Social support and social structure

The burgeoning study of social support in relation to social stress and health would benefit from increased attention to issues of social structure. Three aspects of social relationships, all often referred to as social support, must be more clearly distinguished—(1) their existence or quantity (i.e., social integration), (2) their formal structure (i.e., social networks), and (3) their functional or behavioral content (i.e., the most precise meaning of “social support”)—and the causal relationships between the structure of social relationships (social integration and networks) and their functional content (social support) must be more clearly understood. Research and theory are needed on the determinants of social integration, networks, and support as well as their consequences for stress and health. Among potential determinants, macrosocial structures and processes particularly merit attention.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45658/1/11206_2005_Article_BF01107897.pd

Contextual Determinants of Personality

An approach is developed that relies on the principle that an individual's personality is best described and understood in terms of various contexts in which that individual is embedded. Five different kinds of contexts are considered: historical, cultural (and subcultural), developmental, organizational, and interpersonal. Each is illustrated with findings from two national sample surveys (one done in 1957; the other in 1976) that measured social motives through thematic apperceptive techniques. This contextual approach implies that personality is dynamically accumulative over the life span and that it is best assessed by subdividing a given personality characteristic into variants of that characteristic, which, if measured, can accurately pick up the contextual effects on the characteristic.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68630/2/10.1177_0146167283093002.pd

Development And Validation Of A Projective Measure Of Power Motivation.

PhDPsychologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/181673/2/0018659.pd

Replication of Americans View Their Mental Health, 1976

This replication of a 1957 study (see Gurin, Veroff, and Feld, 1957, Log# 00077) was conducted to determine the status of mental health in the American adult population and to determine the typical coping styles used by this population. The population from which this representative sample was drawn consisted of all adults, 21 years old or older living in private homes in the United States. An area probability sample was drawn, with the county as the stratification unit. The Survey Research Center of the University of Michigan conducted interviews with 2,264 subjects. The questionnaires focused on various areas of one's life where problems may develop, such as marriage and family, work, and general social relationships. Participants were asked about general satisfaction and satisfaction with their marital and work roles. Questions about health; attitudes about self, work, and family; coping styles and methods; and background items were also included. Finally, the interviews contained six Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) picture projective cues. The 1976 replication includes 70% of the questions asked in 1957. The Murray Archive holds additional analogue materials for this study (typed TAT protocols from a random subsample). If you would like to access this material, please apply to use the data

Americans View Their Mental Health, 1977

This study was conducted to determine the status of mental health in the American adult population and to determine the typical coping styles used to deal with problems. The population from which these representative samples was drawn consisted of all United States adults, twenty-one years old or older, living in private homes. An area probability sample was drawn, with the county as the stratification unit. The sample comprised of 2,460 respondents interviewed by the Survey Research Center, University of Michigan. The interview focused on various areas of one's life where problems may develop, such as marriage and family, the work situation and general social relationships. Participants were asked about the following: general satisfaction and satisfaction with their marital and work roles; health; attitudes about self, work, and family; coping styles and methods; and background items. The interview also contained six Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) picture projective cues. The Murray Archive holds additional analogue materials for this study (original record paper Thematic Apperception Test protocols from a random subsample). If you would like to access this material, please apply to use the data

The Changing Influence of Interpersonal Perceptions on Marital Well-Being among Black and White Couples

This study is the longitudinal extension of an earlier study of perceptions of conflict in the first year of marriage (Acitelli et al., 1993). In both studies, we examined the relative importance (to marital well-being) of partners' similarity and understanding of conflict styles. While the earlier study related perceptions of conflict in the first year with first year marital well-being, the present study related the same first year perceptions with third year marital well-being. Two important changes appearing in the findings for the third year compared to the first year are: (1) constructive acts appeared more important than destructive acts to third year marital well-being, whereas destructive acts were more predictive than constructive acts of first year marital well-being; and (2) the association of wives' understanding of husbands to third year marital well-being was positive for black couples and negative for white couples. This association was positive for both groups in the first year. Results are discussed in terms of the ambiguity of positive interactions as well as the dissolution of the romantic myth in the course of relationship development in early marriage.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68849/2/10.1177_0265407597143001.pd

Sexual Satisfaction and Marital Well-Being in the First Years of Marriage

We consider the importance of sexual satisfaction in the first years of marriage. First, we examine how husbands' and wives' feelings of affirmation and tension in their marriage relate to levels of sexual satisfaction. Further, we explore the relationship between sexual satisfaction and four dimensions of marital well-being: competence, control, equity and happiness. Data from a longitudinal study of black and white couples were analysed separately by race and gender. In both the first and third years of marriage, feelings of affirmation and tension were associated with sexual satisfaction for all race and gender groups. Sexual satisfaction was related to several dimensions of marital well-being, though not always in the expected direction, and the patterns differed across race and gender groups. Sexual satisfaction is at least as important to wives as to husbands, but it is important to conduct separate analyses for race and gender groups.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68950/2/10.1177_0265407594114002.pd