Within-couple configuration of gender-related attitudes and its association with marital satisfaction in Chinese marriage: A dyadic, pattern-analytic approach

The role expectations of young women as wives after breast cancer treatment: A qualitative study

Objectives

Through the reflection of young breast cancer women on their selves and identities, we explored expectations of the wife role that they need to fulfill to return to their families, aimed to provide a reference basis for medical professionals to develop interventions related to cancer family rehabilitation.

Methods

Descriptive phenomenological methods and purposive sampling were used. Young breast cancer patients and their spouses were selected for semi-structured face-to-face interviews in the study from March to April 2023 at the department of breast surgery and oncology center of a Class A tertiary hospital in Xuzhou City, China. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using Colaizzi's phenomenological approach.

Results

Twenty patients and six spouses were interviewed. The mean patient age was (35.95 ± 3.36) years, and the mean spouse was (37.67 ± 5.28) years. Young breast cancer patients were concerned about three main wife expectations during their treatment and rehabilitation: preserving self-love and self-esteem (paying attention to physical health, embracing the disease, and regaining confidence in female characters); adjustment of conjugal relationships (harmonious and effective couple communication, providing support for marriage and love, and creating a beautiful married life together); assisting in family recovery (relieving stress on spouses from caregiving and finances, and management of daily household chores).

Conclusions

The wife role expectations of young breast cancer women and their spouses encompass three core aspects: self, couple, and family. Self-esteem and self-love are the most fundamental expectations of the wife role, while adjusting the couple's relationship and assistance in family rehabilitation represent higher expectations. This study can help healthcare professionals and cancer families gain a more comprehensive understanding of the wife role expectations for young cancer women, thereby enabling the development of couple-centered interventions to promote patient recovery and enhance the resilience of marriages and families.

Patterns of gender inequality perception and depressive symptoms among Chinese adults: The mediating role of marital life satisfaction

OBJECTIVES

As one of the most severe public health issues, depressive symptoms have attracted wide attention around the world. This study aims to investigate the mediating role of marital life satisfaction in the relationship between gender inequality perception and depressive symptoms.

METHODS

Data were obtained from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) conducted in 2020. This study incorporated a total of 13,409 married residents aged 20 and above.

RESULTS

The residents with middle (B = 0.19, 95 % CI = 0.01, 0.40) or high perception of gender inequality (B = 0.55, 95 % CI = 0.34, 0.75) were more likely to develop depressive symptoms. Marital life satisfaction plays a mediating effect in the relationship between patterns of gender inequality perception and depressive symptoms, and the mediating effect accounted for 4.89 % or 1.37 % of the total impact in the residents with middle or high patterns of gender inequality perception.

LIMITATIONS

Further studies need to understand the mechanisms of perceived patterns of gender inequality and depressive symptoms, because the cross-sectional design in this study cannot draw causal inferences.

CONCLUSION

Patterns of gender inequality perception are significantly associated with depressive symptoms. Marital life satisfaction plays a mediating role in the relationship between patterns of gender inequality perception and depressive symptoms. It is plausible that nurturing healthy marital relationships could mitigate depressive symptoms in individuals who perceive high degrees of gender disparity.

Co-Occurrence, Predictors, and Related Aggressive Behaviors of Cognitive and Emotional Relative Deprivation Based on Latent Class Analysis

Given the frequent occurrence of relative deprivation among adolescents and its negative effects, this study investigated relative deprivation among adolescents using a person-centered statistical technique (n = 1196; 565 girls). Latent class analysis identified three groups: low cognitive and emotional relative deprivation (Class 1, 33.78% of adolescents), high cognitive and low emotional relative deprivation (Class 2, 37.79% of adolescents), and high cognitive and emotional relative deprivation (Class 3, 28.43% of adolescents). Adolescents with low income and without parental accompaniment were more likely to be assigned to Classes 3 and 2. Compared with Class 1, Classes 3 and 2 had significant positive predictive effects on physical aggression, relational aggression, and overall aggressive behavior. The classes of relative deprivation influenced both physical and relational aggression, but not verbal aggression. Based on these findings, demographic characteristics and latent classes of relative deprivation should be considered together when developing interventions for aggressive behaviors.

Affective Profiles and Psychosocial Adjustment among Chinese Adolescents and Adults with Adverse Childhood Experiences: A Person-Centered Approach

PURPOSE

Two studies were conducted to explore the patterns of positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) while considering collectivist cultural specificity (dialecticism) and to examine the associations of affective profiles with psychosocial adjustment.

