Race Differences in Marital Well-Being

Author(s): Clifford L. Broman

Source: Journal of Marriage and Family, Vol. 55, No. 3 (Aug., 1993), pp. 724-732
Published by: National Council on Family Relations
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/353352
Accessed: 26-06-2016 13:53 UTC

REFERENCES
Linked references are available on JSTOR for this article:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/353352?seq=1&cid=pdf-reference#references_tab_contents
You may need to log in to JSTOR to access the linked references.

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
http://about.jstor.org/terms

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted
digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about
JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

National Council on Family Relations, Wiley are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and
extend access to Journal of Marriage and Family

This content downloaded from 104.239.165.217 on Sun, 26 Jun 2016 13:53:06 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 CLIFFORD L. BROMAN Michigan State University

Race Differences in Marital Well-Being

This article investigates the role of race in mari- faction (White, 1983). A recent study provides
tal well-being. I argue that recent evidence sug- evidence that economic adequacy, more so than
gests that lower levels of marital well-being are traditionally measured income, education, and oc-
evident for African Americans. Using national cupation, is more closely linked to marital quality
sample data of 2,059 married individuals, the (Clark-Nicolas & Gray-Little, 1991). Other stud-
analysis provides support for this hypothesis. ies have found that being satisfied with the divi-
Blacks are significantly less likely than whites to sion of labor between a couple increases satisfac-
feel their marriages are harmonious, and black tion with marriage (Suitor, 1991), as does having
women are less likely to be satisfied with their nontraditional sex-role attitudes (Vannoy &
marriages than white women. Three possible ex- Philliber, 1992). Job characteristics, such as su-
planations for these patterns are considered, re- pervisor support, job security, and satisfaction
sulting in the finding that spousal emotional sup- with one's job, also are associated with greater
port andfinancial satisfaction intervene in the re- marital quality (Clark-Nicolas & Gray-Little,
lationship between race and marital well-being. 1991; Hughes, Galinsky, & Morris, 1992).
However, the relationship between race and mar- Somewhat surprisingly, race differences have
ital well-being is not explained by any of these been little studied in this research. One reason for
factors. this may be the small number of individuals who
are not white typically found in many samples. In
Several researchers have explored the correlates the recent decade reviews on marital quality
of marital satisfaction (Crohan & Veroff, 1989; (Glenn, 1990) and black families (Taylor,
Glenn, 1989; Glenn & McLanahan, 1982; Glenn Chatters, Tucker, & Lewis, 1990), there is no dis-
& Weaver, 1978, 1988; McLanahan and Adams, cussion of race differences in marital well-being,
1987; Miller, 1976; White, 1983; White, Booth, reflecting the small amount of research that has
& Edwards, 1986). There are some important been done in this area. This is surprising, given
general conclusions that can be drawn from this the attention to black family issues in national de-
work (Glenn, 1990). One is that the presence of bates concerning race, poverty, and the underclass
children has negative effects on marital well- (Wilson, 1987). Poor marital quality has great po-
being (Glenn & Weaver, 1978; McLanahan & tential for marital dissolution (White, 1990) and
Adams, 1987; White, Booth, & Edwards, 1986). may have implications for declining marriage
Other studies have found that higher spousal in- rates and nonmarital child bearing. Poor marital
teraction is associated with greater marital satis- quality may be a factor in the greater numbers of
divorced and separated African Americans, as
compared to whites (Cherlin, 1992; U.S. Bureau
of the Census, 1992). The present study focuses
Department of Sociology, Michigan State University, East
Lansing, MI 48824-1111. on race differences in marital well-being in an ef-
fort to contribute research to this important area.

