Subject Guides: SFL 315: Effective Writing and Presenting: Cluster Topics

Couple Well-Being and Finance

Kelly, H. H., LeBaron, A. B., & Hill, E. J. (In press). Financial stress and marital quality: The moderating influence of couple communication. Journal of Financial Therapy.

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This study explores the negative relationship between financial stress and marital quality and examines couple communication as a moderator in this relationship. Using a sample of 373 married U.S. couples from the Flourishing Families Project, an Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) was run to determine the influence of husbands’ and wives’ financial stress on both their own and their partner’s reports of marital quality. Results found negative associations between both actor and partner reports of financial stress and marital quality. Couple communication did not moderate the associations between husbands’ and wives’ financial stress and wives’ marital quality. However, it did moderate the negative associations between both husbands’ and wives’ financial stress and husbands’ marital quality. Specifically, the deleterious relationship of financial stress to marital quality for husbands was significantly less severe when coupled with positive couple communication. Implications for financial therapists and avenues for future research are discussed.

LeBaron, A. B., Holmes, E. K., Yorgason, J. B., Hill, E. J., & Allsop, D. B. (2018). Feminism and couple finance: Power as a mediator between financial processes and relationship outcomes. Sex Roles: A Journal of Research. doi:10.1007/s11199-018-0986-5

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Feminism is rarely used as a theoretical framework for couple finance research. The purposes of the present paper are (a) to discuss couple finance research in the context of feminism to encourage more frequent and explicit use of feminism in couple finance research, (b) to present a gender and couple finances model, and (c) to test this model with longitudinal dyadic data. Using actor-partner interdependence models (APIM) and data from 327 U.S. mixed-gender couples, relational power was explored as a potential mediator between four couple financial processes (earners of money, access to money, management of money, and conflict about money) and two relationship outcomes (relationship quality and relationship stability). Results suggest that couple financial processes are associated with relationship outcomes and with joint management as well as low conflict being key longitudinally. Additionally, although power may not play a mediating role, it appears to be connected to couple financial processes and relationship outcomes concurrently. Gender differences as well as both actor and partner effects are explored. This research has implications for researchers, clinicians, and educators. For example, clinicians may want to encourage their clients to use joint bank accounts, manage their money jointly, and minimize financial conflict. Gender, and therefore power, are inseparably tied to couple finances. When both spouses are involved in financial processes, partners tend to be more empowered, and relationship quality and stability tend to be higher.

Hill, E. J., Allsop, D. B., LeBaron, A. B., & Bean R. A. (2017). How do money, sex, and stress influence marital instability? Journal of Financial Therapy, 8(1). doi:10.4148/1944-9771.1135

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This study explored how money and sex simultaneously predicted marital instability, and what financial therapists might focus on with clients to address problems in these areas. Specifically, this paper concurrently examined the relationship of marital instability to financial and family stressors (financial stressors, work-family conflict, and parenting stressors); financial and sexual resources (couple income and couple sexual frequency); and financial and sexual perceptions (financial dissatisfaction and sexual dissatisfaction). Couple financial communication and couple relational communication were explored as intervention points for financial therapists. Data came from Wave 2 of the Flourishing Families data set (N = 301). Data were organized using the ABC-X model of family stress (Hill, 1949) and integrated with Gottman's research on the importance of relational communication (Navarra, Gottman, & Gottman, 2016). Path analysis revealed that family financial stressors were associated with greater financial dissatisfaction and sexual dissatisfaction. Work-family conflict was associated with greater couple income, and parenting stressors were positively associated with sexual dissatisfaction. Couple income was associated with lower financial dissatisfaction, and sexual frequency was associated with lower sexual dissatisfaction. Both financial dissatisfaction and sexual dissatisfaction predicted greater marital instability; however, healthy couple financial communication and healthy couple relationship communication fully mediated these two associations. This suggests that if financial therapists help clients to communicate more productively about money and sex, problems such as financial stress, work-family conflict, inadequate income, and conflicts about sexual frequency may be less likely to lead to divorce.

