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

1. 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 Sample Characteristics (N = 125 Couples) Abstract Sample • 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 • 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. • 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? Research Questions Measures Results & Conclusions Correlations Between Husband’s Traditionality and Wives’ Marital and Personal Well-Being Wives’ Acculturation Group Comparisons Note: a Less Acculturated = Mexican status; More Acculturated = bicultural + slightly Anglo. † p < .10. * p < .05. Note: All comparisons are significant at the p < .05 level • 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. 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.