724 Journal of Marriage and the Family 55 (August 1993): 724-732

This content downloaded from 104.239.165.217 on Sun, 26 Jun 2016 13:53:06 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 Race and Marital Well-Being 725

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK being? I argue that race is a factor in marital well-

being because premarital factors, as well as fac-
It is clear that, in the last 30 years in America,
tors within the marriage, disadvantage blacks rel-
there have been important changes in family or-
ative to whites and adversely affect well-being in
ganization (Cherlin, 1992; Farley & Allen, 1987;
marriage. It is likely that several premarital fac-
Hatchett, Cochran & Jackson, 1991; Schoen &
tors differ for blacks and for whites. Two are sug-
Kluegel, 1988). In general, the likelihood of being
gested here. The first is poorer financial and edu-
married has decreased, while rates of marital dis-
cational status and potential for blacks. The black
ruption have increased (Cherlin, 1992; Schoen &
man or woman coming into a marriage is likely to
Kluegel, 1988). People tend to marry later and, at
have poorer current status and poorer prospects
a given age under the age of 30, more young
for the future than a white man or woman, given
adults have never been married (U.S. Bureau of
the pervasiveness of continuing institutional dis-
the Census, 1992). There have also been increases
crimination against African Americans (Farley &
in child bearing that occurs when the mother is
Allen, 1987). In this sense, then, the black spouse
unmarried and, in the establishment of separate
is typically not as attractive as a financial partner
households that are headed by women (Farley &
as is the typical white spouse. This is an impor-
Allen, 1987; U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1992).
tant component of attracting a spouse, based on
These changes have occurred for both black
evidence that women trade physical attractiveness
and white families; however, these patterns have
been more marked for black families. For both for the economic security a man is typically sup-
posed to provide (England & Farkas, 1986). A
racial groups, the proportion of adults who are
second factor pertains to the set of expectations
married has declined; but this decline is especial-
that parties may bring to the marriage. It is possi-
ly sharp for the black population (Cherlin, 1992;
ble that these expectations differ for blacks and
U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1992). African
for whites, in a manner which portends greater
Americans are more likely to be divorced, sepa-
dissatisfaction in the marriage. These expecta-
rated, or never married than white Americans
tions may be about financial support, emotional
(U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1992).
supportive, sexual behavior, and child care. Trent
Scholars (Hill, 1971; Staples, 1985) have alert-
ed us to the fact that it would be erroneous to in- and South (1992) present evidence that blacks are
more likely than whites to disagree with the state-
terpret the data as reflective of the lack of impor-
ment that 'marriage is for life.' This may reflect
tance of traditional, two-parent families among
experience or greater realism on the part of black
African Americans. Staples (1985) argued that
respondents, but it certainly appears to indicate a
social-structural conditions, such as poverty,
different set of expectations concerning marriage
racism, and discrimination, act to keep black men
in general. Other authors have also studied issues
out of the labor market or depress their wages
of family formation among blacks, and they have
(Farley & Allen, 1987), and may make them
concluded that nondemographic factors, such as
unattractive as marriage partners. Recent research
has shown that there are few race differences in attitudes, play a bigger role in family formation
than do demographic factors, such as the shortage
attitudes toward family formation (Trent & South,
of marriageable men (see Litcher, McLaughlin,
1992). Trent and South (1992) concluded that de-
Kephart, & Landry, 1992; South & Lloyd, 1992).
spite objectively lower rates of marriage and
Once married, the greater exposure to stress
higher rates of divorce, blacks are no less approv-
among blacks relative to whites places greater
ing than whites of marriage and appear more dis-
strain on the marriages of blacks. The fact of
approving of divorce. Since attitudes toward mar-
poorer economic circumstances for blacks rela-
riage and divorce are similar for blacks and
tive to whites (Farley & Allen, 1987) means less
whites, but rates of divorce are higher for blacks,
financial security in the marriage for African
I speculate that there may be race differences in
Americans. Less financial security adversely af-
marital well-being, which may portend observed
fects marital quality (Clark-Nicolas & Gray-
race differences in marital dissolution. Lower lev-
Little, 1991). Blacks are also more likely to be
els of marital well-being for blacks may be an im-
unemployed (Farley & Allen, 1987), which also
portant reason for the disparity in rates of divorce,
decreases financial security. Further, unemploy-
although White's (1990) review pointed out that
ment among African American males is associat-
there is little research concerning the link be-
ed with a greater divorce rate (South & Lloyd,
tween marital happiness and subsequent divorce.
1992). Even when employed, African Americans
Why might race be a factor in marital well-