Emerging Adults/Beliefs and Roles

Hall, S. S., & Willoughby, B. J. (2019). Relative work and family role centralities: Predicting changes in marriage and family beliefs. Marriage and Family Review. doi:10.108001494929.2019.1589617

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How might anticipated role priorities (centrality) influence changes in beliefs about marriage and family that can influence to the transition to adulthood? The current longitudinal study of 149 young adults investigated changes in the relative role centralities of anticipated adult roles and the predictability of the centralities of changes in marriage and family beliefs. Using parallel procedures from Hall and Willoughby (2016), five distinct relative centrality profiles were created: Child Centered, Marriage Centered, Marriage and Child, Career Centered, and Family and Career. Fifty-four percent of the sample shifted into different relative centrality groups over the course of one year; women were more likely to become more marriage and more parenthood oriented. Relative role centrality at time 1 predicted changes in beliefs related to being child-focused, marital permanence, and marital readiness. It is argued that relative role centrality has implications for young adults’ intentions and decisions that influence the transition to adulthood.

Barry, C. M., Christofferson, J. L., Boorman, E. P., & Nelson, L. J. (2019). Profiles of religiousness, spirituality, and psychological adjustment in emerging adults. Journal of Adult Development. doi:10.1007/s10804-019-09334-z

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Although emerging adults are engaged in heightened levels of meaning-making (Barry and Abo-Zena (eds) in Emerging adults’ religiousness and spirituality: meaning-making in an age of transition. Oxford University Press, New York, 2014), research has focused on either religiousness or spirituality (R/S) in each study. While R/S individually have been associated with emerging adults’ psychological adjustment (Rew and Wong in J Adolesc Health 38:433–442, 2006), scholars have rarely explored the specific profiles of R/S adjustment. Thus, a diverse group of undergraduate students (N = 792; Mage = 19.61, SD= 1.86; 69% women) completed questionnaires online involving these constructs. Preliminary analyses revealed strong correlations between R/S, which might be indicative of multicollinearity. A two-step cluster analysis revealed three distinct adjustment profiles. Adjustment was positive in instances of high R/S and low R/S. However, moderate levels of R/S were associated with poor adjustment. Subsequent research may verify these profiles and further explore multicollinearity in religiousness and spirituality research.

Carroll, J. S., Badger, S., Willoughby, B., Nelson, L. J., Madsen, S., & Barry, C. M. (2009). Ready or not? Criteria for marriage readiness among young adults. Journal of Adolescent Research, 24(3), 349–375.

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Parenting time, interparental conflict, and the quality of parenting a child experiences in the postdivorce family environment have complex relations with child adjustment outcomes. Using person-centered latent profile analyses, the present study examined (a) separate profiles of mothers’ (N = 472) and fathers’ (N = 353) parenting time, interparental conflict, and quality of parenting following divorce; and (b) associations of mother and father profiles with concurrent child outcomes (48% female, 3- to 18-years-old) as well as child outcomes 3 and 10 months later. Mother and father profiles were primarily differentiated by levels of parenting time and quality of parenting, respectively. Mother and father profiles defined by greater parenting time and lower quality parenting were associated with the poorest child outcomes.

Exploring Cultural Impacts: Chinese American Parenting

Yu, J., Cheah, C. S. L., Hart, C. H., & Yang, C. (2018). Child inhibitory control and maternal acculturation moderate the effects of maternal parenting in Chinese American children’s adjustment. Developmental Psychology, 54(6), 1111-1123. doi:10.1037/dev0000517

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The purpose of this study was to examine the ways in which actual (e.g., density) and perceived (e.g., crowding and distance) elements of the spatial home environment act as predictors of family functioning. Data were gathered from 164 families whose child was attending a university's preschool/kindergarten facility in a mid-sized community in the Western United States. Structural equation modeling (SEM, AMOS 19.0) was employed to examine the strength of the relations within the model. Results showed that though actual elements of the home (i.e., density) affect family functioning outcomes, perceptions of the home environment (e.g., crowding and distance) were especially influential as mediating the link between density and aspects of family functioning. Findings suggest that how individuals perceive their home environment has more of an effect on family functioning than actual home characteristics.

Yu, J., Cheah, C. S. L., Hart, C. H., Yang, C., & Olsen, J. A. (2019). Longitudinal effects of maternal love withdrawal and guilt induction on Chinese American preschoolers’ bullying aggressive behavior. Development and Psychopathology. doi:10.1017/S0954579418001049

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Bullying has been understudied among preschool children, especially those from Chinese American families. Previous research has also neglected the dimensional effects of psychological control on child bullying development. This study examined two psychological control dimensions, love withdrawal and guilt induction, and their effects on children's bullying aggressive behavior using a longitudinal design. Participants were first-generation Chinese American mothers (N = 133; mean age [Mage] = 37.82) and their preschool children (Mage = 4.48). Chinese immigrant mothers reported their psychologically controlling parenting and teachers rated children's bullying aggressive behaviors in the school setting. Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to establish the psychometric properties and cross-wave measurement equivalence of the study constructs. Cross-lagged structural equation modeling analysis indicated that maternal love withdrawal prospectively predicted more bullying aggressive behavior, whereas guilt induction predicted less bullying aggressive behavior in children 6 months later. These results held after controlling for the initial level of children's problem behaviors and demographic variables (child age, gender, and maternal education). For child effects, child bullying aggressive behavior predicted more maternal guilt induction over time but not love withdrawal. Our findings highlight the importance of construct specificity and cultural context in understanding associations between parenting and child development.

Balkaya, M., Cheah, C. L., Yu, J., Hart, C. H., & Sun, S. (2018). Maternal encouragement of modest behavior, temperamental shyness, and anxious withdrawal linkages to Chinese American children’s social adjustment: A moderated mediation analysis. Social Development. doi:10.1111/sode.12295

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Past studies have revealed potential differences in the functional meaning and social evaluation of children's temperamental shyness between Chinese interdependence‐oriented and North American independence‐oriented cultural contexts. However, very little is known about shy Chinese American children's adjustment in Western school contexts and potential pathways underlying their adjustment. To address this gap in the literature, we examined the associations between Chinese American children's temperamental shyness and their social adjustment outcomes, including peer exclusion, prosocial behavior, and assertiveness/leadership skills. In addition, the mediating role of children's display of anxious‐withdrawn behavior and the moderating role of first‐generation Chinese immigrant mothers’ encouragement of modesty in their parenting practices as applied to associations between temperamental shyness and social adjustment outcomes were explored. Path analyses indicated that the impact of Chinese American children's temperamental shyness on their socioemotional adjustment was mediated by their display of anxious‐withdrawn behavior in school. However, when Chinese immigrant mothers encouraged their children to be more modest, children's temperamental shyness was less strongly related to negative social adjustment outcomes through diminished anxious‐withdrawn behavior. These results highlighted the importance of culturally emphasized parenting practices in fostering Chinese American children's adjustment in the United States.

Marital Conflict

Select three of the following five articles to begin your research in this cluster:

Hee, C. W. H., Sandberg, J. G., Yorgason, J. B., & Miller, R. B. (2019). Can attachment behaviors moderate the influence of conflict styles on relationship quality? Journal of Couple & Relationship Therapy. doi:10.1080/15332691.2019/1590273

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The current study uses a sample of married couples (N = 1718) to investigate the relationship between conflict styles and relationship quality as moderated by attachment behaviors. Results indicated that husbands’ and wives’ conflict style is significantly associated with their own perception of relationship quality, with more extreme styles being associated with decreases in relationship quality. Wives’ conflict style was a significant predictor of husbands’ relationship quality. Attachment behaviors moderated the negative relationship between conflict style and relationship quality but only for women and only at the trend level. The clinical applications of these findings are discussed.

Butler, M. H., & Spencer, T. J. (2018). A circumplex model of couple configurations in relational trauma context: An example of practice-based model development. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 1-14. doi:10.1111/jmft.12346

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We propose a circumplex model and typology of patterns of couple engagement to help therapists assess and shape positive couple engagement, prerequisite to successful resolution of relational trauma. View or value of self in relation to other (VSIRO) is conceived as a primary engine organizing couple relationships and patterns of engagement. VSIRO is conceptualized along a continuum anchored at opposite poles by inflated (self‐aggrandizing) versus collapsed (self‐negating) VSIRO, with a balanced (egalitarian) VSIRO as the target position, consisting of self and other mutuality, respect, and equality. Two axes (one for each partner) form the circumplex model of five couple configurations—four quadrants plus a balanced, mid‐axes region. Using couple configuration conceptualization to address patterns of engagement is an essential prerequisite to resolving couple relational trauma.

