk of marital dissolution but is linked indirectly as a result of subsequent premarital sexual outcomes. Sexual debut that is not completely wanted or that occurs before age 16 is associated with increased risk of marital dissolution. The results suggest that the timing and context of adolescent sexual debut have important implications for marital stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 2,656), we examined the association between intergenerational relationships and parents' union stability 5 years after a baby's birth. Results showed that more amiable relationships between parents and each partner's parents, and children's spending more time with paternal grandparents, increased the odds that parents coresided by the time their child was age 5. The more time that children spent with maternal grandparents reduced union stability, although this result was not robust to methods that better address selection. These findings underscore the importance of the broader social contexts affecting couple stability and suggest that even amid demographic changes, intergenerational family ties are important for couples and, by extension, their children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although marital satisfaction starts high and declines for the average newlywed, some spouses may follow qualitatively distinct trajectories. Using 8 self-reports of satisfaction collected over 4 years from 464 newlywed spouses, we identified 5 trajectory groups, including patterns defined by high intercepts and no declines in satisfaction, moderate intercepts and minimal declines, and low intercepts and substantial declines. The groups varied systematically in their 4- and 10-year divorce rates, and wives tended to follow more satisfying trajectories than their husbands. Personality traits, stress, aggression, and communication behaviors assessed shortly after marriage discriminated among groups in expected directions. We conclude by outlining theoretical and practical implications of identifying distinct and predictable patterns of change in relationship satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article replicated and extended Harriet Presser's (2000) investigation of the linkages between nonstandard work and marital instability. We reexplored this question using data from a sample of 2,893 newlywed couples from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) and using different analytic techniques. In contrast to Presser, we found that the key dimension of husbands' and wives' employment was nonemployment. Similar to Presser, we found that wives' working of fixed night shifts increased the risk of divorce, driven by the experience in marriages over 5 years in duration. However, we did not replicate Presser's finding that the effect is significant only among households with children; rather, wives' fixed night shifts were associated with divorce only among those without children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate which partner of a 2-gender couple moves out after separation. We test hypotheses on the impact of differences between the partners in the costs of moving out and resources, using data from the Divorce in the Netherlands survey (N = 1,537 ex-couples who separated between 1972 and 1998). Ex-partners initiating the separation were more likely to leave, as were those for whom a new partnership was a reason for the separation. An ex-partner with custody of children was less likely to leave, as was an ex-partner with more resources. A woman was less likely to leave when the joint children no longer lived at home or when the partnership had been longer lasting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examines different processes leading to lifestyle homogamy in married and cohabiting couples using data from the German Socioeconomic Panel (n = 3,490 couples). The analyses firs! suggest that alignment over time promotes homogamy of leisure-related lifestyles, especially with respect to action-oriented activities. However, intermediate stages in the life course (i.e., phases of active parenting and labor force participation) tend to inhibit alignment, whereas cues indicating a high-quality match (e.g., educational homogamy and being in a long-term or a marital relationship) promote alignment. Second, we find evidence for selection effects in that not only homogamy but also convergence of lifestyles over time may increase couples' resilience to relationship breakup. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review examines the role of religion, for better and worse, in marital and parent–child relationships according to peer-reviewed studies from 1999 to 2009. A conceptual framework of relational spirituality is used (a) to organize the breadth of findings into the 3 stages of formation, maintenance, and transformation of family relationships and (b) to illustrate 3 in-depth sets of mechanisms to delve into the ways religion shapes family bonds. Topics include union formation, fertility, spousal roles, marital satisfaction and conflict, divorce, domestic violence, infidelity, pregnancy, parenting children, parenting adolescents, and coping with family distress. Conclusions emphasize moving beyond markers of general religiousness and identifying specific spiritual beliefs and practices that prevent or intensify problems in traditional and nontraditional families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cohabitation with a romantic partner has become common in recent decades. This meta-analysis examined the link between premarital cohabitation and marital stability ( k = 16) and marital quality ( k = 12). Cohabitation had a significant negative association with both marital stability and marital quality. The negative predictive effect on marital stability, however, did not remain when only cohabitation with the eventual