This content downloaded from 104.239.165.217 on Sun, 26 Jun 2016 13:53:06 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 726 Journal of Marriage and the Family

are more likely than whites to have jobs that are separating from my spouse, and (d) There have
susceptible to economic downturns and subse- been things that have happened in our marriage
quent layoffs, such as jobs in the low wage sector that I can never forgive. Each was coded from 1
(Farley & Allen, 1987). The evidence clearly to 4, with 4 representing high marital harmony.
shows greater financial strain among blacks rela- Responses to the measures were then averaged
tive to whites, and may portend lower marital and summed to create a scale which ranged from
well-being. 4 to 16. The alpha reliability coefficient for this
The above evidence leads us to expect race scale was good, at .72. The second measure was a
differences in marital well-being. We would ex- single item for marital satisfaction, that asked the
pect blacks to have lower levels than whites. The question, "Taking all things together, how satis-
purpose of this study is to examine the signifi- fied are you with your marriage?" Responses
cance of race in marital well-being. ranged from 1 (not very or not at all satisfied) to 4
(completely satisfied).
Age, sex, education, family income, employ-
METHOD
ment, and number of children were also used in
Data the analysis. Age and education were measured in
years, and family income was measured using a
The data used in this study are from the
10-category variable, where 1 represents less than
American's Changing Lives survey (ACL). The
$5,000, 5 represents $20,000 to $24,999, and 10
data were collected in 1986 using a face-to-face
represents $80,000 and above. Parental status was
survey of a national probability sample. Data
measured through ascertaining whether the re-
were collected under the direction of the Survey
spondent has children who live in the house and,
Research Center at the University of Michigan.
if so, how many. Forty-eight percent of respon-
The data file includes 3,617 respondents, of
dents in the study sample have children who live
which approximately 30% were black. To be in-
in the home. The variables sex, race, and employ-
cluded, respondents had to be over the age of 25.
ment status were dummy coded (for sex, 1 =
The overall response rate for the survey was 76%.
male; for race, 1 = black; for employment status,
The data are based on a multistage area probabili-
1 = employed).
ty sample of people living in noninstitutionalized
housing in the continental United States. Blacks
and persons over the age of 60 were sampled at FINDINGS
twice the rate of whites and people aged between
40 and 59. Length of interviews averaged 86 min- Race Differences
utes. See House (1986) for more details. I use Table 1 presents a regression of marital well-
only data for blacks and whites in this research, being measures on predictor variables. The results
since there were only a small number of individu- bear out our hypothesis; blacks are significantly
als from other racial groups. The married (legal less likely to feel that their marriages are harmo-
and common-law) portion of the sample used in nious, and are significantly less likely to be satis-
this article comprised 2,059 respondents. In mul- fied with their marriages. Age, sex, and parental
tivariate analysis, the sample examined here was status are also significant predictors. Older people
effectively reduced to 1,793 respondents, due to reported greater marital harmony than did
missing data, primarily for family income (there younger people, and men reported greater marital
were 201 cases of missing data for income). harmony than did women. As expected, consider-
ing the results of other studies, those with a larger
number of children living in the home reported
Measures
lower marital well-being than did nonparents and
Marital well-being was assessed using two mea- those with fewer children. (Results that are not
sures. One was a scale using four items designed presented here show that people with no children
to tap harmony in marriage. Respondents were living in the home have the highest levels of mar-
asked to indicate, on a continuum from strongly ital well-being).
agree to strongly disagree, their responses to the I conducted further analyses to examine three
following statements: (a) There is a great deal of potentially important factors in understanding
love and affection expressed in our marriage, (b) race differences in marital well-being. The first is
My spouse doesn't treat me as well as I deserve to the quality of spousal emotional support. The sec-
be treated, (c) I sometimes think of divorcing or ond is in-home work demands, and the third is fi-

This content downloaded from 104.239.165.217 on Sun, 26 Jun 2016 13:53:06 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 Race and Marital Well-Being 727

