Mexican immigrant wives’ acculturative stress and spouses’ marital quality: The role of wives’ marriage work with husbands and close friends

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Heather M. Helms, Professor (Creator)
Andrew "Andy" Supple, Associate Professor (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/

Abstract: 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.

Additional Information

Publication
Journal of Family Issues, 37 (12), 1678-1702
Language: English
Date: 2014
Keywords
acculturative stress, Mexican Americans, marital quality, marital satisfaction, marital negativity, marriage work

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