Husbands' Traditionality and Wives' Marital and Personal Well-being in Mexican American Families

Yuliana Rodriguez, Jill K. Walls, Heather M. Helms, & Monsy Bonilla

The University of North Carolina at Greensboro

In this investigation, we examined the link between husbands’ traditionality and their wives’ marital and personal well-being in 125 Mexican American couples with young children. During 2- 3 hour home interviews with couples recruited via cultural insiders and snowball sampling methods, husbands and wives described themselves and their marriages, the extent to which they ascribed to gendered views about marriage and parenting, and their familiarity with and acceptance of various dimensions of Anglo and Latino culture. Analyses were conducted to: 1) examine the link between husbands’ traditionality and wives’ reports of marital quality and personal well-being, and 2) examine whether or not this link varied based on wives’ level of acculturation. Post-hoc analyses addressed how more vs. less acculturated wives differed on a number of background characteristics.

1) Is husbands’ traditionality related to wives’ marital quality and personal well-being?

2) Does the association between husbands’ traditionality and wives’ marital quality and individual well-being vary as a function of wives’ acculturation status?

3) How do more acculturated wives differ from less acculturated wives?

Variables M SD Range

Age

Wives 27.66 5.81 16 – 47

Husbands 29.91 6.04 18 – 48

First born 5.66 3.93 .08 – 13.64

Years in US

Wives 8.74 4.44 0 – 22

Husbands 11.20 5.26 2 – 27

Nuclear family size 4.02 .93 3 – 7

Total household size 4.79 1.38 3 – 10

Marital duration (years) 6.66 3.99 1 – 15

Education (years)

Wives 9.72 3.14 0 – 16

Husbands 9.06 3.17 1 – 18

Work hours (per week)

Wives 38.24 6.30 16 – 60

Husbands 43.55 8.37 20 – 80

Income (annual)

Wives $15,028 $6,564 $2,500 – $31,600

Husbands $24,886 $8,832 $8,000 – $69,000

Family $32,976 $12,826 $6,000 – $83,4000

Sample Characteristics (N = 125 Couples)

Construct Measure Author Scale & Reliability

Husbands’ Traditionality Gender Roles Attitude Scale Marital roles & childrearing subscales: 10 items

Hoffman & Kloska, 1995

5 point scale, higher scores indicate more traditional attitudes

α =.84 husbands

Wives’ Acculturation Status

Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans- II

Anglo orientation: 13 items

Mexican orientation: 17 items

Groups for analyses:

Less acculturated = Mexican

More acculturated = Mexican/bicultural & slightly Anglo

Cuellar, Arnold, & Maldonado, 1995

5 point scale, higher scores indicate more Mexican orientation (i.e., less acculturated)

Anglo orientation:

α = .87

Mexican orientation:

α = .81

Wives’ Marital Quality Marital Love and Conflict

Love subscale: 9 items

Conflict subscale: 5 items

Braiker & Kelley, 1979

9 point scale, higher scores indicate greater levels of love and conflict

Love: α = .86

Conflict: α = .59

Wives’ Personal Well-being Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D)

12 items (shortened version)

Radloff, 1977 4 point scale, higher scores indicate higher levels of depressive symptoms, α = .79

Abstract

Research Questions

Measures

Results & Conclusions

Bivariate Correlations Entire Sample

(N = 125)

Less Acculturated

Wivesa

(n = 105)

More Acculturated

Wivesa

(n = 20)

HUSBANDS’ TRADITIONALITY:

Wives’ Marital Love

Wives’ Depression

Wives’ Marital Conflict

-.22*

.16t

-.01

-.18t

.12

-.12

-.42t

.39t

.41t

Note: a Less Acculturated = Mexican status; More Acculturated = bicultural + slightly Anglo.

† p < .10. * p < .05.

Acknowledgements: This research was funded by a UNCG Regular Faculty Grant, the HES Grant Incentive Program, and an Agricultural Research Service Award (P.I. Dr. Heather Helms). Many thanks to participating couples, project manager Mary Julia Moore, and Darlene Pitaluga, Ashley Valezquez, and Diana Escobar for their assistance with data collection. Correspondance concerning this poster should be directed to Monsy Bonilla at mybonill@uncg.edu.

Sample

Correlations Between Husband’s Traditionality and Wives’ Marital and Personal Well-Being

•Marital Status: 69.6% married, 30.4% cohabiting (but living as married)

•Child Gender: 58.4% male, 41.6% female

•Firstborns’ Generational Status: 7.2% 1st generation, 90.4% 2nd generation, 2.4% 3rd generation

•Ethnicity:•Wives: 96% Mexican, 1.6% Puerto Rican, 2.4% other Latin origin•Husbands: 93.6% Mexican, .8% Puerto Rican, 5.6% other Latin origin

•Parents’ Birth Place:•Wives: 93.6% Mexico, 4% US, 2.4% other Latin country•Husbands: 91.2% Mexico, 3.2% US, 5.6% other Latin country

•Employment Status: •Husbands: 98.4% employed, 1.6% non-employed•Wives: 52% employed, 48% non-employed

•Acculturation Status:•Wives: 84% Mexican oriented, 13.6% Mexican/bicultural, 2.4 % slightly Anglo oriented•Husbands: 68.8% Mexican oriented, 29.6% Mexican/bicultural, 1.6% slightly Anglo oriented

Overall, the more traditional husbands are, the less love wives report in their marital relationships. However, the consideration of wives’ acculturation status further qualifies this finding and suggests that the negative association between husbands’ traditionality and wives’ love is more pronounced for more vs. less acculturated wives.

A positive association exists between husbands’ traditionality and wives’ depression and conflict for more acculturated wives only suggesting that the more traditional their husbands are, the more depression and marital conflict these wives report.

A mismatch between husbands’ traditionality and wives’ acculturation status has negative implications for wives’ personal well-being and marital quality.

Variables

Less

Acculturated

(N = 105)

More

Acculturated

(N = 20)

Age 28.55 23.00

Education 9.35 11.63

Child’s generational status

1.92 2.08

Family size 4.10 3.60

Years in US 8.13 11.90

Marital duration

7.14 4.06

Wives’ Acculturation Group Comparisons

Note: All comparisons are significant at the p < .05 level