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This paper explores masculinity ideologies which influence family perspectives, and therefore, instigate mental distress among Black and White men between the ages of 18–30.

Using a grounded theory approach, 30 in-depth interviews were conducted to explore the social construction of masculinity and investigate the ways in which gender ideologies influence family gender roles.

Black men’s gender ideology was influenced by racial identity and stressed a communal and collaborative identity which can be seen by the reliance on religion and maintaining family financial stability. White employed a pragmatic, individual perspective that emphasized individual behavior in a changing society. They embraced evolving discourses necessary to cope with changing family structure and refocused attention from family of origin conflict.

Though this is a qualitative study, it does provide a starting point for further research on how the family roles of Black and White men affect their mental health.

Few studies have employed a racial comparison research design to investigate mental distress associated with gender ideologies. The paper suggests that moving forward will require, as Black men suggested, adopting a critical racial sociology of gender that emphasizes processes and social structure. Analyzing manhood acts through the lens of social marginality, identity work to claim membership in the male group, and the identification of characteristics to maintain male privileges vis-à-vis women may prove to be useful. Focusing on process allows an exploration of social forces that influence masculinity, gendered household ideologies, and mental health.

This chapter aims to verify predictors of marital quality in Croatia. As a theoretical starting point, the Huston Socio-ecological model was used. Huston’s so-called “wide-angle and close range” variables were included in to study as predictors of marital quality. A two-level hypothetical model was created consisting of Six groups of predictor variables: Level 1 predictors included Partners’ demographic variables, Partners’ personality, Partners’ value system, Marital processes or dynamics, and Partners’ wellbeing. Level 2 predictors included four Marriage characteristics. Altogether at both levels, 42 variables represented predictors. Marital quality in the marriage was a dependent variable. Eight hundred and eighty-four marital couples from 14 counties in various parts of Croatia and from Zagreb, the country’s capital, were included in the study. Factor analysis, Maximum likelihood with Promax rotation was used to extract factors. Eight factors were extracted: Marital harmony, Distress, Partners’ personality, Negative spillover from work, Traditionalism, Engagement in child care, Participation in decision-making, and Economic hardship. Multilevel analysis using the Mix model in Statistical Package for Social scientist, version 20 was used in data analysis. Predictive on Marital quality in a marriage turned out variables: Marital harmony, Distress, Partners’ personality, Traditionalism, Engagement in child care, and Participation in decision-making as level 1 and Marriage duration (Marriage stages) as a level 2 variable. Huston’s Ecological model proved to be adequate and useful in explaining marital quality.

The study was conducted to investigate the association between nonsexual predictors (personal, interpersonal, and dyad variables) and sexual satisfaction in the long-term marriages. The theoretical model was created according to the socio-ecological model proposed by Huston (2000), including 12 personal, 8 interpersonal, and 3 dyad variables as predictors. The model treated personal and interpersonal variables as level 1 variables, while dyad variables were defined as level 2. The research was performed in 14 counties of Croatia and in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. The sample included 315 marital couples. Marital partners were interviewed individually and separately, at their home. The analysis was performed using the MLM statistical procedure. Four models were tested: (1) personal, (2) interpersonal without gender variable as predictor, (3) interpersonal with gender variable, and (4) final model made up of all groups of predictors together. In Model 1, Self-esteem and Physical attraction turned out to be predictive of sexual satisfaction. In Model 2, Emotional and Recreational intimacy were positive, while Marriage duration proved to be negative predictor. Model 3 generated same predictive variables as Model 2 plus the variable Gender. Model 4 yielded Gender, Physical Attraction, Emotional Intimacy, Participation in key decision-making, and Marital Quality as positive predictors, while Anxiety and Depression proved to be negative predictors. Obtained results are showing that in long-term marriages not only sexual variables are good predictors of marital sexual satisfaction but some nonsexual variables such as emotional intimacy, recreational intimacy, physical attractiveness, participation in key decision-making, and marital quality are also important. The results are discussed and study limitations are emphasized at the end.

This study examined how parental divorce during emerging adulthood gives meaning to emerging adults’ developmental stage and interpersonal relationships.

The participant sample consisted of 15 females from the Southeastern United States who were between the ages of 18 and 25 (M = 21.5). Qualitative methods were utilized, with a transcendental phenomenological research methodology specifically applied. Interviews were conducted focusing on perceptions of the divorce experience in relation to important aspects of emerging adulthood, namely developmental experiences and interpersonal relationships, primarily intimate partner and dating experiences. NVivo was used to allow a “bottom-up” design, emergent design, and interpretive inquiry for data analysis.

Two major themes emerged from the data: (1) developmental stage facilitates insight into the divorce process and (2) parental divorce leads to contemplating and reconceptualizing perceptions of self and interpersonal relationships.

Results are relevant to researchers, parents, and practitioners as divorce is examined with a developmental lens. Findings suggest that the meaning and impact of parental divorce are distinct for emerging adult children, characterized by awareness and personal reflection. Implications for parenting and practice are provided.

