Husbands' Traditionality and Wives' Marital and

1
Husbands' Traditionality and Wives' Marital and
Personal Well-being in Mexican American
Families Yuliana Rodriguez, Jill K. Walls,
Heather M. Helms, Monsy Bonilla The University
of North Carolina at Greensboro
Sample Characteristics (N 125 Couples)
Abstract
Sample
Variables M SD Range
Age
Wives 27.66 5.81 16 47
Husbands 29.91 6.04 18 48
First born 5.66 3.93 .08 13.64
Years in US
Wives 8.74 4.44 0 22
Husbands 11.20 5.26 2 27
Nuclear family size 4.02 .93 3 7
Total household size 4.79 1.38 3 10
Marital duration (years) 6.66 3.99 1 15
Education (years)
Wives 9.72 3.14 0 16
Husbands 9.06 3.17 1 18
Work hours (per week)
Wives 38.24 6.30 16 60
Husbands 43.55 8.37 20 80
Income (annual)
Wives 15,028 6,564 2,500 31,600
Husbands 24,886 8,832 8,000 69,000
Family 32,976 12,826 6,000 83,4000

• Marital Status 69.6 married, 30.4 cohabiting
  (but living as married)
• Child Gender 58.4 male, 41.6 female
• Firstborns Generational Status 7.2 1st
  generation, 90.4 2nd generation, 2.4 3rd
  generation
• Ethnicity
• Wives 96 Mexican, 1.6 Puerto Rican, 2.4 other
  Latin origin
• Husbands 93.6 Mexican, .8 Puerto Rican, 5.6
  other Latin origin
• Parents Birth Place
• Wives 93.6 Mexico, 4 US, 2.4 other Latin
  country
• Husbands 91.2 Mexico, 3.2 US, 5.6 other Latin
  country
• Employment Status
• Husbands 98.4 employed, 1.6 non-employed
• Wives 52 employed, 48 non-employed
• Acculturation Status

• In this investigation, we examined the link
  between husbands traditionality and their wives
  marital and personal well-being in 125 Mexican
  American couples with young children. During 2- 3
  hour home interviews with couples recruited via
  cultural insiders and snowball sampling methods,
  husbands and wives described themselves and their
  marriages, the extent to which they ascribed to
  gendered views about marriage and parenting, and
  their familiarity with and acceptance of various
  dimensions of Anglo and Latino culture. Analyses
  were conducted to 1) examine the link between
  husbands traditionality and wives reports of
  marital quality and personal well-being, and 2)
  examine whether or not this link varied based on
  wives level of acculturation. Post-hoc analyses
  addressed how more vs. less acculturated wives
  differed on a number of background
  characteristics.
• Is husbands traditionality related to wives
  marital quality and personal well-being?
• 2) Does the association between husbands
  traditionality and wives marital quality and
  individual well-being vary as a function of
  wives acculturation status?
• 3) How do more acculturated wives differ from
  less acculturated wives?

Research Questions
Measures
Construct Measure Author Scale Reliability
Husbands Traditionality Gender Roles Attitude Scale Marital roles childrearing subscales 10 items Hoffman Kloska, 1995 5 point scale, higher scores indicate more traditional attitudes a .84 husbands
Wives Acculturation Status Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans- II Anglo orientation 13 items Mexican orientation 17 items Groups for analyses Less acculturated Mexican More acculturated Mexican/bicultural slightly Anglo Cuellar, Arnold, Maldonado, 1995 5 point scale, higher scores indicate more Mexican orientation (i.e., less acculturated) Anglo orientation a .87 Mexican orientation a .81
Wives Marital Quality Marital Love and Conflict Love subscale 9 items Conflict subscale 5 items Braiker Kelley, 1979 9 point scale, higher scores indicate greater levels of love and conflict Love a .86 Conflict a .59
Wives Personal Well-being Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) 12 items (shortened version) Radloff, 1977 4 point scale, higher scores indicate higher levels of depressive symptoms, a .79
Results Conclusions
Correlations Between Husbands Traditionality and
Wives Marital and Personal Well-Being
Wives Acculturation Group Comparisons
Variables Less Acculturated (N 105) More Acculturated (N 20)
Age 28.55 23.00
Education 9.35 11.63
Childs generational status 1.92 2.08
Family size 4.10 3.60
Years in US 8.13 11.90
Marital duration 7.14 4.06
Bivariate Correlations Entire Sample (N 125) Less Acculturated Wivesa (n 105) More Acculturated Wivesa (n 20)
HUSBANDS TRADITIONALITY Wives Marital Love Wives Depression Wives Marital Conflict -.22 .16t -.01 -.18t .12 -.12 -.42t .39t .41t
Note a Less Acculturated Mexican status More
Acculturated bicultural slightly Anglo. p
lt .10. p lt .05.
Note All comparisons are significant at the p lt
.05 level

• Overall, the more traditional husbands are, the
  less love wives report in their marital
  relationships. However, the consideration of
  wives acculturation status further qualifies
  this finding and suggests that the negative
  association between husbands traditionality and
  wives love is more pronounced for more vs. less
  acculturated wives.
• A positive association exists between husbands
  traditionality and wives depression and conflict
  for more acculturated wives only suggesting that
  the more traditional their husbands are, the more
  depression and marital conflict these wives
  report.
• A mismatch between husbands traditionality and
  wives acculturation status has negative
  implications for wives personal well-being and
  marital quality.

Acknowledgements This research was funded by a
UNCG Regular Faculty Grant, the HES Grant
Incentive Program, and an Agricultural Research
Service Award (P.I. Dr. Heather Helms). Many
thanks to participating couples, project manager
Mary Julia Moore, and Darlene Pitaluga, Ashley
Valezquez, and Diana Escobar for their assistance
with data collection. Correspondance concerning
this poster should be directed to Monsy Bonilla
at mybonill_at_uncg.edu.