METHODS

We used two Chinese samples, one comprising adults with adverse childhood experiences (N = 488) and one comprising ordinary adolescents (N = 635). The participants completed scales on PA, NA, and psychosocial adjustment, including mental health problems (depressive symptoms, anxiety), personal strengths (self-esteem, gratitude, resilience), and life satisfaction.

RESULTS

Three profiles were identified through latent profile analysis: well-adjusted (high PA, low NA), low affective (low PA, low NA), and moderate affective (moderate PA, moderate NA). Participants in the well-adjusted profile had the fewest mental health problems (depressive symptoms, anxiety) and scored highest on personal strengths (self-esteem, gratitude, resilience) and life satisfaction. Participants in the low affective profile had fewer mental health problems than those in the moderate affective profile.

CONCLUSION

Individual differences and cultural variations should be considered when exploring affective profiles. Future interventions aimed at promoting affective well-being should accommodate dialecticism and individual differences in the target population.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10902-022-00566-7.

Latent profiles of sleep quality, financial management behaviors, and sexual satisfaction in emerging adult newlywed couples and longitudinal connections with marital satisfaction

Emerging adult newlywed couples often experience many demands on their time, and three common problems may surface as couples try to balance these demands—problems related to finances, sleep, and sex. We used two waves of dyadic data from 1,001 emerging adult newlywed couples to identify four dyadic latent profiles from husbands’ and wives’ financial management behaviors, sexual satisfaction, and sleep quality: Flounderers, Financially Challenged Lovers, Drowsy Budgeters, and Flourishers. We then examined how husbands’ and wives’ marital satisfaction, in relation to profile membership, varied at a later wave. We found that Financially Challenged Lovers and Flourishers had significantly higher marital satisfaction than Drowsy Budgeters and Flounderers (mostly medium effect sizes). Whereas, Financially Challenged Lovers and Flourishers did not differ in terms of marital satisfaction, Drowsy Budgeters seemed to have slightly higher marital satisfaction than Flounderers for wives only (small effect size). However, we did not find evidence that these connections meaningfully differed by sex. Implications for the efforts of clinicians and educators are discussed.

Cultural adaptation congruence in immigrant spouses is associated with marital quality

Objective and background

Previous research suggests that cultural adaptation is associated with Mexican-origin couples' marital outcomes, including marital distress and rates of dissolution. However, research on the marital implications of different types of spousal differences in cultural adaptation often omits important dyadic dynamics (i.e., incongruence between couples and with their partners); this, coupled with existing methodological issues, might contribute to the pattern of mixed findings in the literature.

Method

Using data from 273 Mexican-origin couples, we conducted response surface analyses to examine how spousal congruence in four adaptation domains (acculturation, enculturation, English proficiency, Spanish proficiency) is associated with wives' and husbands' marital warmth, hostility and satisfaction.

Results

Higher, versus lower, levels of couple matches (except for enculturation) were associated with better marital quality. Mismatches in American (acculturation, English) and Mexican (enculturation, Spanish) orientations were also associated with higher, and lower, marital quality, respectively.

Conclusion and implication

Our findings highlight the importance of examining couple matching, which has historically been understudied. We also suggest that inconsistencies in prior work can be explained by discrepant associations between mismatches in American versus Mexican orientation and relationship outcomes.

The Relationship Between Couples' Gender-Role Attitudes Congruence and Wives' Family Interference with Work

Background

Previous research on female employees’ family interference with work (FIW) has demonstrated that such conflict is affected by their or their spouses’ gender-role attitudes. However, few studies have considered the perspective of husbands-wives congruence, which is further meaningful of the research on FIW. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between husband-wife congruence of gender-role attitudes and wife’s FIW.

Methods

Data were collected from 148 husband-wife dyads from eight companies in China. The average age of the husbands was 31.86 years (SD = 8.75) and that of the wives was 28.39 (SD = 6.38). The hypotheses were tested by the combination of polynomial regression and response surface methodology.

Results

Four results were drawn. First, wives’ role overload is lower when husbands and wives are aligned in terms of gender-role attitudes than when they are not aligned (a₄ = 0.53, p < 0.01). Second, on the condition of husband-wife congruence, role overload is positively correlated with their gender-role attitudes (a₁ = 0.59, p < 0.001). Third, on the condition of incongruence, wives’ role overload is stronger when husbands’ traditional gender-role attitudes are higher than wives’, compared to when wives’ traditional gender-role attitudes are higher than husbands’ (a₃ = 0.23, p < 0.05). Fourth, role overload mediates the relationship between husband-wife congruence of gender-role attitudes and wives’ FIW (indirect effect = 0.15; 95% CI [0.05, 0.27]).

Conclusion

Guided by the role theory, the current study suggests that the husband-wife incongruence of gender-role attitudes augments wives’ role overload and further leads to FIW.