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Gender Dynamics Predict Changes in Marital Love Among African American Couples
Author(s) -
Stanik Christine E.,
McHale Susan M.,
Crouter Ann C.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of marriage and family
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.578
H-Index - 159
eISSN - 1741-3737
pISSN - 0022-2445
DOI - 10.1111/jomf.12037
Subject(s) - harmony (color) , psychology , longitudinal sample , multilevel model , context (archaeology) , social psychology , longitudinal study , similarity (geometry) , african american , dynamics (music) , longitudinal data , developmental psychology , gender studies , sociology , demography , geography , medicine , art , pedagogy , image (mathematics) , archaeology , machine learning , artificial intelligence , computer science , visual arts , ethnology , pathology
This study examined the implications of gender attitudes and spouses' divisions of household labor, time with children, and parental knowledge for their trajectories of love in a sample of 146 African American couples. Multilevel modeling in the context of an accelerated longitudinal design accommodated 3 annual waves of data. The results revealed that traditionality in husbands' gender attitudes was linked to lower levels of love. Furthermore, divisions of household labor and parental knowledge moderated changes in love such that couples with more egalitarian divisions exhibited higher and more stable patterns of love, whereas more traditional couples exhibited significant declines in love over time. Finally, greater similarity between spouses' time with their children was linked to higher levels of marital love. The authors highlight the implications of gender dynamics for marital harmony among African American couples and discuss ways that this work may be applied and extended in practice and future research .