Examining marital power through intergenerational lenses

Date

1993-05

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Texas Tech University

Abstract

As of yet, no research has utilized family therapy intergenerational theory to investigate marital power by probing into partner's perceptions that reflect their beginnings—family-of-origin. The purpose of this study was to use a family therapy perspective to study marital power. Self-administered surveys were completed by employees (ii=436) of Texas Tech University in order to determine the relationship between key family-of-origin variables and marital interaction styles that reflect power equality/inequality. On the whole, the results revealed support for the hypotheses indicating that individuals who reported power equality in their marriages also reported higher scores on family-of-origin measures than those individuals who reported power inequality. In addition, those individuals with higher scores on the family-of-origin measures reported more cognitive flexibility than individuals with lower scores on the family-of-origin measures. Overall, this study found significant associations between intergenerational dynamics and marital power dynamics. It also examined power in a way that incorporated more "microlevel" communication issues that are more central to women's concerns as opposed to solely utilizing traditional "macrolevel" power measures.

Description

Keywords

Power (Social sciences), Intergenerational relations, Family -- Psychological aspects, Family assessment, Marriage -- Psychological aspects

Citation