Heather M. Helms

Parenting During Childhood Predicts Relationship Satisfaction in Young Adulthood: A Prospective Longitudinal Perspective

Using three waves of data drawn from the National Survey of Families and Households (n = 438 young adult children) we examined the process by which parental warmth and harsh parenting during childhood influences childrens romantic relationship satisfaction in young adulthood. Harsh parenting was directly associated with childrens relationship satisfaction, independently and in conjunction with parental warmth, whereas parental warmth was indirectly associated with relationship satisfaction through family cohesion during adolescence. Results were consistent across male and female young adults involved in married, dating, and cohabiting relationships. Findings from this prospective, longitudinal study coincide with previous research using adult childrens retrospective reports of parenting behavior and highlight the importance of family of origin influences on romantic relationships in young adulthood.

Spouses’ gender-typed attributes and their links with marital quality: A pattern analytic approach

Using data from interviews with 194 midlife couples, we: (i) identified a typology of couple groups based on spouses’ gender-typed attributes; (ii) described couple groups in terms of individual, contextual, and attitudinal characteristics; and (iii) linked couple groups with emotional, cognitive, and behavioral qualities of marriage across 3 years. Four couple types that differed in spouses’ instrumental and expressive attributes were identified and replicated via cluster analysis. Gender-typed wives/extreme gender-typed-husband couples reported significantly lower levels of marital quality across the 3 years. Underscoring the importance of a dyadic approach, the research identifies common couple configurations based on spouses’ gender-typed attributes, identifies couples with lower marital quality, and offers insights into personal-social attributes that may be protective in marriage.

Marital Relationships in the Twenty-First Century

Nearly 50 years ago, when the first edition of the Handbook of Marriage and Family was published, family scholars underscored the central importance of marriage in individuals’ lives and accordingly advocated for a better understanding of those factors that predict marital success and positive marital adjustment (Bernard, 1964; Bowerman, 1964). It is unclear whether these pioneering family scholars recognized as early as 1964 that they were on the precipice of significant social changes that would define the latter half of the twentieth century as a period of marital “deinstitutionalization” (Cherlin, 2004) or the “world-historic transformation” of marriage (Coontz, 2004). Prior to the Handbook’s second edition in 1987, however, they certainly knew something was up (see Bernard’s The Future of Marriage, 1972). Evidenced by marriage rate declines, increases in nonmarital cohabitation and childbearing, the postponement of marriage, and elevated divorce rates, marriage has become one of several legitimate options for organizing couple relationships and reproduction in the United States and other Western countries (Amato, 2004; Fincham & Beach, 2010). Whether or not these trends signify declines in the value of marriage or simply reflect societal change has been hotly debated. Religious leaders, politicians, clinicians, and the federal government have all weighed in on the debate and have allocated significant resources to promote marriage as the ideal. Although skepticism remains about the utility of these steps (Huston & Melz, 2004; Karney & Bradbury, 2005), most scholars agree that the current coexistence of marriage with multiple forms of other relationship and childrearing options is unprecedented.

Intensive Mothering Beliefs Among Full-Time Employed Mothers of Infants

This study examined the degree to which 205 full-time employed mothers of infants endorsed intensive mothering beliefs (IMB), the stability of IMB, and contextual correlates of IMB. Results suggested that full-time employed mothers in this study did not endorse IMB, on average, but that endorsement varied for specific domains of IMB for the total sample and by mothers’ education. Global IMB scores did not change from 4 to 16 months postpartum, with the exception of single mothers whose scores declined over time. Endorsement of IMB was associated with multiple socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, and endorsement of IMB also varied based on unique intersections of race, education, and marital status.

Mexican-Origin Husbands’ Work Contexts and Spouses’ Marital Quality.

