Abstract

This dissertation examines the relationship between stress and marital functioning over time, and is comprised of three papers. Paper 1 explored stress measurement issues in marital research and examined the reliability and validity of a commonly used stress measure. The stress-event checklist was found to be somewhat low in test-retest reliability, with generally no differences in reliability between gender or stress-event type. Stress reporting was influenced by the presence of one's spouse, with spousal presence inhibiting event endorsements, particularly for relationship-focused events. Spouses were also fairly inaccurate in reporting on their partners' stressful experiences, but gender and stress event type did influence accuracy of partner reporting. Paper 2 examined how changes in stress influence changes in marital functioning. Change in marital satisfaction was negatively related to changes in spouses' chronic stress and negative acute stress scores and positively related to changes in wives' positive stress. Further, the linkage between wives' marital satisfaction and negative acute stress and chronic stress changed over the first 11 years of marriage, such that this relationship grew stronger over time. Wives' chronic stress also interacted with their positive stress over time, such that the positive association between wives' positive acute stress and marital satisfaction was strongest when wives' chronic stress was high. Paper 3 examined stress and marital communication over time. Marital behaviors predicted marital satisfaction levels over the first 11 years of marriage, with positive behavior predicting higher levels of satisfaction and negative behavior predicting lower levels of satisfaction. Positive and negative marital behaviors also predicted spousal stress levels, although the direction of these associations varied. Changes in different types of stress were also related to changes in marital satisfaction, with increases in partners' chronic stress negatively related to changes in satisfaction and increases in partners' positive acute stress positively related to changes in satisfaction. Marital behaviors also altered the relationship between stress and marital functioning over time, with more negative and positive behavior generally resulting in a more negative or less positive relationship between stress and marital functioning. Implications for frameworks of relationship change and future research directions were discussed.