The longitudinal association between marital and psychological functioning in socioeconomically disadvantaged relationships

Abstract

Marital functioning is associated with individuals’ psychological functioning. However, it is unclear if the association between marital and individual functioning extends to socioeconomically disadvantaged newlyweds (those with low educational attainment/income), and if changes in psychological distress differ between husbands and wives. Using three waves of data from 530 couples in the Supporting Healthy Marriage study, we investigated if improvements and deterioration in marital satisfaction were differentially associated with patterns of individuals’ psychological distress. We also examined if spouses’ divergent marital change patterns were associated with distress trajectories. For wives, improvements in marital satisfaction were more strongly associated with decreases in psychological distress compared to declines in satisfaction. Additionally, wives’ psychological distress was more adversely impacted than was husbands’ when they reported worse marital functioning. We provide empirical and practical implications for helping reduce disparities in psychological functioning observed in low-income populations.

Keywords

Dyadic data analysis gender differences marital satisfaction marriage mental health trajectories

A robust literature finds marital quality is associated with individuals’ psychological distress (i.e., behavioral, emotional, and cognitive characteristics of non-specific psychological functioning; Proulx et al., 2007), suggesting that romantic relationships are critical to understanding spouses’ psychological functioning. However, the longitudinal associations between marital and psychological functioning have rarely been explored in a dyadic framework among socioeconomically disadvantaged newlyweds. Addressing this gap could illuminate potential inequalities within and across families. The goal of the current study is to identify patterns of change in marital satisfaction over 2.5 years and explore whether psychological distress differs among these marital pathways in a sample of socioeconomically disadvantaged newlyweds.

Longitudinal link between marital and psychological functioning

Prior work provides evidence that marital quality is associated with prospective changes in psychological well-being (Proulx et al., 2007). Recent studies illustrate how qualitatively different marital pathways (i.e., those that decline in satisfaction versus those that do not) are associated with systematic variation in psychological functioning. Deterioration in marital quality, for example, is associated with poorer psychological functioning, whereas relatively stable, high levels of marital quality are associated with declining psychological distress (Foran et al., 2013; Proulx et al., 2017; Wickrama et al., 2020).

Prior work examined the association between marital and psychological functioning primarily within middle-class and affluent populations. The link between marital satisfaction and psychological distress may differ in socioeconomically disadvantaged populations. Drawing from a cumulative risk perspective (Rauer et al., 2008), declines in marital satisfaction might be particularly consequential to psychological functioning if they occur alongside other common risks in socioeconomically disadvantaged families (e.g., lack of high-quality social support networks and affordable childcare; Halpern-Meekin, 2019). The detrimental effect of these risks for parents is likely exacerbated when scarce resources are stretched to meet children’s needs. In the context of scarce resources, declining marital satisfaction may have a stronger association with psychological functioning than increasing or stable, high satisfaction. Declines in satisfaction may be especially consequential to newlyweds who generally hold positive outlooks on how marriage will unfold (Lavner et al., 2013), potentially leading to violated expectations and distress.

Marriages in which spouses exhibit asynchronous marital change patterns (i.e., spouses exhibit diverging marital satisfaction patterns) tend to have poorer functioning compared to marriages characterized by synchronous patterns (Wickrama et al., 2020). Asynchronous patterns are also likely associated with health outcomes of both spouses. Positive (e.g., one partner demonstrating stability and the other partner exhibiting improvements in marital satisfaction) and negative (e.g., one partner demonstrating stability and the other partner exhibiting a decrease in satisfaction) asynchronous patterns may be differentially associated with individuals’ psychological distress. Given that wives tend to be more aware of relationship well-being and report that the valence of their marriage is intertwined with their sense of self (e.g., Acitelli, 1992), negative asynchronous patterns may be more strongly associated with wives’ psychological distress compared to husbands’. Recent work has either modeled each spouse’s marital and individual functioning separately (Foran et al., 2013) or explored between-couple differences in health outcomes (Wickrama et al., 2020), but not differences within the same marriage. These approaches cannot sufficiently highlight differences both between and within marriages.