marital partner was analyzed, suggesting that these cohabitors may attach more long-term meaning to living together. Moderator analyses demonstrated that effects of cohabitation have remained consistent over time, despite the fact that cohabitation has become more normative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study adapts theories of the household division of labor to the division of parent care between spouses and expands them by taking the kin relationship with the parent and the intensity of care into account. Tobit and weighted logit models are used to analyze the division of parent care in 2,214 couples from the British General Household Surveys. The models revealed patterns of parent care that are predominantly governed by the kin relationship. Time availability was strongly associated with couples' division of parent care, whereas the resource-bargaining approach received little support except for dual-earner couples that provided more intensive care for the husband's parents. Children-in-law's characteristics were hardly related to the division of high-intensity caregiving in dual-earner couples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although concordance between husbands' and wives' mental health problems is often reported, questions remain about the nature of these relations. Extending research in this area, this study examined dynamic-longitudinal pathways among husbands' and wives' depressive symptoms and marital satisfaction as a moderator of associations. Participants were 296 heterosexual couples. Husbands and wives reported on their depressive symptoms and marital satisfaction. Results from dynamic bivariate latent difference score analyses indicated unidirectional longitudinal coupling such that higher levels of husbands' depressive symptoms predicted subsequent elevations in wives' depressive symptoms over time. This relation was stronger among couples reporting marital distress as compared to couples reporting higher marital satisfaction. The findings underscore the importance of considering one's spouses' depressive symptoms in treatment efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined multiple dimensions of religious involvement and the risk of divorce among a nationwide sample of 2,979 first-time married couples. Multivariate proportional hazards modeling was used to analyze two waves of the National Survey of Families and Households. Results indicated that although each partner's religious attendance bore a modest relationship to marital dissolution, the risk of divorce was lower if husbands had conservative theological beliefs and when both partners belonged to mainline Protestant denominations. Conversely, the risk of divorce was elevated if husbands attended services more frequently than their wives and if wives were more theologically conservative than their husbands. These patterns withstood controls for sociodemographic covariates, marital duration, and marital quality. Directions for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much research has argued for the existence of a marriage benefit to men, women, and children. Although the commonly suggested current response to a husband's violence has been for the couple to separate, traditionally women were often told to “stay for the children.” This paper uses the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods longitudinal data to examine the relationships among marital stability, husband violence, and children's behavior problems. Among married mothers who reported husband violence at time 1 (N= 414), the negative relationship between child behavior problems and remaining in the marriage dissipated when selection bias and husband violence recidivism were controlled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined how the marital bond, as indexed through the Oral History Interview (OHI), is related to future triadic family interactions. Families (N = 108), with a 7–9-year-old child, participated in a longitudinal study (the Family Health Project) examining children's emotional development throughout the transition to adolescence. Parental cohesion and family cohesion, warmth, structure, and problem solving were assessed via behavioral observation during family problem-solving discussions and parent-child teaching interactions 18–24 months after the OHI. Results indicated that the marital bond was predictive of parental cohesion, family cohesion, warmth, and structure during teaching interactions. The marital bond was not significantly predictive of family problem solving or parental cohesion in problem-solving interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior research found that lower sexual frequency and satisfaction were associated with higher rates of divorce, but little research had examined the role of sexual activity in the dissolution of cohabiting unions. We drew upon social exchange theory to hypothesize why sexual frequency is more important in cohabitation: (a) cohabitors' lower costs of finding sexual alternatives, (b) cohabitors' lower barriers to ending the relationship in the form of union-specific economic and noneconomic capital, and (c) cohabitors' higher expectations for sexual activity. Using the National Survey of Families and Households (N = 5,902), we examined the relationship between sexual frequency and union dissolution. Results indicated that low sexual frequency was associated with significantly higher rates of union dissolution among cohabitors than married couples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Social Relations Model (SRM) allows for examination of family relations on three different levels: the individual level (actor and partner effects), the dyadic level (relationship effects), and the family level (family effect). The aim of this study was to present a systematic review of SRM family