This chapter focuses on military couples and factors that affect their experiences of work, stress, and health using a life course perspective. An introduction to the definition of military couples is provided followed by a brief review of previous research on marital quality and divorce among military couples. The core of the chapter describes the advantages of using a life course perspective to examine the military life course for couples, and two critical transitions of military life are more fully examined. Specifically, periodic relocation and deployment and their impacts on military couples are reviewed in detail. Future directions for research on military couples are provided, and the use of the Convoy Model of Social Relations as an integrative approach to examine military personnel and family members’ stress and health across the military life course is introduced.

Guided by a life course theoretical perspective, this study aimed to examine associations between providing caregiving for a young or adult son or daughter with special needs and multiple dimensions of physical health status among married midlife and older adults, as well as moderation of these associations by gender and marital quality (i.e., marital strain).

Regression models were estimated using data from 1,058 married adults aged 33–83 (National Survey of Midlife in the U.S. (MIDUS), 2005).

Parental caregiving for a young or adult child with special needs (in contrast to no caregiving) was linked to poorer global health and more physical symptoms among both fathers and mothers. Father caregivers reported slightly more chronic conditions than noncaregiving men, regardless of marital quality. By contrast, mother caregivers reported a much higher number of chronic conditions when they also reported a high level of marital strain, but not when they reported a low level of marital strain.

Overall, results provide evidence from a national sample that midlife and older parents providing caregiving for a child with special needs are at risk for poorer health outcomes, and further tentatively suggest that greater marital strain may exacerbate health risks, particularly among married mother caregivers.

Sexual intimacy is one of the functions of marriage and married couples especially in Africa. Many marriages and by extension families in Nigeria and Ghana are unstable because of misunderstanding around intimacy style preference. The study investigated sexual intimacy style preference of married adults in West Africa, using a case study of Nigeria and Ghana. The research design adopted was a descriptive survey. A total sample of 324 respondents was sampled in the study using purposive sampling and random sampling techniques. A questionnaire title preferred sexual style inventory was used to gather data for the study. The instrument was validated by expert in the department of counseling education and its reliability was established using test re-test and a coefficient of 0.74 was derived. The result of the study revealed that most preferred sexual intimacy styles of married adult in Nigeria were traditional missionary style, doggy style and the cow girl/woman on top style. Also, the study revealed that married adults in Ghana preferred traditional missionary, cow girl, and doggy style. The study also revealed that there was a significant difference in the sexual intimacy style preference of married adults in Nigeria and Ghana. Based on the findings it is recommended that sociologists and marriage-family counselors should seek to develop awareness about most preferred intimacy styles among married and would be married people in Africa as a way of increasing marital stability and societal wellbeing in the continent.

This study investigated domestic violence as a result of marital infidelity; domestic violence occurs in virtually many home in society. Most times, women are sexually assaulted, emotionally abused, and physically violated. Although the degree differs from society to society. The occurrence has profound and destructive consequences in the home. The population of 150 respondents was selected randomly. Questionnaires were distributed among the subjects and simple percentage and chi-square were used to analyze the data. The results were that there is a relationship between marital satisfaction and domestic violence. Also, some men do not have genuine trust in their wives. The research was concluded that there is violence in the home as a result of negligence on the part of husbands. It was recommended that couples should have a thorough understanding of their partners to avoid issues that may trigger anger and thereby prevent wanton destruction of properties jointly owned.

Existing reviews of research on voluntary childlessness generally take the form of narrative summaries, focusing on main topics investigated over time. In this chapter, the authors extend previous literature reviews to conduct a systematic review and content analysis of socio-historical and geopolitical aspects of knowledge production about voluntary childlessness. The dataset comprised 195 peer-reviewed articles that were coded and analysed to explore, inter alia: the main topic under investigation; country location of authors; sample characteristics; theoretical framework and methodology. The findings are discussed in relation to the socio-historical contexts of knowledge production, drawing on theoretical insights concerned with the politics of location, representation and research practice. The shifts in the topics of research from the 1970s, when substantial research first emerged, uphold the view of voluntary childlessness as non-normative. With some regional variation, knowledge is dominated by quantitative, hard science methodologies and mostly generated about privileged, married women living in the global North. The implications of this for future research concerned with reproductive freedom are outlined.

Sustaining a spinal cord injury (SCI) at any point in time is life-altering – physically, emotionally, and financially – for all persons affected by the injury, but it can place unique challenges on younger married couples. This study examines the transition to injury for 18 couples (ages 21–55). Data were collected using individual interviews with each partner at three time points following injury and observation in the rehabilitation setting (Creekview). This resulted in 96 individual interviews and 300 hours of observation. Using the life course perspective as a guiding theoretical framework and thematic analysis, I examined how the healthcare institution influenced the couples' relationship during their rehabilitation stay and the subsequent transition home. Creekview staff and couples accepted and reinforced the dominant cultural narrative that women are natural caregivers, but larger social structures of class, gender, and the division of paid and unpaid labor worked together to push some women into caregiving faster or prevented other women from engaging in caregiving. This study examines how younger couples move through the caregiving career during an off-time transition when the expected outcome is not long-term care placement or death. This study identified three main types of caregivers, each with their own path of caregiving – naturalized, constrained, and resistant caregivers. Overall, the transition to injury is complex and this study highlights some of the ways the marital relationship is affected by a nonnormative, unexpected transition.