Present study

We build on previous research by exploring how marital quality trajectories are associated with changes in newlywed husbands’ and wives’ psychological distress. We test two hypotheses:
H1: Individuals experiencing a decrease in marital satisfaction will demonstrate a concurrent increase in psychological distress, and this will be a stronger association compared to individuals experiencing improvements in marital satisfaction and concurrent improvements in psychological distress.

H2: Within marriages, negative asynchronous marital change patterns will have a stronger association on wives’ distress patterns compared to their husbands.

Method

Data

Data came from the Supporting Healthy Marriage project (SHM; Lundquist et al., 2014). The SHM study recruited low-income married couples across the United States between 2007 and 2009. To participate, spouses had to be aged 18+, report no domestic violence in the relationship, and have a yearly income under $50,000–60,000 (see Lundquist et al., 2014 for more information). Although the study specifically recruited married couples, a small number (18%) of enrolled couples reported being unmarried, and we excluded unmarried couples because variability in relationship duration may obscure inferences drawn from longitudinal change patterns (Karney & Bradbury, 1995). Couples were interviewed 12 months (Wave 2) and 30 months (Wave 3) after baseline.

Our analytic sample consisted of 530 newlywed couples who did not receive any intervention. Husbands’ and wives’ median annual earnings ranged from $15,000–$19,999 and $5,000–$9,999, respectively. Just over 41% of couples’ incomes were at or below 100% of the federal poverty level (FPL). Approximately 68% of husbands and 74% of wives reported receiving public assistance, and 31.5% of husbands and 56.2% of wives were not employed at baseline. One third of couples (33.1%) identified as White, non-Hispanic; 23.3% as Hispanic; 10% as African American, non-Hispanic; and 33.5% as another race or spouses differed in their racial backgrounds. At baseline, approximately 81% of couples reported being pregnant or having a child under the age of 2, 44.3% reported having a child that was between 2 and 10 years old, and 15.4% reported having a child 10 years or older (these categories were not mutually exclusive; for more information on the analytic sample, see Kanter & Proulx, 2020).

Measures

Marital satisfaction

At each wave, each spouse responded to 1 item assessing their marital satisfaction (“All things considered, how happy are you with your marriage”; 1 = completely unhappy to 7 = completely happy). This item is sensitive in capturing changes in marital functioning (Funk & Rogge, 2007) and is associated with dissolution (Kanter & Proulx, 2020).

Psychological distress

At each wave, each spouse reported on their psychological distress with the K6 (Kessler et al., 2002; e.g. “During the past 30 days, how often did you feel hopeless?”; 1 = all of the time to 5 = none of the time). At subsequent waves the same 6 items were repeated, but the scale changed (1 = often to 4 = never). At baseline, few individuals endorsed the “all of the time” option, thus at baseline we collapsed the responses of “all of the time” and “most of the time.” Thus, at baseline, “most of the time” was equivocal to “often,” “some of the time” to “sometimes,” “a little of the time” to “hardly ever,” and “none of the time” to “never” in subsequent waves. Responses were reverse coded and averaged for each individual, with higher scores indicating greater distress. The scale demonstrated good reliability at each wave for husbands (α = .82–.86) and wives (α = .83–.85).

Analytic strategy

We first used group-based modeling to identify patterns of marital change (i.e., marital classes characterized by different change patterns within a sample; Wickrama et al., 2016). With respect to psychological distress, we first conducted a dyadic growth curve (Kenny et al., 2006) to model development of distress for both partners. We used Full Information Maximum Likelihood (FIML; Acock, 2005) to handle missing data. To investigate how patterns of marital satisfaction over time were associated with pathways of psychological distress for husbands and wives, we used multi-group analyses, separating dyadic psychological distress growth curves by marital class. To determine if differences in growth factors emerged between and within classes, we used an omnibus Wald test and planned comparisons.

Results

We used clinical cut-offs for psychological distress at baseline to illustrate individuals’ initial psychological functioning (Procheska et al., 2012). On average, both spouses were classified as moderately distressed. Using a variety of criteria (BIC, BLRT, adjusted LMRT, and entropy), we identified a two-class solution of marital satisfaction (see Table 1 and Figure 1). Replicating prior work (Kanter & Proulx, 2020), we found a class titled Husbands’ moderate intercept, wives’ low and increasing satisfaction (13%, n = 68), which was characterized by wives who began marriage “slightly unhappy” and demonstrated a significant increase over time. Husbands began their marriage “slightly happy,” which remained stable. This class demonstrated a positive asynchronous marital change pattern. The second class was titled Relatively satisfied (87%, n = 462), which was characterized by both partners beginning marriage “moderately happy”; husbands remained unchanged and wives significantly decreased over time. This class demonstrated a negative asynchronous change pattern.

