The Link between Parenting Behaviors and Emerging Adults’ Relationship Outcomes: The Mediating Role of Relational Entitlement

Previous research shows a link between parenting and children’s characteristics and interpersonal behaviors. However, little is known about the ways in which parenting tactics affect children’s romantic relationships and whether the children’s characteristics can mediate these associations. With this study, the aim was to test the associations between parents’ helicopter parenting/autonomy-supportive behaviors and emergent adults’ relational satisfaction and couple conflict. In addition, it was tested whether the sense of relational entitlement (excessive and restricted) mediated the links. Two hundred and twelve emergent adult–parent dyads participated in this study. Mediation analyses showed that parental autonomy-supportive behaviors had indirect effects on both the relational satisfaction and the couple conflict reported by the emerging adults through excessive relational entitlement. The link was positive for the former couple-related outcome and negative for the latter one. Helicopter parenting was not related to any variable reported by the emerging adults. In conclusion, positive parenting can increase relational stability and well-being by diminishing some potentially negative psychological characteristics of emerging adults.

Firefighters and Spouses: Hostility, Satisfaction, and Conflict

The present project contributes to the literature on firefighters and spousal relationships through consideration of life satisfaction, marital satisfaction, and couple conflict for a sample of Canadian firefighters. Thirty four firefighter/spouse dyads completed measures of satisfaction, mental health, and conflict. Our results showed that firefighters self-reported more hostility than their spouses, but that there was no significant difference between firefighters and spouses with respect to life of marital satisfaction. Firefighters and spouses also differed in expression of dissatisfaction, in that firefighters were more likely to express dissatisfaction through physical or indirect expressions of aggression, and spouses were more likely to express dissatisfaction through anger. Understanding alternative presentations of dissatisfaction may be helpful to both the spousal couple, in terms of understanding one another, and also in therapeutic relationships where emotional expression may be interpreted.

Analysis on Women’s Suicide and Government Governance in the Bottom Society of Beijing in the Early Republic of China (1912-1928)

The marital life of women at the bottom of society was very worrying in the early Republic of China in Beijing, with high suicide phenomenon. The main causes are poverty, couple conflict, contradiction between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, as well as the persecution of traditional concepts such as “men are superior to women”, and “preserve chastity after the death of the husband”. Under the overall layout of building a modern country, Beijing local government tries to bring marriage crisis and women’s suicide into the scope of social intervention on police and government agencies, but there is always a huge tension between policy plan and concrete practice.

Parent couple conflict and emotional and behavioral problems in youth with autism: Longitudinal investigation of bidirectional effects

Families of youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are vulnerable to maladaptive psychosocial experiences, including elevated youth emotional and behavioral problems (EBPs) and poor parent couple relationship outcomes. Yet, the extent to which these family psychosocial experiences are intertwined has been given little research attention. The present study longitudinally investigated the bidirectional associations between parent couple conflict (PCC) and youth EBPs in 188 families of children and adolescents with ASD (initially aged 5 to 12 years) across four time points (T1, T2, T3, T4), each spaced 12 months apart. Mother- and father-report of youth EBPs and PCC were entered into a cross-lagged panel model. After adjusting for youth age and intellectual disability status and parent education and couple relationship length, the results indicated that father-report of PCC predicted increased youth EBPs 12 months later (T1→T2 and T2→T3). In addition, father-report of youth EBPs predicted increased PCC 12 months later (T3→T4). Mother-report did not demonstrate cross-lagged effects. The findings suggest that fathers’ perceptions of PCC and youth emotional and behavioral functioning are transactionally related, highlighting the need for family-wide interventions.

An Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy (IBCT)-Based Conflict Prevention Program: A Pre-Pilot Study with Non-Clinical Couples

Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy (IBCT) has demonstrated its efficacy treating severe couple conflict. Nevertheless, its capacity to prevent such conflicts before they appear has not been analyzed. The following empirical study examines the effectiveness of a conflict prevention program based on IBCT’s main therapeutic strategies (empathic joining, unified detachment). A sample of 12 individuals (six couples) from the Community of Madrid completed the DAS (Spanier, 1976; Martín-Lanas et al., 2017), IBCTQ (Barraca et al., 2017), and ASPA-A (Carrasco, 1996) pre-treatment, posttreatment, and at a three-year follow up. Three of these couples were randomly assigned to the experimental group, in which they received five, 120-minute sessions of an IBCT-based conflict prevention program. The three remaining couples were assigned to a control group and received no treatment. Results indicated that the experimental couples grew in their acceptance of differences and significantly improved their level of empathic joining and unified detachment; they also manifested greater satisfaction in their total DAS score. At the three-year follow up, neither group showed significant changes with regard to their posttreatment scores. Although the data are based on a small number of couples and should be replicated, the results suggest that a program based on IBCT strategies can help prevent couple conflict up to three years after its application.

Couples’ Relative Resources, Male Power, and Relationship Conflict from a Comparative Perspective

Using two waves of the Generations and Gender Survey for eight European countries, we test under what conditions couples experience high levels of disagreement over time or separate. The results partly support the idea of relative resources, suggesting that a decrease in the status of men in couples (job loss) is significantly associated with high levels of conflict. The transition to high conflict is more frequent when there is a discrepancy between policy and behavior. Social policies designed to meet the needs of working parents in dual-earner couples together with the diffusion of gender egalitarian values can lead to a reduction in unhealthy levels of couple conflict.

The impact of media use on the spillover and crossover effect of couple conflict

This 5-day daily diary study examined the influence of media use on the spillover and crossover effect of couple conflict among married and dating couples. Couples aged 18–38 years recorded their daily overload, negative mood, couple conflict, media use, flooding, and satisfaction. The results showed negative spillover and crossover effects: individuals reported more negative moods and couple conflict in response to their own and their partners’ increase in daily overload. Following media synchronicity theory, the more synchronous media couples used in conflict, the more they resolved the conflict. In addition, the more couples segmented their channels, the less they flooded and the more they resolved the conflict. The results suggest that dating and married couples might benefit from managing conflict associated with spillover and crossover effects using synchronous channels that are segmented.

DOES THE SENSE OF RELATIONAL ENTITLEMENT MEDIATE THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN NARCISSISM AND COUPLE CONFLICT?

"Previous literature pointed out that narcissism affects the quality of interpersonal relationships. It has a negative impact on the functioning of the romantic dyads, determining higher levels of conflict and the use of maladaptive conflict resolution styles. However, the mechanisms linking narcissism and couple conflict are not sufficiently explored. This study expands the literature by examining the mediating role of the sense of relational entitlement. Participants in this study were 493 individuals (52.1 % women, M age = 22.39 years old) who were in a romantic relationship during the study (M relationship length = 26 months). The results indicated that some forms of relational entitlement mediated the link between narcissism and couple conflict. A person’s narcissism was related to their level of couple conflict, excessive and assertive entitlement. Both types of entitlement were related to conflict but in opposite directions. Higher excessive entitlement was associated with higher conflict, while higher assertive entitlement was associated with lower conflict. The indirect effects through both types of entitlement were significant. Restricted entitlement was not associated with narcissism or couple conflict. This study showed that although narcissism can lead to higher levels of relational entitlement and conflict, not all forms of entitlement negatively contributed to couple conflict."

An Exploratory Analysis of Conflict in African Immigrant and African American Marriages