Meloy-Miller, K. C., Butler, M. H., Seedall, R. B., & Spencer, T. J. (2018). Anger can help: Clinical representation of three pathways of anger. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 46(1), 44-66. doi:10.1080/01926187.2018.1428130

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Anger is a powerful emotion prevalent in therapy. An integrative model situating varied manifestations of anger within a purposive context of healing and repair following relationship trauma is needed. A first paper (Butler, Meloy-Miller, Seedall, & Dicus, 2017) approached anger as a psychological and relational construction of diffuse physiological arousal and provided a conceptual model of how the experience of offense interacts with a person's view of self in relation to other (VSIRO) in the formation of anger. Three resulting trajectories and pathways of anger were outlined. Here we provide clinical representations of these pathways—two pathways of hostile anger arising from pathogenic VSIROs (inflated, with accompanying externalizing anger, and collapsed, with accompanying internalizing anger), and a third pathway of benevolent anger, arising from a balanced VSIRO. Clinical application of the model through several vignettes illuminates its use in discriminating helpful from harmful pathways of anger and developing interventions for reshaping pathogenic anger to beneficent anger.

Johnson, L. N. Selland, B., Mennenga, K. D., Oka, M., Tambling, R. B., & Anderson, S. R. (2018). Examining the link between exercise and marital arguments in clinical couples. American Journal of Family Therapy, 46(1), 1-13. doi:10.1080/01926187.2018.1437574

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Couples experiencing clinical levels of distress likely experience marital arguments. Exercise may attenuate such conflict. The current study examined daily links between exercise and the number and intensity of marital arguments, relationship satisfaction, stress levels, and argument topics. Participants included 36 heterosexual couples in a treatment-as-usual setting who completed the Daily Diary of Events in Couple Therapy. Results indicated a positive relationship between female hours of exercise and argument intensity for both partners. The number of hours males exercise was not significantly related to any variables; however, male daily stress was significantly related to female report of argument intensity. This suggests that although exercise has empirically supported benefits for individuals, clinical couples may also experience increased argument intensity in connection with exercise.

Media in the Family

Coyne, S. M., Ehrenreich, S. E., Holmgren, H. G., & Underwood, M. K. (2019). “We’re not gonna be friends anymore”: Associations between viewing relational aggression on television and relational aggression in text messaging during adolescence. Aggressive Behavior, 45(3), 319-326. doi:10.1002/ab.21821

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Romantic relationships, although increasingly normative during adolescence, also present unique developmental challenges that can portend psychological difficulties. Underlying these difficulties may be the degree to which daily romantic transactions potentiate fluctuations in negative mood. The present study examined associations between adolescents’ daily romantic relationship experiences and their same-day negative affective states (i.e., fluctuations in high-arousal, aversive mood). Using a dyadic ecological momentary assessment (EMA) design, this study followed an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse sample of 98 adolescent romantic couples twice weekly for 12 weeks (n = 196 individuals; Mage = 16.74 years, SD = 0.90; 45% Latina/o, 45% White; 55% receiving free or reduced meals). The results indicated that various daily romantic experiences (e.g., conflict, feelings about the relationship) predicted greater same-day negative affect. Beyond the effects of these romantic experiences, adolescent couples were also synchronized in their fluctuating negative affective states, evidencing the presence of emotional contagion. Overall, the findings indicate the salience of romantic relationships in the everyday lives of adolescents.

Padilla-Walker, L. M., Coyne, S. M., & Memmott-Elison, M. K. (2019). Media and the family. In B. H. Fiese, M. Celano, K. Deater-Deckard, E. N. Jouriles, & M. A. Whisman (Eds.), APA handbook of contemporary family psychology: Applications and broad impact of family psychology, Vol. 2. (pp. 365-378). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. doi:10.1037/0000100-023

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The present study assessed a developmental task theory of romantic relationships by examining associations between romantic relationship qualities and adjustment across 9 years using a community‐based sample of 100 male and 100 female participants (Mage Wave 1 = 15.83) in a Western U.S. city. Using multilevel modeling, the study examined the moderating effect of age on links between romantic relationship qualities and adjustment. Consistent with developmental task theory, high romantic quality was more negatively associated with internalizing symptoms and dating satisfaction during young adulthood than adolescence. Romantic relationship qualities were also associated with externalizing symptoms and substance use, but the degree of association was consistent across ages. The findings underscore the significance of romantic relationship qualities across development.