Table 1.
Estimated growth parameters for marital and individual functioning.

Marital Satisfaction Psychological Distress

I S I S

Husbands’ moderate intercept, wives’ low and increasing satisfaction (13%)

Husbands 4.91 .22 2.27 −.12*

Wives 2.61 1.20 2.53 −.17

Relatively satisfied (87%)

Husbands 6.01 −.03 1.97 .00

Wives 6.23 −.21 1.90 .04

Note. I = Intercept; S = Slope. *p < .05. **p < .01.

Figure 1.
Marital satisfaction change patterns.

Initially, we included theoretically relevant covariates (poverty level, relationship instability, age, and number of children) in our dyadic growth curve model of psychological distress. Given discriminatory practices entrenched in policies that create inequities among racially and ethnically minoritized groups (Bailey et al., 2017), we also included race/ethnicity as a covariate. None of the covariates were significantly associated with change in psychological distress (see supplemental Table 1), and thus, for parsimony, were removed. The unconditional model showed an improved fit (BIC = 5892.33) compared to the conditional model (BIC = 14883.35).

The unconditional dyadic latent growth curve model provided a good fit to the data (χ²(4) = 9.34, p = .05, RMSEA = .05, CFI = .99), with husbands (M = 2.01) and wives (M = 1.98, range: 1–4) demonstrating similar initial levels of psychological distress. Both spouses demonstrated no significant change in psychological distress over time. However, there was significant variability in slope variances (σ = .05, p = .001), suggesting husbands and wives within the sample did not demonstrate homogenous change patterns.

Separating psychological distress pathways by marital class provided a good fit to the data (χ²(8) = 12.71, p = .12, RMSEA = .05, CFI = .99; see Figure 2). Contrary to our first hypothesis, compared to wives who demonstrated a decrease in satisfaction and an increase in distress, improvements in marital satisfaction had a larger effect on reductions in psychological distress (see Tables 1 and 2). Addressing our second hypothesis, spouses in marriages characterized by negative asynchronous marital patterns had dissimilar distress trajectories, with wives demonstrating poorer psychological functioning compared to husbands.

Figure 2.
Psychological distress change patterns.

Table 2.
Differences between and within classes.

Between Class Differences Within Class Differences

Husbands’ moderate intercept, wives’ low and increasing satisfaction Relatively satisfied

Omnibus Wald Test Between Classes

χ²(2) = 15.62, p < .001 Wald Test Wald Test

S: χ²(1) =.51, p = .473 S: χ²(1) = 4.74, p = .029

Pairwise Comparisons

WS: χ²(1) = 13.23, p < .001

HS: χ²(1) = 5.56, p = .0183

Note. S = Slope; H = Husband; W = Wife. Bolded comparisons denote statistical significance (p < .05).

Discussion

Using 530 socioeconomically disadvantaged newlyweds, the current study investigated how marital satisfaction trajectories were associated with variation in psychological distress. Although most wives experienced a decrease in satisfaction, these decreases were not as influential to changes in distress when compared to the benefit of increases in marital satisfaction on psychological distress. A minority of husbands also exhibited a decline in distress, despite exhibiting no change in satisfaction. This change might have been prompted by wives’ improvements, underlying the importance of taking a dyadic approach to exploring dynamic change patterns in marital and psychological functioning. As low-income parents experience a lack of emotional support systems outside marriage (e., Karney, 2021), feeling happier with the marriage over time might be critical to reducing feelings of psychological distress for both spouses. Overall, these findings contribute to a robust literature outlining the intrinsic link between marital and individual functioning (Proulx et al., 2007).

