Gayla Margolin

Analysis of the association between marital relationships and health problems : an interactional perspective

This article reviews the evidence for a relationship between 3 types of marital variables (marital status, marital adjustment, and marital interaction) and health problems (etiology, course/outcome/treatment) as well as the effect that health problems have on marriage. The mechanisms responsible for these associations also are evaluated. The evidence suggest that marital variables affect health status but that the effect is indirect and nonspecific. The major explanatory model, the stress/social support hypothesis, has provided a broad conceptual framework rather than testable hypotheses. The results of the review suggest, however, that sufficient evidence exists for researchers to focus on exploring specific explanations. A hypothetical model is presented that includes interpersonal, intrapersonal, psychological, and physiological variables. This model is intended as a blueprint for exploration as well as a summary of available evidence.

Do Partners Agree about Abuse in Their Relationship? A Psychometric Evaluation of Interpartner Agreement.

This study tested whether partners can be relied on to provide congruent reports about abuse in their relationship. The authors examined whether interpartner agreement (IA) varies as a function of whether the perpetrator is the man or the woman, and by whether the abusive behavior being reported is physical or psychological. Guided by psychometric test theory, the authors examined whether weak IA about specific behaviors can be improved by aggregating behavior items into scales and by controlling for random measurement error. A representative sample of 360 young couples was studied. IA did not vary with the perpetrators gender or with the nature of the abusive behaviors, but victims (both men and women) reported somewhat more abuse than did their perpetrators. IA about specific abusive behaviors was only poor to fair, but it became very good when items were aggregated into scales and even better when measurement errors were removed from the reports. The findings suggest that reports of abuse can be aggregated to form internally consistent scales that show strong IA, thereby fulfilling criteria for reliability. Moreover, under research conditions that guarantee confidentiality, either abuser reports or victim reports are suitable methods for use in research on partner abuse.

The intergenerational transmission of aggression across three generations

This study examined the intergenerational transmission of aggression across three generations in 181 community families. Regression analyses were conducted to assess the extent to which child abuse and marital abuse in the family-of-origin (G1) are predictive of child abuse potential and marital aggression in the second generation (G2), abuse in the family-of-origin is predictive of aggression in the third generation (G3), and child abuse potential and marital aggression in the second generation are predictive of aggression in the third generation. For males, exposure to aggression was predictive of aggressive behavior across all three generations. For females, the only significant prediction was from marital aggression in G1 to husband-to-wife marital aggression in G2. This study points to the importance of examining the transmission of both child abuse and marital aggression in order to assess their relative importance. It is also recommended that the transmission of aggression be assessed separately for males and females, as the data point to the family system as a factor related to aggression in males, yet do not provide the same explanation for females.

Children's Exposure to Violence in the Family and Community

Exposure to family and community violence is linked with aggression, depression, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and academic and cognitive difficulties. It has the potential to permeate many dimensions of childrens day-to-day lives and to erode possible sources of social support. Although the literature focuses on deleterious outcomes, many children fare well in the face of exposure to violence. Research attending to developmental processes, the co-occurrence of multiple forms of violence, and psychobiological mechanisms will clarify why outcomes are better for some children than for others. Greater understanding of childrens risk and resilience in the face of such exposure will inform intervention efforts.

Children's perceptions of parental behaviors

Childrens perceptions of positive and negative parental behaviors were assessed using a newly-developed scale, the Parent Perception Inventory (PPI). Reliability and validity were examined across a sample of 75 children aged 5 to 13 using additional measures administered to the children and measures completed by their parents. The scale showed acceptable levels of internal consistency. No effects of childrens age were apparent, but effects of the childs and parents gender were found. Boys reported more positive parental behaviors, particularly for fathers, and children reported more negative (disciplinary) behaviors by mothers. PPI scores were predictably related to childs self-concept and behavior problems (convergent validity) and generally unrelated to measures of childs achievement (discriminant validity). As predicted by family systems theory, children from nondistressed families viewed their parents as behaving more similarly on the PPI than did children from distressed families.

America's angriest home videos: Behavioral contingencies observed in home reenactments of marital conflict.