TABLE 1. REGRESSION OF MARITAL

large number of in-home task demands, such as
WELL-BEING ON PREDICTORS
cooking, cleaning, child care, and other house-
Marital Marital hold work is associated with lower marital well-
Harmony Satisfaction
being (Broman, 1988b; Yogev & Brett, 1985).
Age .010* .004* Below, I consider how these factors influence the
Sex (l=male) .424** .191** relationship between race and marital well-being.
Education .009 -.013
Family income .001 -.011 I am interested in two aspects of this question:
Race (1=black) -.748** -.172** first, whether the relationship between race and
Employed (1=yes) -.286 -.078 marital well-being is explained when these factors
Number of children -.186** -.052**
Constant 13.65 3.42 are considered and, second, whether there is evi-
n 1793 1791 dence that these factors intervene in the relation-
R2 .051 .061
ship between race and marital well-being.
*p<.05. **p<.01. The results of the first set of analyses are pre-
sented in Table 2. Spousal support is significant
in marital well-being; the greater the support pro-
nancial satisfaction. Spousal support was mea- vided by one's spouse, the more marital harmony
sured with a single item that asked, "How much is and satisfaction there is. The relationship between
your spouse willing to listen to you when you financial satisfaction and marital well-being is
need to talk about problems?" There were other positive. Satisfaction with the family's financial
items in the questionnaire, but this question was situation is associated with increased marital
felt to tap the domain of emotional support effec- well-being. The number of in-home tasks per-
tively, while not being confounded with the de- formed bears no significant relationship to marital
pendent variables. The measure ranges from (1) well-being. Most importantly, however, none of
not at all to (5) a great deal, with a mean of 4.00, these factors explains the relationship between
which corresponds to the response, "quite a bit." race and marital well-being. The inclusion of
In-home work demands were measured by asking these variables into the regression equation does
respondents if they perform any of the following not affect either the significance or the direction
tasks: (a) prepare food or wash dishes, (b) grocery of the coefficients for race. The magnitude of the
shop, (c) clean or vacuum, and (d) do laundry. coefficients for race are somewhat reduced but,
The value of 1 was assigned each time the re- overall, the pattern remains: Blacks have lower
spondent performed the household task. These marital well-being than whites.
were summed to form a scale of the number of The second set of analyses concerning spousal
household tasks performed; the scale ranged from support, household work, and financial satisfac-
0 to 4, with a mean of 3.28. Finally, the measure tion addresses the issue of whether these are sig-
of financial satisfaction asked the respondent how nificant intervening factors in the relationship be-
satisfied he or she is with family finances. The tween race and marital well-being. To assess this
measure ranges from (1) not at all satisfied to (5)
completely satisfied. The mean is 3.88, corre-
sponding most closely to the response "very satis- TABLE 2. REGRESSION OF MARITAL WELL-BEING ON
fied." PREDICTORS INCLUDING SPOUSAL SUPPORT, HOUSEHOLD
These factors are three of several discussed by WORK, AND FINANCIAL SECURITY

Lewis and Spanier (1979) as important in marital Marital Marital

quality. The three specific factors considered here Harmony Satisfaction

are chosen because there is empirical evidence Age .014** .004**
documenting their importance in marital well- Sex (1=male) -.085 .064
Education .018 -.011
being. Spousal emotional support has been found
Family income -.033 -.031*
to be an important factor in marital well-being Race (l=black) -.587** -.114**
(Miller, 1976; White, 1983). Researchers have Employed (l=yes) -.283* -.069
Number of children -.102 -.022
provided evidence that the greater the support, the
Spousal support 1.03** .316**
greater the marital well-being. Lack of financial Household work -.069 -.001
Financial satisfaction .237** .137**
satisfaction as indicated by financial strain and
Constant 8.91 1.74
stress has been shown to decrease marital well- n 1784 1782
being (Broman, Hamilton, & Hoffman, 1990; R2 .248 .291
Clark-Nicolas & Gray-Little, 1991). Further, a
* p<.05. **p<.01.