Problem There has been a high level of marital conflict in immigrant families from patriarchal cultures. There are negative attitudes toward women that contribute to couple conflict. Coupled with this are issues relating to immigration challenges that confront marriage stability among immigrant couples in North America. In the same vein, African American couples experience conflicts that militate against the stability of their marriages. Most of these marital upheavals stem from historical antecedents relating to this ethnic group, as well as the societal dialectics confronting them. By and large, regarding couple conflict, a better understanding of the challenges facing African immigrant couples, and the impact of the African heritage on African American couples, are germane to this study. Method This was a non-experimental comparative exploratory study of conflict in African immigrant and African American marriages in terms of their scores on the Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS2) and its subscales. This involved administering a combined questionnaire comprised of the CTS2, Attitude Toward Women Scale (AWS), and a short immigration questionnaire specific to African immigrants. The target populations for this research work fell into two groups: African immigrant and African American ethnic groups living in North America. A One-Way MANCOVA was conducted to determine the effect of ethnicity on each of the five conflict tactics (negotiation: self and partner; physical assault: self and partner; injury: self and partner; psychological aggression: self and partner; and sexual coercion: self and partner) after controlling for attitude towards women. A Pearson bivariate correlation analysis was used to test whether there was a significant bivariate relationship between attitude towards women and the total score of conflict tactics self and total partner. Analyses were carried out using the IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Descriptive statistics were used to describe the responses of African immigrants to the Immigrant Questionnaire. Results In testing for the hypotheses, the main effect of ethnicity [Wilks’ Lambda = .868, F (5, 171) = 5.192, sig. = .000, multivariate eta squared = .132] indicated a significant effect on the combined conflict tactics. The covariate attitude towards women had a significant influence on the combined dependent variables [Wilks’ Lambda = .864, F (5, 171) = 5.368, sig. = .000, multivariate eta squared = .136, power = .99]. Univariate ANOVA results indicated that ethnicity had a significantly small effect on psychological aggression (self) [F (1,175) = 8.395, sig. = .004, partial eta squared = .046, power = .82], sexual coercion (self) [F (1,175) = 6.888, sig. = .009, partial eta squared = .038, power = .74]. The covariate attitude towards women had a significant effect on negotiation (self) [F (1,175) = 6.133, sig. = .014, partial eta squared = .034, power = .69], physical assault (self) [F (1,175) = 9.597, sig. = .002, partial eta squared = .052, power = .87], injury (self) [F (1,175) = 10.898, sig. = .001, partial eta squared = .059, power = .91], and sexual coercion (self) [F (1,175) = 11.960, sig. = .001, partial eta squared = . 064, power = .93]. Similarly, the main effect of ethnicity [Wilks’ Lambda = .895, F (5, 181) = 4.246, sig. = .001, multivariate eta squared = .105, power = .96] indicated a significant effect on the combined conflict tactics. The covariate attitude towards women had a significant influence on the combined dependent variables [Wilks’ Lambda = .916, F (5, 181) = 3.131, sig. = .007, multivariate eta squared = .084, power = .89]. Univariate ANOVA results indicated that ethnicity had a significantly small effect on psychological aggression (partner) [F (1,185) = 4.371, sig. = .038, partial eta squared = .023, power = .55], sexual coercion (partner) [F (1,185) = 4.010, sig. = .047, partial eta squared = .021, power = .52]. The covariate attitude towards women had a significant effect on physical assault (partner) [F (1,185) = 6.790, sig. = .010, partial eta squared = .035, power = .74], injury (partner) [F (1,185) = 6.499, sig. = .012, partial eta squared = .034, power = .72], and sexual coercion (partner) [F (1,185) = 9.946, sig. = .002, partial eta squared = .051, power = .88]. It is further revealed that there is no significant correlation between attitude towards women and total CT scores (self) [Pearson r = -.02, sig. = .762, N = 178], with related results showing that there was no significant correlation coefficient between attitude towards women and total CT scores (partner) [Pearson r = -.06, sig. = .417, N = 188]. The results of the immigration questionnaire showed that immigration and acculturation issues had a significant effect on the marriages of African immigrants in the US. Conclusions This study has established the reality that marital conflict is ubiquitous. The pertinent question is this: How do couples react to conflict? The reaction of couples to conflict determines the outcome to conflicts. It should be well noted that because the quality and stability of marriage and family lives are especially important in building and maintaining a healthy society, it is, therefore, to reduce conflict and violence in homes and among couples. We must work towards establishing a good community with a minimal level of violence. The task now is to underscore the point that families should be permeated by love and nurturing thoughtfulness, as opposed to the horrific psychological abuse, battering, and killing that are a tragic part of couple conflict and domestic violence. Through the cooperation of everyone; the intervention of marriage and family resource persons and counselors; and through the assistance of national governments, national organizations, and different international agencies, brilliant, practical, and meaningful approaches to bringing about the prevention and control of conflict and violence in marriage relationships can be engendered.