Marital Satisfaction and Family Functioning in Families with Toddlers:

1
Marital Satisfaction and Family Functioning in
Families with Toddlers Evidence For a Single
Construct? Phillip R. Sevigny, M. A. Lynn
Loutzenhiser, Ph. D. Child and Family Research
Group, University of Regina

Methods

• Results
• Moderate correlations were found between
  depression and marital satisfaction as well as
  depression and family functioning. (Table 1.)
• Very strong correlations were found between
  marital satisfaction and family functioning.
• The correlation between depression and marital
  satisfaction was significantly different from the
  correlation between family functioning and
  marital satisfaction for both mothers, t 4.92,
  p lt .001, and fathers, t 2.84, p lt .01.
• To examine whether the measures of family
  functioning and marital satisfaction were tapping
  unique variables, an exploratory factor analysis
  (EFA) was conducted on the total scores of each
  instrument for mothers and fathers (Costello
  Osborne, 2005).
• KMO measure of sampling adequacy .72
  determinant .07.

• Introduction
• The family is an important agent of
  socialization, particularly for young children,
  and has been shown to influence child
  developmental outcome in a number of ways (e.g.,
  Flouri, 2005 Twenge, Campbell, Foster, 2003).
• According to family systems theory, the family
  can be divided into different subsystems or
  levels of organization the individual, the
  marital dyad, and the whole family unit
  (Dickstein et al., 1998).
• From this perspective, measuring functioning at
  the individual, dyadic and family-unit levels can
  provide a comprehensive understanding of how the
  family is functioning overall.
• Transitions within the family provide an
  opportunity to examine how adaptations to change
  influence both family and child development
  (Cowan Cowan, 2003).
• The toddler period is an understudied time of
  family change. Toddlers abilities expand rapidly
  and parents are challenged to increase their
  repertoire of skills to keep pace with their
  childs changing needs (Coleman Karakker,
  2003).

• Discussion
• The moderate correlation between the individual
  variable and both the marital and family
  variables as well as the significant difference
  between these correlations suggests that
  measuring individual functioning provides unique
  information about functioning within the
  family-unit.
• The results of the EFA suggests that in this
  sample of well functioning, two parent families
  of toddlers, measures of marital satisfaction and
  family functioning may be tapping a single
  underlying construct.
• Thus it remains unclear whether instruments
  designed to assess the marital and family unit
  actually correspond to different levels of the
  family system.
• Prior investigations have demonstrated a strong
  correlation between these two constructs in both
  clinical and non-clinical samples (Akister
  Stevenson-Hinde, 1991 Hayden et al., 1998).
  Since the magnitude of the correlation has
  varied, it is possible that the strength of this
  relationship may be different in clinical
  families.
• Few studies however have explicitly explored the
  relationship between marital and family unit
  variables in families with preschool age children
  (Demo Cox, 2000).
• It may be that the constructs of marital
  satisfaction and family functioning are redundant
  during the early childhood years but begin to
  differentiate when children are older than
  toddlers.
• While the current investigation indicates that
  these may be one construct, it is not clear what
  level of the family system it corresponds to. It
  is possible, for example, that these instruments
  are both assessing aspects of marital harmony.
• Thus, future research needs to establish the
  level validity of the DAS and the FAD using
  procedures outlined by Cook and Kenny (2006).

• Procedures
• This investigation is part of a larger study
  exploring family life during the toddler period.
• Cohabiting couples whose first-born child was
  between the ages of 18 36 months were recruited
  from daycares, parent-child recreational
  programmes and a trade fair aimed at parents of
  young children.
• Mothers and fathers independently completed
  questionnaires assessing the level of the
  individual (depressive symptoms), the marital
  dyad (marital satisfaction) and the level of the
  family unit (family functioning).
• Measures
• Depression Beck Depression Inventory - II (Beck,
  Steer Brown, 1996).
• Marital satisfaction Dyadic Adjustment Scale
  (Spanier, 1976).
• Family functioning Family Assessment Device,
  General Functioning subscale (Epstein, Baldwin,
  Bishop, 1983).
• Participants

Table 1. Correlations Among Study Variables
Variable 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
1. Dad Depression -.37 .30 .28 -.10 .15
2. Dad Marital Satisfaction --- -.71 -.35 .67 -.61
3. Dad Family Functioning --- .25 -.58 .64
4. Mom Depression --- -.36 .34
5. Mom Marital Satisfaction --- -.83
6. Mom Family Functioning ---