This content downloaded from 104.239.165.217 on Sun, 26 Jun 2016 13:53:06 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 728 Journal of Marriage and the Family

FIGURE 1. PATH MODEL OF RACE, POSSIBLE MEDIATORS, AND MARITAL WELL-BEING

-.063

-.098

F iMarital

Spousal ---- .444 -- Satisfaction

Support

Race.40 a
.046 -.002a
Household
-.074 -.0,aMarital
.188
.074Work.01- Harmony
Financial
Satisfaction

Note: All coefficients net of age, sex, education, family income, employment, and parental status.
a Path coefficent not significant at p < .05.

possibility, a path model is examined. Figure 1 effect for harmony. The indirect effect of race
shows the path models for marital satisfaction and through financial satisfaction is 15% of the total
marital harmony. The estimated models are net of effect for satisfaction and 6% for harmony. There
the variables age, sex, education, family income, is no indirect effect through household work.
and employment status. Analyses were restricted These results indicate that spousal support and fi-
to the married portion of the sample. The results nancial satisfaction are important components of
of these analyses show that race is a significant the relationship between race and marital well-
predictor of household work and financial satis- being. However, this relationship is only partly
faction. In these data, blacks are more likely than mediated by spousal support and financial satis-
whites to perform a larger number of household faction. Most of the effect of race on marital well-
chores, and are less likely to be satisfied with being is direct.
their family finances. Race, spousal support, and
financial satisfaction have direct effects on mari-
tal satisfaction and marital harmony. Blacks have Sex Differences
lower marital well-being, while greater spousal Several writers have shown how the sex of the re-
support and satisfaction with family finances in- spondent is a major factor in feelings about mar-
crease marital well-being. riage, and I investigated this possibility by esti-
Path model decompositions calculated direct, mating race by sex interaction terms and testing
indirect, and total effects of race on marital well- their significance. Statistically significant interac-
being. The direct effect of race is 66% of the total tions were found for both measures. Table 3 pre-
effect for marital satisfaction, and 78% of the sents results of a multiple regression analysis of
total effect for marital harmony. The indirect ef- marital satisfaction for men and women (because
fect of race through spousal support is 19% of the results are not significant for marital harmony,
total effect for satisfaction and 14% of the total they are not shown in this table). There is a sig-

This content downloaded from 104.239.165.217 on Sun, 26 Jun 2016 13:53:06 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 Race and Marital Well-Being 729

TABLE 3. REGRESSION OF MARITAL TABLE 4. REGRESSION OF MARITAL SATISFACTION

SATISFACTION ON PREDICTORS BY SEX ON PREDICTORS BY SEX

Female Male Female Male

Age .004 .004 Age .005* .003

Education -.006 -.017 Education -.005 -.013
Family income -.004 -.023 Family income -.028* -.036*
Race (1=black) -.237** -.010 Race (1=black) -.172** -.042
Employed (l=yes) -.115 -.021 Employed (1=yes) -.075 -.072
Number of children -.052* -.046* Number of children -.019 -.020
Constant 3.32 3.64 Spousal support .307** .335**
n 966 825 Household work .033 -.010
R2 .058 .053
Financial satisfaction .144"* .125"*
Constant 1.45 1.88
*p<.05. **p<.01. n 961 821
R2 .292 .280

