Cultural similarities and differences in couples' adjustment to competing family and work demands

Conflicting work and family demands can lead to individual and interpersonal stress in close relationships. The literature suggests that individuals from various cultural contexts differ in how they organize domestic work in the family and in the support they receive from other persons. At the same time, past findings suggest effects of culture on individuals’ emotional behaviors and expression, and on the regulation of negative emotions. Although these topics are likely strongly interconnected, they have rarely been considered together and the cultural differences found are insufficiently understood. The current thesis combines five studies conducted to better understand how culture influences married partners’ behavior and emotion when managing their daily life between the family and the workplace. This research is based on ambulatory assessment data from 623 dual-earner couples from eight cultural contexts. This approach provides good validity to explore individuals’ daily family behavior and emotional experience. We examined working couples’ family work organization, including third party’s contribution, considering collectivistic values at social and individual levels. Moreover, we investigated spouses’ emotional experiences under stressful everyday life conditions in different cultures, and examined the interpersonal consequences and subsequent regulation and recovery of affective experiences. The results showed that spouses in collectivistic cultures received more support from extended family, which might result in a more equal division of family work between spouses. In addition, spouses were more likely to suppress their negative emotional responses to relational stress, and these negative emotions showed more cross-over effects between spouses, while spouses needed more time to recover under relational stress in collectivistic cultures than in individualistic cultures. Overall, the findings provided further evidence to a cultural effect on individuals’ daily behavior and emotional experience in close relationships

Stress- und Copingdiagnostik in Partnerschaft und Familie

"Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird die gegenwärtige Stress- und Copingdiagnostik im Bereich Partnerschaft und Familie übersichtsmäßig dargestellt. Auf der Grundlage theoretischer Kriterien, die auf ein systemisches Verständnis von Stress und Coping bei Paaren und Familien aufbauen, werden Fragebögen, Interviewverfahren, Interaktionsstimulationsinstrumente und Interaktionsbeobachtungssysteme daraufhin geprüft, inwieweit sie eine strukturelle bzw. prozessuale Abbildung von Stress- und Copingmustern in Dyaden und Familien erlauben. Ausgehend von einer Definition von Stress und Coping bei Paaren und Familien als direkt oder indirekt das ganze System betreffende Prozesse (dyadisches Coping) wird besonderer Akzent auf die Reziprozität im Stress-Coping- Prozess gelegt (Äußerung von Stress bei einem Familienmitglied und Antwortreaktionen der Restfamilie). Daneben werden ein experimentelles Stressinduktionssetting bei Paaren und ein Interaktionskodiersystem vorgestellt, die speziell auf diesem theoretischen Hintergrund entwickelt wurden." (Autorenreferat)"In the following article we present a description of several stress and coping instruments in marriage and family diagnostics. Questionnaires, interviews, interaction stimulation methods and observation systems are discussed in regards to their ability to evaluate stress and coping from a systemic perspective. We emphasize a view of stress where each partner or family member is concerned directly or indirectly by the stressful event. This conceptualization yields a framework for criteria evaluating the different methods. A special focus will be on the reciprocity of stress-coping processes in the couple or within the family. The discussion of these instruments is completed with a presentation of our own stress induction method and interaction coding system referring directly to the mentioned theoretical implications." (author's abstract

Dyadisches Coping - eine systemische Betrachtungsweise der Belastungsbewältigung in Partnerschaften

Der Beitrag thematisiert Formen der Streßbewältigung in Partnerschaften. Dazu werden empirische Ergebnisse vorgestellt und in bezug auf Unterschiede zwischen den Geschlechtern und hinsichtlich der Partnerschaftszufriedenheit interpretiert. (SH

Zur Ausbildungssituation der Psychologie in der Schweiz

Es wird im Überblick über die Ausbildungssituation für Psychologie in der Schweiz informiert. Dabei wird die Entwicklung des universitären Studiums in den letzten sechs Jahren dargestellt, und das Ausbildungscurriculum für das Hauptfachstudium in Psychologie an den verschiedenen Universitäten in der Schweiz wird aufgezeigt. Außerdem werden die Berufschancen für abgehende akademische Psychologen diskutiert, der Arbeitsmarkt wird beschrieben und die Erweiterung des Fächerkatalogs an Gymnasien unter Einbezug des Faches Psychologie wird aufgezeigt

Ambulatory Assessment - Monitoring Behavior in Daily Life Settings: A Behavioral-Scientific Challenge of Psychology

Abstract. Ambulatory assessment refers to the use of computer-assisted methodology for self-reports, behavior records, or physiological measurements, while the participant undergoes normal daily activities. Since the 1980s, portable microcomputer systems and physiological recorders/analyzers have been developed for this purpose. In contrast to their use in medicine, these new methods have hardly entered the domain of psychology. Questionnaire methods are still preferred, in spite of the known deficiencies of retrospective self-reports. Assessment strategies include: continuous monitoring, monitoring with time- and event-sampling methods, in-field psychological testing, field experimentation, interactive assessment, symptom monitoring, and self-management. These approaches are innovative and address ecological validity, context specificity, and are suitable for practical applications. The advantages of this methodology, as well as issues of acceptance, compliance, and reactivity are discussed. Many technical developments and research contributions have come from the German-speaking countries and the Netherlands. Nonetheless, the current Decade of Behavior (APA) calls for a more widespread use of such techniques and developments in assessment. This position paper seeks to make the case for this approach by demonstrating the advantages – and in some domains – necessities of ambulatorymonitoringmethodology for a behavioral science orientation in psychology

How is my partner feeling in different daily-life settings? Accuracy of spouses' judgements about their partner's feelings at work and at home

How accurately do spouses know their partner’s feelings when the partner is not physically present, but in a specific setting (at work, or at home)? This question addresses a special kind of empathic inference that relies mainly on content knowledge and projection rather than perception. We answered this question using a computer assisted diary approach