Marital Conflict, Anger Expression, and Marital Instability: Associations by Age and Culture

Positive social relationships, such as high-quality marriages, are associated with better health, especially among older adults. Moreover, negative components in marriages (i.e., disagreements and associated emotional responses) are linked to negative outcomes such as marital disruption (McGonagle et al., 1993) and divorce (Markman et al., 2010). Factors such as marital conflicts and emotion expression threaten marital stability and health and have been shown to decrease with age and in collectivist cultures (i.e., Japan compared to U.S.; Kitayama et al., 2015; Matsunaga & Imahori, 2009). While anger has featured as a specific emotion associated with compromised health and marital quality (Carrère et al., 2005), less is known about how marital conflict and the expression of anger may contribute to marital instability in later life, or differences in these links across age and culture. Using data from married respondents participating in the second wave of the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS, n=750, Mage=55.18, SD=11.5, %Female=50.13%) study or first wave of the Midlife in Japan (MIDJA; n=706, Mage=55.26, SD=13.68, %Female=47.73%) studies, we examined associations between disagreements, anger expression, and marital risk. Preliminary analyses revealed that marital disagreements and anger expression were each associated with increased marital instability in both the MIDUS and MIDJA samples (ps<.05). Additionally, the effects of marital disagreements and anger expression did not differ between the two samples or as a function of age. Discussion will focus on the relevance of expression and regulation of emotions for understanding marital (in)stability in midlife and aging and across cultures.

The Impacts of Postdivorce Cohabitation and Relationship Duration on the Early Marital Climate of Remarriages

Postdivorce cohabitation has become increasingly common, but research on the influence of cohabitation on the marital climate of remarriages is limited. Research on first-order marriages suggests that the length (or duration) of the relationship may account for some of the influence of cohabitation. However, there remains a need to understand the influence of cohabitation on the unique experiences of remarriages. Using data from 1,889 newly remarried individuals, we fit mixed-effect models to test the effect of cohabitation and relationship duration on the marital climate indicators of marital quality, marital instability, and remarital problems. Relationship duration, but not cohabitation, was negatively associated with marital quality. Cohabitation, but not relationship duration, was positively associated with marital instability and negatively associated with remarital problems. Results indicate that cohabitation may both benefit and harm remarital climates. This may explain, in part, the inconsistent findings in the literature and highlights the importance of studying remarriages as a unique population.

Hysterosalpingographic interrogation of infertility at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Lagos, Nigeria

Background: Infertility leads to stigmatization, marital instability, and enormous psychological stress. In recent times in Nigeria, there appears to be an upsurge in the number of couples investigated for infertility using hysterosalpingography (HSG). Objective: To observe the trend of HSG findings at a foremost tertiary hospital in Africa. Methods: Using an inclusion criterion of patients who had an initial ultrasound scan prior to HSG as noted from radiologists’ reports, a sample size of 623 radiographs concluded between April 2014 to April 2019 was consecutively enlisted from a population of 2,624 cases. Patients’ demographic information were extracted from their request cards and radiologists’ reports. Results: Patients were aged 22 – 54 (mean: 36.30 ± 6.00) years. Hysterosalpingography findings indicated that secondary infertility was more prevalent and with fibroid (n = 198, 31.80 %) and congenital anomalies (n = 24, 3.80 %) were the most and least prevalent abnormality, respectively. Conclusions: Although the ages of patients presenting for HSG investigations at the centre had increased, secondary infertility remained the more prevalent type, but with minimal drop in percentage.

Where did it go wrong? Marriage and divorce in Malawi

Do individuals marry and divorce for economic reasons? Can we measure the economic attractiveness of a person's marriage market? We answer these questions using a structural model of consumer‐producer households that is applied to rich data from Malawi. Using revealed preference conditions for a stable marriage market, we define the economic attractiveness of a potential match as the difference between the potential value of consumption and leisure with the new partner and the value of consumption and leisure in the current marriage. We estimate this marital instability measure for every possible pair in geographically defined marriage markets in 2010. We find that the marital instability measure is predictive of future divorces, particularly for women. We further show that this estimated effect on divorce is mitigated by the woman's age, and by a lack of men, relative to women, in the marriage market, showing that these factors interact with the economic attractiveness of the remarriage market. These findings provide out‐of‐sample validation of our model and evidence that the economic value of the marriage market matters for divorce decisions.

Pathways among Self-esteem, Marital Instability, and Depression: A Personality-Relationship Transactional Perspective

Guided by the dynamic-transaction model of health, the current study investigated how the interplay between self-esteem and marital instability affects future depressive symptoms. Based on longitudinal data, the present study demonstrated that higher self-esteem was associated with lower marital instability, thus decreasing the likelihood of depressive symptoms. At the same time, an unstable marital relationship was related to lower levels of self-esteem, which in turn increased depressive symptoms. Thus, the results of the current study provided preliminary evidence regarding the effects of the personality-relationship transaction on depressive symptoms. In addition, the prospective associations between personality-relationship transaction and depressive symptoms was not parallel for husbands and wives. For husbands, the indirect pathway from marital instability to their own depressive symptoms via self-esteem was significant. For wives, the indirect pathway from self-esteem to their own depressive symptoms via marital instability was significant. Theoretical implications and future directions for research are discussed.