* <.05. **p<.01.
nificant race by sex interaction, with the race dif-
ference in marital satisfaction present only for
women. It is black women (in comparison to but once married, race is a significant factor in
white women) who are less satisfied with their how one feels about one's marriage. These results
marriages. may help us to understand why the ranks of the
I further examined the pattern of race-sex dif- previously married are growing in the African
ferences by parental status, and found evidence American population, as compared to the white
for a race by sex by number of children interac- population. It is possible that lower marital well-
tion. The metric regression coefficients from re- being for blacks may be related to lower marriage
gression of marital harmony on number of chil- rates. A bad marriage may be a model for chil-
dren were -.189 for black females, -.333 for black dren to avoid, resulting in the belief that marriage
males, -.176 for white females, and -.052 for is personally undesirable. Also, lower marital
white males. All equations controlled for age, ed- well-being may portend higher divorce rates for
ucation, family income, and employment status. African Americans, although research is neces-
The number of children in the household has a sary to fully investigate this relationship.
significant negative effect on marital harmony for In this study, I examined three possible expla-
black men only: the larger the number of children nations for the pattern of results found: spousal
in the house, the lower the level of marital harmo- emotional support, household task performance,
ny. and financial satisfaction. None explained the
I examined the relationships for race and sex basic relationship between race and marital well-
differences in marital well-being, controlling for being; however, estimation of a path analysis
spousal support, household work, and financial model revealed that there are important indirect
satisfaction. Neither relationship regarding race, effects of race on marital well-being through
as reported earlier, was explained away when spousal support and financial satisfaction.
spousal support, household work, or financial sat- Spousal support and financial satisfaction are two
isfaction was controlled for. This is shown in factors which intervene in the relationship be-
Tables 4 and 5. There is one interesting result in tween race and marital well-being. Race has a di-
Table 4. Inclusion of spousal support, household rect impact on these intervening factors, and dif-
work, and financial satisfaction explains the rela- fering levels of spousal support and financial sat-
tionship between number of children in the house isfaction by race have an impact on marital well-
and marital satisfaction, as was seen in Table 3. being.
This analysis also revealed important interac-
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS tions between sex and marital well-being. The re-
lationship between marital satisfaction and race is
Consistent with expectations, the evidence pre- present only among women; black women are
sented in this article has shown that blacks have less satisfied with their marriages than white
significantly lower marital well-being than women. Results for the marital harmony measure
whites. This does not imply that marriage is not show that black men who have children living in
important for individual well-being for both the home with them have lower marital harmony
blacks and whites (Andrews & Withey, 1976; than either white men or women, or black
Broman, 1988a, 1988b, 1991; Campbell, 1981), women.

This content downloaded from 104.239.165.217 on Sun, 26 Jun 2016 13:53:06 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 730 Journal of Marriage and the Family

I argued earlier that premarital factors and ex- diverse activities for their children.
posure to stress might be factors that would lead Finally, there is the issue of remaining in an
one to expect poorer marital well-being for unhappy marriage. Clearly, people who lack edu-
African Americans. The results show that spousal cational and financial resources may be more
support and satisfaction with the family's fi- likely to remain in a marriage that is not happy,
nances each contribute to interpretation of the re- but that provides some financial support for the
lationship between race and marital well-being. I partner and the children. Women, as opposed to
suggest that these are factors present in the mar- men, may be more likely to experience this eco-
riage that lead to lower marital well-being among nomic constraint on marital dissolution, and
African Americans. There are other factors that African Americans, as opposed to white
may be of significance that I was unable to mea- Americans, may be more likely to experience this
sure. One major factor is the children of the mar- constraint as well, because their income levels are
riage. Given the many social problems in many of lower relative to their race-sex counterparts
the larger cities in the United States, where many (Farley & Allen, 1987). It may be that, in some
African Americans reside, it is likely that some marriages, lower marital well-being represents a
African American children daily face the prob- situation of "staying together for the children," or
lems of poor schooling, drugs, and crime (Farley of continuing financial support for the children.
& Allen, 1987). These triple evils take a tremen- This is consistent with the evidence provided by
dous toll on African American children, but they Trent and South (1992), who found that blacks
likely also take a toll on parents and the marital are more likely than whites to disapprove of get-
relationship. The stress and strain of dealing with ting divorced while children are present in the
these social problems affecting one's children family household. Further, South and Lloyd
may leave little time for talking with and laughing (1992) showed that lower male income decreases
with one's spouse. There may be little time for the rate of divorce among African Americans.
the sharing that is extremely important for keep- It is important to note that these factors need
ing a marriage mutually satisfying. to be addressed in future research. These issues
African Americans of higher socioeconomic were not examined in this study due to the cross-
status face different issues which may take time sectional nature of the data and the lack of key
away from the marital relationship. These people measures. Future research must be designed to
may be burdened with the task of financially sup- fully investigate both the patterns found in this
porting other family members who have not study and the causes for these patterns.
"made it" financially and educationally. The
African American couple of higher socioeconom-
NOTE
ic status may also face the task of integrating their
family into the social environment. Many African The data used in this report are available through the
Americans of higher socioeconomic status live in Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social
Research at the University of Michigan. The author ex-
predominantly white areas, and may spend both
presses thanks to anonymous reviewers for helpful
time and emotional energy to provide culturally comments. The author is solely responsbile for all anal-

