The purpose of this study was to identify ways in which social support is related to the caregiving stress and well-being experienced by adult daughter caregivers. The study focused on a specific source of support, caregivers' husbands, and included reports from 126 caregivers and their husbands. Main and buffering effects of four types of support (emotional and instrumental support provided to...

Several studies have established a negative relation between the use of sexually explicit Internet material (SEIM) and relationship quality. While most studies imply SEIM use decreases relationship quality, the opposite might also be true: lower relationship quality might increase people’s SEIM use. This article aims to shed light on the directionality of the relation between SEIM use and relat...

This study related two cognitive personality characteristics—locus of control and interpersonal trust—to assertive behavior in a sample of recently married couples. Assertive behavior was measured by the Inventory of Marital Conflicts, an observational procedure in which couples resolve disagreements about hypothetical marital problems. Hypotheses were formulated in terms of individual locus of...

This study examined the relation between marital satisfaction and religious holiday ritual practices. One hundred twenty couples, married 9 years on average, completed measures of religious holiday practices (current family and family-of-origin) and marital satisfaction. Couples were interviewed about how important religion was to their family life. Marital satisfaction was related to religious...

Two studies examined whether forgiveness in married couples is associated with better conflict resolution. Study 1 examined couples in their 3rd year of marriage and identified 2 forgiveness dimensions (retaliation and benevolence). Husbands' retaliatory motivation was a significant predictor of poorer wife-reported conflict resolution, whereas wives' benevolence motivation predicted husbands' ...

In exploring the emotional climate of long-term marriages, this study used an observational coding system to identify specific emotional behaviors expressed by middle-aged and older spouses during discussions of a marital problem. One hundred and fifty-six couples differing in age and marital satisfaction were studied. Emotional behaviors expressed by couples differed as a function of age, gend...

This article investigates differences in husbands' and wives' experiences of financial hardships. It develops estimates a structural collective household model expenditures on individual-specific necessities hardship reporting where each partner has distinct preferences the makes Pareto efficient decisions. Using data from Household, Income, Labour Dynamics Australia Survey with unique question...

Although the barriers to couples' help seeking can be daunting, to date there is only a small body of literature addressing the factors that motivate couples to seek help. This study examined the association between attitudes towards relationship help seeking and relationship help seeking behaviors, as well as the association between marital quality and help seeking. This study was completed in...

This paper analyses how spouses in older couples react to ‘shocks’ or ‘surprises’ in their partner’s labour income using data from the British Household Panel Survey, 1991–2004. Wives’ labour supply proves to be much more sensitive to shocks than husbands’. After a divorce or separation, wives reduce their labour supply while the effect on husbands’ labour supply is positive or not statisticall...

In a sample of married couples, approximately half of which included a wife with major depression, we evaluated whether mood reactivity (i.e., preto post-interaction changes in mood) to marital conflict resolution interactions was associated with marital dissatisfaction, depression, or both. In support of the marital discord model of depression, results indicated that greater marital dissatisfa...