Relative to other men, Latino immigrant men are disproportionately likely to experience challenging working conditions, including too many or too few hours, discrimination, and job (in)security. Previous research suggests that work contexts (particularly husbands’) may affect interactions between family members, which in turn, spill over into family functioning. The present study examined the patterning of 118 Mexican husbands’ self-reported workplace characteristics (i.e., job security, workplace discrimination, and work hours) and links with husbands’ and wives’ marital warmth and negativity. First, using a 2-step cluster analysis, we identified 3 work context groups: (1) Moderately Secure, Overtime, Minimally Discriminatory Workplaces, (2) Highly Secure, Full-Time, Moderately Discriminatory Workplaces, and (3) Minimally Secure, Full-Time, Highly Discriminatory Workplaces. Second, using mixed-model ANCOVAs, we found (a) a main effect for work context on marital warmth, indicating that husbands in Group 2 reported more marital warmth than husbands in Group 3, and (b) a spouse-by-group interaction showing that whereas Group 2 husbands expressed more warmth relative to their wives, Group 3 husbands expressed less warmth relative to their wives. No significant effects were found for spouses’ marital negativity. Taken together, the same job opportunities that motivate low-wage Mexican-origin workers to migrate to the United States may also strain their close relationships. Researchers and practitioners should address links between work contexts and family well-being in other Latina/o samples and explore in greater depth how work characteristics that would otherwise serve to buffer and protect family functioning may have hidden costs for couple and family functioning. En comparación con otros hombres, los hombres Latinos están desproporcionadamente expuestos a experimentar condiciones de trabajo desafiantes, incluidas muchas o muy pocas horas de trabajo, discriminación, y seguridad laboral. Investigaciones previas sugieren que los contextos laborales (particularmente de los esposos) pueden afectar las interacciones entre miembros de la familia, lo cual a su vez ejerce una influencia sobre el funcionamiento de la familia. El presente estudio examinó las características del lugar de trabajo reportadas por 118 esposos de origen Mexicano (i.e., seguridad laboral, discriminación en el lugar de trabajo, y horas de trabajo); y su relación con la calidez conyugal y negatividad entre esposos y esposas. En primera instancia, utilizando un análisis de conglomerados de dos pasos, identificamos tres grupos de contexto de trabajo: (1) Moderadamente seguro, horas extras, lugares de trabajo mínimamente discriminatorios, (2) Altamente seguro, tiempo completo, lugares de trabajo moderadamente discriminatorios, y (3) Mínimamente seguro, tiempo completo, lugares de trabajo altamente discriminatorios. En segunda instancia, utilizando un modelo mixto de ANCOVAs, encontramos (a) un efecto principal para la calidez conyugal que indica que los esposos en el grupo 2 reportaron una mayor calidez conyugal que los esposos en el grupo 3, y (b) una interacción esposo por-grupo señala que mientras los esposos en el grupo 2 expresaron una mayor calidez en relación con sus esposas, los esposos del grupo 3 expresaron una menor calidez en relación a sus esposas. No fueron encontrados efectos significativos para la negatividad marital de los esposos. En términos generales, las mismas oportunidades laborales que motivan a trabajadores de bajo salario de origen Mexicano a emigrar a los Estados Unidos pueden también afectar sus relaciones. Investigadores y profesionales deberían abordar las relaciones entre contextos laborales y el bienestar de la familia en otras muestras de latin@s, y explorar en profundidad cómo las características laborales, que se supone deberían proteger el funcionamiento de la familia, pueden tener costos, a simple vista no muy claros, para el funcionamiento de la pareja y la familia.

Examining Predictors of Mexican American Adolescents’ Coping Typologies Maternal and Paternal Behaviors and Adolescent Gender

This study used latent profile analysis to develop coping typologies of 340, 14- to16-year-old Mexican American adolescents (M = 14.46, SD = 0.69). Three typologies were identified: (a) opposition coping (adolescents who tended to use anger and venting emotions), (b) support-seeking coping (adolescents who relied on seeking support), and (c) escape and opposition coping (adolescents who relied on anger, venting, substance-use coping, behavioral avoidance, and peer support). Three key parental behaviors (support, knowledge, psychological control) of mothers and fathers and adolescent gender were examined as predictors of the coping typologies. Results indicated that parental support and knowledge, particularly from mothers, predicted membership into the support-seeking coping typology relative to the other two typologies. Girls were more likely than boys to utilize support-seeking coping than opposition coping. Gender socialization norms that may have influenced these results are discussed.

Mexican Immigrant Wives’ Acculturative Stress and Spouses’ Marital Quality The Role of Wives’ Marriage Work With Husbands and Close Friends

With a sample of 120 Mexican-origin couples, we examined the extent to which wives’ marriage work (i.e., discussions about marital concerns) with husband and marriage work with friend moderated associations between wives’ acculturative stress and spouses’ marital satisfaction and marital negativity. Results from a series of multiple regression analyses showed that wives’ marriage work with husbands (a) served to protect husbands’ marital quality from wives’ acculturative stress and (b) was linked with greater marital satisfaction for wives. These findings represent an important first step in understanding the sociocultural factors that compromise and protect marital quality for couples of Mexican origin as they navigate the challenges of adapting to life in the United States.