TABLE 5. REGRESSION OF MARITAL HARMONY ON NUMBER OF CHILDREN BY RACE-SEX

GROUP, CONTROLLING MEDIATORS

Black Black White White

Female Male Female Male

Age .032* .008 .023* .008

Education -.042 .025 .068" .025
Family income .015 -.074 .055 -.123**
Employed (1=yes) -.444 -.569 -.319 -.346
Number of children -.079 -.422** -.071 .072
Spousal support .916** 1.03** 1.12** 1.01**
Household work .327 -.273" .016 -.060
Financial satisfaction .347 .155 .201* .240**
Constant 6.02 10.74 6.77 9.35
n 232 211 730 611
R2 .231 .252 .280 .210

* p <.05. ** p <.01.

This content downloaded from 104.239.165.217 on Sun, 26 Jun 2016 13:53:06 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 Race and Marital Well-Being 731

yses and interpretations in this article. A prior version Political and Social Research (Distributor).
of this article was presented at the annual meeting of Hughes, D., Galinsky, E., & Morris, A. (1992). The ef-
the North Central Sociological Association in April, fects of job characteristics on marital quality:
1993. Specifying linking mechanisms. Journal of
Marriage and the Family, 54, 31-42.
Lewis, R. A., & Spanier, G. B. (1979). Theorizing
REFERENCES about the quality and stability of marriage. In W. R.
Burr, R. Hill, F. I. Nye, & I. L. Reiss (Eds.),
Andrews, F., & Withey, S. B. (1976). Social indicators Contemporary Theories about the Family (pp. 268-
of well-being. New York: Plenum. 294). New York: Free Press.
Broman, C. L. (1988a). Household work and family life Litcher, D. T., McLaughlin, D. K., Kephart, G., &
satisfaction of blacks. Journal of Marriage and the Landry, D. J. (1992). Race and the retreat from mar-
Family, 50, 743-748. riage: A shortage of marriageable men? American
Broman, C. L. (1988b). Satisfaction among blacks: The Sociological Review, 57, 781-799.
significance of marriage and parenthood. Journal of McLanahan, S., & Adams, J. (1987). Parenthood and
Marriage and the Family, 50, 45-51. psychological well-being. Annual Review of
Broman, C. L. (1991). Gender, work-family roles, and Sociology, 13, 237-257.
psychological well-being of blacks. Journal of Miller, B. C. (1976). A multivariate developmental
Marriage and the Family, 53, 509-520. model of marital satisfaction. Journal of Marriage
Broman, C. L., Hamilton, V. L., & Hoffman, W. S. and the Family, 38, 643-657.
(1990). Unemployment and its effects on families: Schoen, R., & Kluegel, J. R. (1988). The widening gap
Evidence from a plant closing study. American in black and white marriage rates: The impact of
Journal of Community Psychology, 18, 643-659. population composition and differential marriage
Campbell, A. (1981). The sense of well-being in propensities. American Sociological Review, 53,
America. New York: McGraw-Hill. 895-907.
Cherlin, A. J. (1992). Marriage, divorce, remarriage. South, S. (1992). For love or money? Sociodemo-
(rev. ed.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University graphic determinants of the expected benefits from
Press.
marriage. In S. J. South & S. E. Tolnay (Eds.), The
Clark-Nicolas, P., & Gray-Little, B. (1991). Effect of changing American family: Sociological and demo-
economic resources on marital quality in black mar- graphic perspectives (pp. 171-194). Boulder, CO:
ried couples. Journal of Marriage and the Family, Westview.
53, 645-655. South, S. J., & Lloyd, K. M. (1992). Marriage opportu-
Crohan, S., & Veroff, J. (1989). Well-being among nities and family formation: Further implications of
black and white newlyweds. Journal of Marriage imbalanced sex ratios. Journal of Marriage and the
and the Family, 51, 373-383. Family, 54, 440-451.
