Changes in marital satisfaction in three generations of Mexican Americans

Kyriakos S. Markides, Jan Roberts-Jolly, Laura A. Ray, Sue K. Hoppe, Laura Rudkin

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

Changes in marital satisfaction over 11 years are investigated in a three-generation sample of Mexican Americans from the San Antonio area originally interviewed during 1981-82 and reinterviewed in 1992-93. Among persons married to the same spouses, results showed no significant changes in the negative sentiment component of the Guilford and Bengtson marital satisfaction scale in any of the categories. However, significant declines in the positive interaction component were observed among women in all generations and among younger males. Declines among women over 11 years were consistent with cross-sectional findings at baseline showing successively lower positive interaction from younger to older generations among women. Results are discussed with regard to the U-shaped curve suggested by the literature on marital satisfaction across the life cycle.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)36-45
Number of pages10
JournalResearch on Aging
Volume21
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1999

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Social Psychology
  • Health(social science)
  • Geriatrics and Gerontology

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