Sequential analysis was used to compare the conflictual marital interactions of physically aggressive (PA, n = 17), verbally aggressive (VA, n = 15), withdrawing (WI, n = 18), and nondistressed, low-conflict (ND, n = 15) couples to describe behavior patterns characteristic of couples who report different marital conflict styles. Videotapes of couples enacting typical conflicts in their own homes were coded with a system designed to capture the affective aspects of communication. PA couples were characterized by the reciprocity of hostile affect and by rigid, highly contingent behavior patterns that were both stronger and longer lasting than those of other conflictual, but nonviolent, couples. In a limited way, ND couples demonstrated some of the same negative behavior patterns as the conflictual couples, but they were able to exit these negative interaction cycles quickly, which underscores the importance of further research into the de-escalation of conflict.

Depression and Marital Disagreement: The Social Construction of Despair

How do couples with and without a depressed spouse cope with conflict? Seven couples in which the husband was depressed, seven in which the wife was depressed and fourteen in which neither was depressed completed measures of marital adjustment and typical conflict behaviour. Following a laboratory discussion, they completed measures of their recall of their own and their spouses participation and the impact of their spouses on them. Reports by depressed persons and their spouses agreed in indicating that they engaged in less constructive problem-solving and more destructive behaviour. After the discussion they were sad and angry and experienced each other as hostile, competitive, mistrusting, detached, less agreeable, less nurturant and less affiliative than couples without a depressed member. This study contradicts clinical folklore depicting depressed persons as lacking in outwardly-directed hostility.

Children’s Exposure to Violence Exploring Developmental Pathways to Diverse Outcomes

Identifying mechanisms that explain the children’s differential vulnerability to violence exposure is an important research focus. Developmentally sensitive theories and methods are recommended to better understand children’s risk and resilience to violence exposure. Examples are provided of promising research that links violence exposure to subtle deviations in children’s emotional, cognitive, and physiological functioning, and to disruptions in the family environment.

Growing Up Wired: Social Networking Sites and Adolescent Psychosocial Development

Since the advent of social networking site (SNS) technologies, adolescents’ use of these technologies has expanded and is now a primary way of communicating with and acquiring information about others in their social network. Overall, adolescents and young adults’ stated motivations for using SNSs are quite similar to more traditional forms of communication—to stay in touch with friends, make plans, get to know people better, and present oneself to others. We begin with a summary of theories that describe the role of SNSs in adolescents’ interpersonal relationships, as well as common methodologies used in this field of research thus far. Then, with the social changes that occur throughout adolescence as a backdrop, we address the ways in which SNSs intersect with key tasks of adolescent psychosocial development, specifically peer affiliation and friendship quality, as well as identity development. Evidence suggests that SNSs differentially relate to adolescents’ social connectivity and identity development, with sociability, self-esteem, and nature of SNS feedback as important potential moderators. We synthesize current findings, highlight unanswered questions, and recommend both methodological and theoretical directions for future research.

Reliability and Diagnostic Efficacy of Parents' Reports regarding Children's Exposure to Marital Aggression

Mothers, fathers, and 8- to 11-year-old children from 181 two-parent families independently reported on the occurrence of husband-to-wife physical aggression and wife-to-husband physical aggression; parents additionally indicated whether the child had been witness to the aggression. First this study examined interspousal agreement regarding whether parents have been physically aggressive toward one another and whether the child has witnessed interparental physical aggression. There was moderate agreement between parents as to the occurrence of physical aggression and only fair agreement as to whether the child saw or heard the aggression. Second, this study explored the diagnosticity of a joint parent report as an indicator of child exposure to marital aggression. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves are presented separately for husbands’ and wives’ aggression, indicating the explicit trade-off between true positives (sensitivity) and false positives (one minus specificity) in using the joint parent report as a diagnostic indicator. Standard ROC analysis suggests that the joint parent report is equally diagnostic in predicting children’s reports of exposure to husbands’ and wives’ aggression. Finally, decisions regarding how to use parent reports as an indicator of children’s exposure to marital aggression are discussed as depending on the base rate of child reports of exposure and the objective sought in classifying children and/or families.