We found support for our second hypothesis, with negative asynchronous marital change patterns influencing wives’, but not husbands’, psychological distress. Wives, on average, tend to monitor relationships more closely compared to husbands (e.g., Acitelli, 1992). Given that negative asynchronous patterns may represent power imbalances between spouses (Wickrama et al., 2020), wives might internalize these marital tensions, which may perpetuate uneven distress patterns between spouses and protect husbands’ individual functioning. Notably, the fact that spouses in marriages characterized by positive asynchronous patterns both demonstrated a decrease in distress provides further evidence that negative asynchronous patterns are pivotal to individual functioning.

Our results support prior research suggesting that interventions that aim to strengthen relationships may also influence psychological distress. However, traditional approaches to helping low-income couples have generally been ineffective (Johnson & Bradbury, 2015). Divergences in marital satisfaction might be an indicator of relationship tensions and problematic individual functioning. Thus, reducing relational discrepancies is an important outcome for interventions. The cumulative risk perspective, while informative in understanding the concurrent risks lower-income families experience, may lead to an overemphasis on deficits in families. Many spouses, especially husbands, in the current sample were able to either maintain stable, high satisfaction and/or improve their psychological functioning within the context of several sociodemographic risks. Therefore, rather than exclusively focusing on how socioeconomically disadvantaged couples are struggling within their union, researchers should also investigate how couples are adaptively navigating adversities, while also highlighting why some individuals, especially wives, become less satisfied over time, all of which can inform intervention work.

This study is not without limitations. The psychological distress measure was slightly altered following the baseline assessment, and satisfaction was assessed with a single item. Future work should explore if our findings are replicated with a stable measure of psychological distress and multi-item measures of marital satisfaction. Regardless of marital class, spouses tended to have similar psychological distress at 30 months. Longer follow-ups can highlight if these distress patterns plateau or continue to change over time, and also uncover other potential change patterns (e.g., both partners demonstrating a decline in relationship satisfaction, or husbands demonstrating more change). Perceived stress may influence both marital and individual functioning, and warrants further attention in future research. Last, assessing individual and marital constructs over more waves could better speak to lead-lag associations.

This study contributes to the literature linking patterns of change in marital satisfaction over time and psychological functioning, while also highlighting the importance of accounting for the dyadic nature of marriage. As more longitudinal research is conducted with socioeconomically disadvantaged samples, researchers can gain a better understanding of how relationships not only affect individual functioning, but also the larger family system.

Supplemental material

Supplemental Material, sj-pdf-1-spr-10.1177_02654075211011704 - The longitudinal association between marital and psychological functioning in socioeconomically disadvantaged relationships

Supplemental Material, sj-pdf-1-spr-10.1177_02654075211011704 for The longitudinal association between marital and psychological functioning in socioeconomically disadvantaged relationships by Jeremy B. Kanter and Christine M. Proulx in Journal of Social and Personal Relationships

	Marital Satisfaction	Psychological Distress
Husbands’ moderate intercept, wives’ low and increasing satisfaction (13%)
Husbands	4.91**	.22	2.27**	−.12*
Wives	2.61**	1.20**	2.53**	−.17**
Relatively satisfied (87%)
Husbands	6.01**	−.03	1.97**	.00
Wives	6.23**	−.21**	1.90**	.04**

Between Class Differences	Within Class Differences
	Husbands’ moderate intercept, wives’ low and increasing satisfaction	Relatively satisfied
Omnibus Wald Test Between Classes
χ²(2) = 15.62, p < .001	Wald Test	Wald Test
	S: χ²(1) =.51, p = .473	S: χ²(1) = 4.74, p = .029
Pairwise Comparisons
WS: χ²(1) = 13.23, p < .001
HS: χ²(1) = 5.56, p = .0183

Footnotes

Authors’ note

This research uses data from the Supporting Healthy Marriage evaluation (SHM), a project directed by MDRC and funded by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) (contract # 233-03-0034). Information on how to obtain the SHM data files is available on the SHM page of the ICPSR website (). No direct support was received from contract # 233-03-0034 for this analysis.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Jeremy B. Kanter

Open research statement

As part of IARR’s encouragement of open research practices, the author(s) have provided the following information: This research was not pre-registered. The data used in the research are available. The data can be obtained via the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research website or by emailing ICPSR-help@umich.edu. The materials used in the research are available. The materials can be obtained via the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research website or by emailing ICPSR-help@umich.edu.

Supplemental material

Supplemental material for this article is available online.

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