Stockdale, L. A., Coyne, S. M., & Padilla-Walker, L. M. (2018). Parent and child technoference and socioemotional behavioral outcomes: A nationally representative study of 10- to 20-year-old adolescents. Computers in Human Behavior, 88, 219-226. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2018.06.034

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Youths’ ability to positively cope with negative emotions and their self-perceived friendship competence were examined as potential moderators of links between multiple aspects of romantic relationships and residualized increases in depressive symptoms from late adolescence into early adulthood. Participants included 184 teens (46% male; 42% non-White) assessed at ages 15 to 19 and 21, as well as a subsample of 62 romantic partners of participants assessed when teens were 18. Results of hierarchical linear regressions showed that positive coping served as a buffer against depressive symptoms for romantically involved adolescents and also for teens receiving more intense emotional support from their romantic partners, but not for youth whose relationship had ended and had not been replaced by a new relationship. Higher perceived friendship competence served as a buffer against depressive symptoms for youth enduring the dissolution and nonreplacement of their romantic relationship. Greater use of positive coping skills and higher perceived friendship competence may help protect adolescents from depressive symptoms in different types of romantic experiences.

Sexuality in Marriage

Leavitt, C. C., Lefkowitz, E. S., & Waterman, E. A. (2019). The role of sexual mindfulness in sexual wellbeing, relational wellbeing, and self-esteem. Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 45(6), 497-509. doi:10.1080/0092623X.2019.1572680

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In this study we examine the role of sexual mindfulness in individuals’ sexual satisfaction, relational satisfaction, and self-esteem. Midlife U.S. men and women (N = 194 married, heterosexual individuals; 50.7% female; 94% Caucasian, age range 35–60 years) completed an online survey. More sexually mindful individuals tended to have better self-esteem, be more satisfied with their relationships and, particularly for women, be more satisfied with their sex lives. Some of these associations occurred even after controlling for trait mindfulness. These findings may also allow researchers and therapists to better address an individual’s sexual wellbeing, relational wellbeing, and self-esteem by teaching sexual mindfulness skills.

Leavitt, C. D., Leonhardt, N. D., & Busby, D. M. (2019). Different ways to get there: Evidence of a variable female sexual response cycle. Journal of Sex Research. doi:10.1080/00224499.2019.1616278

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Research has suggested women’s sexual response cycle may vary more than previously thought. We asked 769 sexually active women between the ages of 18–70 to report on their sexual desire and arousal patterns during their last sexual experience. Using a latent class mixture model from retrospective sexual response data, we found six classes of desire and arousal patterns (Low, Middle Steady, High Fluctuation, Low Fluctuation, Upper Steady, High). We examined how these patterns were related to demographics, outcomes during the sexual experience, and outcomes for the global relationship. The Low sexual response class (8% of women) was significantly different from other classes in duration of the sexual experience, orgasms, and overall satisfaction with the sexual experience. Most sexual response patterns were associated with healthy relational and sexual outcomes. All classes except for the Low arousal and desire class showed associations with a neutral or positive sexual satisfaction evaluation. The non-problematic variation of women’s sexual experience is an important concept to consider as it impacts determinations of dysfunction and women’s self-evaluations. Not all women need to experience high levels of arousal throughout the sexual experience or to have desire at the outset in order to have positive sexual experiences and sexual outcomes.

Leonhardt, N. D., Busby, D. M., & Willoughby, B. J. (2019). Sex guilt or sanctification? The indirect of religiosity on sexual satisfaction. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 56(7), 899-912. doi:10.1037/rel0000245

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With a Mechanical Turk sample of 1,614 sexually active individuals (62.6% women, 85% heterosexual, mean age of 34.47 years) who had been in a committed sexual relationship for at least two years, we used structural equation modeling to better understand how global religiosity may indirectly influence sexual satisfaction. Because religiosity has been linked to the way people make sense of sexuality, we assessed positive (sexual sanctification) and negative (sexual guilt) meaning making variables as mediators between religiosity and sexual satisfaction. Consistent with prior research, greater sanctification of sexuality was directly tied to greater sexual satisfaction, whereas greater sexual guilt was directly tied to less sexual satisfaction. Greater general religiosity was indirectly related to greater sexual satisfaction for men and women through greater sexual sanctification. Contrary to expectations, no significant pathways emerged between greater religiosity and less sexual satisfaction via sexual guilt, possibly due to reliance on a one item indicator for the latter variable. Also, in structural equation models, when sanctification of sexuality was taken into account, greater religiosity was directly tied to less sexual satisfaction for women, but not for men. This suggests that sanctification of sexuality represents a facet of religiousness that facilitates women’s and men’s sexual satisfaction, whereas other religious beliefs may inhibit women’s sexual satisfaction.