studies and identify general patterns in the results. Results of reanalyses of 17 data sets showed that characteristics of the person who reports on the relationship and the unique characteristics of the relationship were most important explanations of differences in family relationships. The present systematic review contributes to a better understanding of who is driving relationship outcomes in families and provides suggestions concerning the application of the SRM to family data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper applied the family stress model to the case of Turkey in the wake of the 2001 economic crisis. Using structural equation modeling and a nationally representative urban sample of 711 married women and 490 married men, we tested whether economic hardship and the associated family economic strain on families resulted in greater marital problems. Our results showed a modified family stress model applies to Turkey. In contrast to most previous research, economic strain had a direct effect on marital problems, and the indirect effect of strain, via emotional distress, was only significant for women. The results were interpreted in light of social and cultural factors that condition how economic distress affects marital relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examined trajectories of marital satisfaction among couples with adolescent children and evaluated how changes in parents' conflict over raising adolescent children were associated with changes in marital satisfaction over 4 years. Using a prospective, longitudinal research design and controlling for family socioeconomic status, dyadic growth curve analysis from a sample of 431 couples with adolescent children indicated that marital satisfaction decreased over time for parents with adolescent children and that the trajectories for mothers and fathers were substantially linked. More importantly, the study demonstrated that increases or decreases in parents' marital conflict over raising adolescent children were associated with corresponding decreases or increases in marital satisfaction for both mothers and fathers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper articulates a theoretical framework for understanding how individuals orient themselves toward marital commitment. Using a life history interview methodology and interpretive framework, it examines the orientations toward marital commitment for a sample of women and men, single and married, between the ages of 28 and 35 (N = 75). Specifically, it elaborates a multidimensional view of marital commitment with attention to two multifaceted components, one value rational and the other practical. Borrowing concepts from exchange and identity models of commitment, it analyzes interpretive processes involved in their construction. Some preliminary comments on the role social position plays in shaping constructions of marital commitment are articulated and the implications of this model discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data from two studies assessed the effects of nonstandard work schedules on perceived family well-being and daily stressors. Study 1, using a sample of employed, married adults aged 25 – 74 (n = 1,166) from the National Survey of Midlife in the United States, showed that night work was associated with perceptions of greater marital instability, negative family-work, and work-family spillover than weekend or daytime work. In Study 2, with a subsample of adults (n = 458) who participated in the National Study of Daily Experiences, weekend workers reported more daily work stressors than weekday workers. Several sociodemographic variables were tested as moderators. Both studies demonstrated that nonstandard work schedules place a strain on working, married adults at the global and daily level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite drastic changes in the American family, a significant minority of Americans marry early. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N = 14,165), this study evaluates the prevalence and antecedents of early marriage in the United States. The results indicate 25% of women and 16% of men marry before age 23, and early marriage varies widely across a number of characteristics. Individuals who marry earlier are more likely to be from disadvantaged families, from conservative Protestant or Mormon families, to value their religious faith more highly, to have a high-school diploma but a lower educational trajectory, and to cohabit before marriage. Scholars and policymakers interested in marriage should pay adequate attention to understanding and supporting these individuals’ marriages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using cohort data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, this paper tracks the experiences of serial cohabitors . Results indicate that only a minority of cohabiting women (about 15% – 20%) were involved in multiple cohabitations. Serial cohabitations were overrepresented among economically disadvantaged groups, especially those with low income and education. They also were less likely than single-instance cohabiting unions to end in marriage rather than dissolve. If serial cohabitors married, divorce rates were very high — more than twice as high as for women who cohabited only with their eventual husbands. The results suggest the need to balance the government’s current preoccupation with marriage promotion with greater support of “at risk” unions that marriage promotion initiatives have helped create. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study uses 15 waves of the British Household Panel Survey and the General Health Questionnaire to investigate changes in mental distress over several years surrounding transitions both into and out of marital partnerships (marriages and cohabitations) using fixed effects models. Entering marital partnerships is associated with reduced distress in separated or divorced individuals but not with those not previously married. Partnership dissolution is associated with very high levels of distress, but most people experience levels of distress a few years after leaving a partnership similar to that of a few years before leaving. These results vary, however, between married and cohabiting individuals, between fathers and mothers, and between age and gender groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several researchers have suggested that the persistently higher rate of divorce among Blacks may be due to hard-to-measure concepts such as culture or norms. To attack this problem, we use data from the NLSY-79 to examine the risk of divorce among enlisted active-duty military servicemen where economic differences and the negative effects of discrimination are minimized. Our results indicate that military service reduces the likelihood of marital dissolution among Blacks serving in the Army and that this finding is not likely the result of unobserved selectivity. We attribute the latter finding to the fact that the Army has a well-defined career ladder for Blacks that fully integrates them into leadership positions providing role models and positive work environments that reduce stress associated with discrimination and promote stable marriages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High religiousness has been consistently linked with a decreased likelihood of past infidelity but has been solely defined by religious service attendance, a limited assessment of a complex facet of life. The current study developed nine religiousness subscales using items from the 1998 General Social Survey to more fully explore the association between religiousness and infidelity. Interestingly, logistic regressions using currently married participants (N = 1,439) demonstrated that attendance, but not faith, nearness to God, prayer, and other religious attributes, was related to infidelity. Exploratory analyses also found that individuals with high religious importance but low attendance were more likely to have had an affair and weak evidence that marital happiness moderated the association between religiousness and infidelity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines changes in leisure patterns across the transition to parenthood for dual-earner, working-class couples, as well as the relationship between leisure and marital quality. To this end, 147 heterosexual couples were interviewed across the transition to parenthood. Findings indicate that during the transition to parenthood, husbands and wives experience an initial decline in leisure, followed by a gradual incline after the wife’s return to work. Overall, wives who reported more shared leisure prenatally also reported more marital love and less conflict 1 year later. Husbands with more independent leisure prenatally reported less love and more conflict 1 year later. Conclusions suggest leisure time is integral to well-functioning marriages, with effects lasting throughout the first year of parenthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine whether institutionalized practices and beliefs regarding breadwinning roles are associated with the choice of more or less equal money management strategies in marriage. Using cross-national data from 21 country contexts in the International Social Survey Programme and multilevel modeling, we find that in contexts of shared breadwinning, there is a greater likelihood of shared management of money, controlling for the relative income contribution of each spouse. We also find some evidence that the effect of spouses’ relative income contributions diminishes in contexts of shared breadwinning. Our analysis comparing women’s and men’s money management is consistent with previous research indicating that women’s management may be more work than power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the association between work-related stress of both spouses and daily fluctuations in their affective states and dyadic closeness. Daily diary data from 169 Israeli dual-earner couples were analyzed using multilevel modeling. The findings indicate that work stress has no direct effect on dyadic closeness but rather is mediated by the spouses’ negative mood. Evidence was found for spillover of stress from work to mood at home, as well as negative crossover among couples with higher marital quality, resulting in greater distance on stressful days. Such increased distance may reflect either a deleterious effect of work stress on marital relationships or a protective mechanism used by couples in times of stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study experimentally examined the Speaker-Listener technique when couples (N = 30) were instructed to either discuss an issue within or outside their marriage, on marital satisfaction, and communication behaviors. This study examined the J. M. Gottman, J. Coan, S. Carrere, and C. Swanson (1998) hypothesis that the Speaker-Listener technique may lead to improved marital satisfaction when the couple is discussing a third party issue, but discussing an issue about each other may weaken the marital relationship. Behavioral and physiological data during marital interactions were sequentially analyzed. Results suggested that the Speaker-Listener technique reduced negativity but did not increase positivity in marital interactions. There were significant differences in positive reciprocity across the 2 experimental groups, but no differences in negativity. Additionally, adherence to the Speaker-Listener technique was poor, which has implications for both research and theory. Possible interpretations and areas for further investigation are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]