Date

2015

Author

Sakmar, Elçin

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The main aim of this dissertation was to test the role of perceived social support and conflict resolution styles as potential mediators of the relationships among affect, negative life events and marital adjustment within the framework of the vulnerabilitystress-adaptation model of marriage. To that end, it was planned to conduct the actor-partner interdependence model (APIM) to investigate not only the association among person’s own dimensions (actor effect) but also the association between person’s own and partner’s dimensions (partner effect). The study involved 165 married couples who were in their first marriages, had at least primary school education, lived in big cities, and got official marriage. A demographic information form, Dyadic Adjustment Scale, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, Life Experiences Survey, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and Conflict Resolution Styles Scale were administered. The models were tested by utilizing a series of path analyses, using the APIM and by controlling length of marriage, number of children, and education levels of spouses. Results yielded a number of actor and partner effects. Firstly, they revealed that husbands who showed higher positive affect and experienced lower negative life events, perceived higher social support, and this in turn, predicted own marital adjustment as higher. Secondly, another finding was that wives who reported higher positive affect tended to use more positive conflict resolution, and this in turn, increased both their and their husbands’ marital adjustment. However, both wives and husbands who reported higher negative affect tended to use more negative conflict resolution, and this in turn, decreased both their and their partner’s marital adjustment. Additionally, husbands who experienced higher negative life events tended to use higher negative conflict resolution, and this in turn, decreased both their and their wives’ marital adjustment. Furthermore, when wives experienced higher negative life events, husbands used less negative conflict resolution, and this is turn, increased both wives’ and husbands’ marital adjustment. The results were discussed with reference to the related literature together with the implications and limitations of the research.

Subject Keywords

Marriage., Families., Anxiety., Marital conflict., Affect (Psychology)., Psychology Phd thesis

URI

http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12619006/index.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/25196

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis