Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

12-1986

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Human Ecology

Major Professor

Priscilla White

Committee Members

Gary Peterson, Greer Fox, Bill Poppen

Abstract

Issues of separateness and connectedness have been addressed by scholars in the fields of individual and family therapy as well as family studies. However, specific predictors of married couples' balancing of both separateness and connectedness have received little empirical attention. In the present study, the predictive value of a model of variables was tested for balancing separateness and connectedness. The model's predictor variables were marital communication, gender-role attitudes, job/family role strain, job/family management, and gender.

Individual survey data were collected from a sample of 48 couples who had been married at least 5 years, had at least one child living at home, and were employed full-time. Multiple regression/correlation analysis was used to analyze the data.

The model was found to be highly significant in predicting balancing of separateness and connectedness, as measured by cohesion. Marital communication, husbands' traditionally feminine attitudes, and job/family role strain were the most powerful predictors in the model. The same model of variables was significant in predicting adaptability, or each partner's ability to tolerate the ongoing balancing of changing needs for both separateness and connectedness. Marital communication was the most powerful predictor in the model for adaptability. In pursuing one of the study's secondary objectives, the curvilinearity of cohesion and adaptability was not supported by the data from this homogeneous sample.

A major conclusion from the study was that balancing of separateness and connectedness, or cohesion, by dual-earner couples was positively influenced by the communication patterns in the marriage. Secondly, it seemed that husbands who perceived themselves as being high in traditionally feminine traits were more likely to report higher cohesion.

Major implications included the need for further theoretical and empirical work on quality of connectedness as mediated by concurrent separateness. In addition, practitioner, as well as client, biases regarding couples' expectations of themselves and of their spouse were addressed in the arenas of differential impacts on wives and husbands regarding communication, role sharing, and role redefinition.

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