Chappell Therapy, San Diego, CA.
Department of Child and Family Studies, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN.
Fam Process. 2017 Dec;56(4):900-914. doi: 10.1111/famp.12217. Epub 2016 May 11.
Drawing upon a relatively understudied population and a unique observational task, the current study sought to examine how older couples' interactional behaviors during a relationship narrative task were associated with marital satisfaction over time. Using observational data from a sample of 64 older, higher-functioning married couples, we analyzed a series of Actor-Partner Independence Models (APIM) to explore how couples' interactional behaviors during a relationship narrative task were associated with spouses' marital satisfaction both concurrently and one year later. Analyses revealed that spouses' behaviors (e.g., expressions of positive affect, negative affect, communication skills, engagement) were associated with their self-reported marital satisfaction both at the time of the narrative and with changes in marital satisfaction. We found particularly robust evidence for the role of husbands' negative affect during the narrative task in predicting changes in both spouses' marital satisfaction over time. Our results indicate that researchers and clinicians should carefully consider the influence of development on the associations between spouses' behaviors and marital satisfaction. Further, those seeking to improve marriages in later life may need to consider the meaningful role that gender appears to play in shaping the marital experiences of older couples.
本研究利用一个相对较少被研究的人群和一项独特的观察任务，旨在探讨老年夫妇在关系叙述任务中的互动行为如何随时间变化与婚姻满意度相关。我们使用了来自 64 对年龄较大、功能较高的已婚夫妇样本的观察数据，分析了一系列演员-伙伴独立性模型（APIM），以探讨夫妇在关系叙述任务中的互动行为如何与配偶的婚姻满意度相关，包括当前和一年后的满意度。分析结果表明，配偶的行为（例如表达积极情绪、消极情绪、沟通技巧、参与度）与他们在叙述时和婚姻满意度变化时的自我报告婚姻满意度相关。我们发现，丈夫在叙述任务中表现出的消极情绪对预测夫妻双方婚姻满意度随时间变化的作用尤为显著。研究结果表明，研究人员和临床医生应该仔细考虑发展对配偶行为与婚姻满意度之间关联的影响。此外，那些希望改善晚年婚姻的人可能需要考虑到性别在塑造老年夫妇婚姻经历方面似乎所起的重要作用。
