Marital Histories and Economic Well-Being

Compared to unmarried individuals married individuals report greater average wealth. A restricted focus on current marital status risks misrepresenting the effects of marriage on wealth, as an increasing proportion of older adults have been divorced and remarried, having lived through the dramatic upheavals in family structure from the 1960s through the 1980s. To shed light on the associations between a lifetime of marriage events and wealth near retirement, we used panel data from the Health and Retirement Study and developed categories of marital experiences that acknowledged current status, type, number and date of past marital disruptions and total duration of time spent married across the lifespan. We found that the route individuals took to get to their current marital status were important predictors of wealth levels near retirement and were different for males and females. Observable differences in lifetime earnings, mortality risk, risk aversion, other characteristics such as education and number of children, explained much of the wealth difference between married and remarried individuals however neither observable characteristics nor sources of other wealth from pensions and Social Security were enough to explain the large differences in wealth accumulation between single and married women and individuals experiencing more than one marital disruption. Given the higher divorce rate, prevalence of multiple divorces and earlier age of divorce of the Baby Boomer cohort compared to earlier cohorts, an understanding of how marriage disruptions over the lifecycle impact savings is increasingly important for understanding the economic security of retirees.Social Security Administrationhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/61806/1/wp180.pd

Social Network Typologies of Black and White Married Couples in Midlife

Although research shows that conjoint social networks are associated with well‐being among newlyweds, little is known about how these network types are linked to marital quality and psychological well‐being for long‐term married couples and about potential race differences in their configurations and associations. Using a pattern‐centered approach to examine the social networks of 91 White and 62 Black couples in their 16th year of marriage, this study revealed four couple network types (friend‐focused, wife family‐focused, bilateral family‐focused, and diverse). Results suggested that spouses in the wife family‐focused network type (characterized by above‐average contact with the wife’s family and below average contact with the husband’s family and with nonkin) reported the lowest positive marital quality and highest negative marital quality. The association of network type with negative marital quality was also moderated by gender and race. The findings highlight the importance of considering the meaningful complexity within couples’ shared networks.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/136463/1/jomf12330.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/136463/2/jomf12330_am.pd

The Role of Husbands’ and Wives’ Emotional Expressivity in the Marital Relationship

The current investigation was designed to examine the role of positive and negative emotional expressivity in the marital relationship. Data from 58 married couples were used to assess spouses’ levels of emotional expressivity and how these levels predicted reports of marital functioning. Regression analyses indicated that positive emotional expressivity had limited influence on marital functioning. Negative expressivity, however, had a strong impact on marital love, conflict, and ambivalence. Post-hoc analyses revealed significant differences between pairings in which the husband was high in negative expressivity, irrespective of wives’ negative emotional expressivity, and pairings in which both partners were low in negative emotional expressivity. These findings are discussed with respect to previous research that suggests that wives’ emotional expressivity is the major determinant of marital functioning.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45641/1/11199_2005_Article_3726.pd

Two warm Neptunes transiting HIP 9618 revealed by TESS and Cheops

peer reviewedHIP 9618 (HD 12572, TOI-1471, TIC 306263608) is a bright (G = 9.0 mag) solar analogue. TESS photometry revealed the star to have two candidate planets with radii of 3.9 ± 0.044 R (HIP 9618 b) and 3.343 ± 0.039 R (HIP 9618 c). While the 20.77291 d period of HIP 9618 b was measured unambiguously, HIP 9618 c showed only two transits separated by a 680-d gap in the time series, leaving many possibilities for the period. To solve this issue, CHEOPS performed targeted photometry of period aliases to attempt to recover the true period of planet c, and successfully determined the true period to be 52.56349 d. High-resolution spectroscopy with HARPS-N, SOPHIE, and CAFE revealed a mass of 10.0 ± 3.1M for HIP 9618 b, which, according to our interior structure models, corresponds to a 6.8 ± 1.4 per cent gas fraction. HIP 9618 c appears to have a lower mass than HIP 9618 b, with a 3-sigma upper limit of 50 d, opening the door for the atmospheric characterization of warm (Teq < 750 K) sub-Neptunes

Identifying happy, healthy marriages for men, women, and children.

In an effort to identify those characteristics that contribute to relationship dysfunction, the field of marital research has struggled with constructing a clean conceptualization of what successful relationships are. According to Weiss and Heyman (1997), marital health has been characterized by what it isn't. To address what it is, this dissertation utilized observational and self report data collected from 59 happily-married couples and their young children to explore healthy marriages for husbands, wives, and children. The specific aims were: (1) to identify different types of couples based on their conflict resolution, communication, support, and commitment; (2) to examine which marriages were associated with better spouses' and children's well-being; and (3) to examine the personal and environmental factors that were associated with variability within these couples. Cluster analyses revealed four different clusters: (1) a mutual negativity cluster (characterized by high negative problem solving on the part of both spouses in the absence of positive behaviors); (2) a supportive husband cluster (high positive husband behaviors combined with moderately positive wife behaviors); (3) a mutual commitment cluster (high commitment, moderate positive behaviors, lower negative behaviors); and (4) a wife compensation cluster (very high positive and very low negative behaviors on the part of the wife in the face of high husband negativity). This variability in happily-married couples had important implications for well-being. Although no single cluster emerged as the uniformly optimal marital cluster, both the supportive husband and mutual commitment clusters were associated with greater marital and individual functioning, although this was more consistently the case in comparison to the wife compensation cluster, as opposed to the mutual negativity cluster. The common characteristic of the supportive husband and mutual commitment clusters was the husbands' positive behaviors, highlighting the importance of the husbands' behaviors for both spouses' well-being. Using the definition that healthy marriages are those that promote well-being underscored that there were multiple ways to have a happy, healthy marriage. Given the current drive to promote healthy marriages, being able to design programs that are tailored to meet the needs of different types of couples will likely enhance the efficacy of these efforts.Ph.D.Developmental psychologyPsychologySocial psychologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/126271/2/3238067.pd