England, P., & Farkas, G. (1986). Households, employ- Staples, R. (1985). Changes in black family structure:
ment, and gender: A social, economic, and demo- The conflict between family ideology and structural
graphic view. New York: Aldine. conditions. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 47,
Farley, R., & Allen, W. R. (1987). The color line and 1005-1015.
the quality of life in America. New York: Russell Suitor, J. J. (1991). Marital quality and satisfaction with
Sage Foundation. the division of household labor across the family
Glenn, N. D. (1989). Duration of marriage, family com- life cycle. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 53,
position, and marital happiness. National Journal of 221-230.
Sociology, 3, 3-24. Taylor, R. J., Chatters, L. M., Tucker, M. B., & Lewis,
Glenn, N. D. (1990). Quantitative research on marital E. (1990). Developments in research on black fami-
quality in the 1980s: A critical review. Journal of lies: A decade review. Journal of Marriage and the
Marriage and the Family, 52, 818-831. Family, 52, 993-1014.
Glenn, N. D., & McLanahan, S. (1982). Children and Trent, K., & South, S. J. (1992). Sociodemographic sta-
marital happiness: A further specification of the re- tus, parental background, childhood family struc-
lationship. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 44, ture, and attitudes toward family formation. Journal
63-72.
of Marriage and the Family, 54, 427-439.
Glenn, N. D., & Weaver, C. N. (1978). A multivariate, U.S. Bureau of the Census. (1992). Marital status and
multisurvey study of marital happiness. Journal of living arrangements: March, 1991 (Series P-20, No.
Marriage and the Family, 40, 269-282. 461). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing
Glenn, N. D., & Weaver C. N. (1988). The changing re- Office.
lationship of marital status to reported happiness. Vannoy, D., & Philliber, W. W. (1992). Wife's employ-
Journal of Marriage and the Family, 50, 317-324. ment and quality of marriage. Journal of Marriage
Hatchett, S. J., Cochran D. L., & Jackson, J. S. (1991). and the Family, 54, 387-398.
Family Life. In J. S. Jackson (Ed.), Life in black White, L. K. (1983). Determinants of spousal interac-
America (pp. 46-83). Newbury Park, CA: Sage. tion: Marital structure or marital happiness. Journal
Hill, R. (1971). The strength of black families. New of Marriage and the Family, 45, 511-519.
York: Emerson Hall.
White, L. K. (1990). Determinants of divorce: A review
House, J. S. (1986). Americans' changing lives: Wave I of research in the eighties. Journal of Marriage and
[Machine-readable data file]. Ann Arbor: University the Family, 52, 904-912.
of Michigan, Survey Research Center (Producer). White, L. K., Booth, A., & Edwards, J. N. (1986).
Ann Arbor: Inter-University Consortium for Children and marital happiness: Why the negative

This content downloaded from 104.239.165.217 on Sun, 26 Jun 2016 13:53:06 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 732 Journal of Marriage and the Family

correlation? Journal of Family Issues, 7, 131-147. sion of housework and child care and marital satis-
Wilson, W. J. (1987). The truly disadvantaged. faction. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 47,
Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 609-618.
Yogev, S., & Brett, J. (1985). Perceptions of the divi-

OS DO

But Family Relations Does!

Special Focus Issues Address Today's
Critical Concerns About Families:

Adolescent Pregnancy octut

REIATIONS Childcare and the Family Oct89
EXMILYnr

Courtship Aggression Jan9g

Family Caregivers Jango
Family Policy Apr 91

Noncustodial Parents octgo

Stepfamilies Jan89
Teaching about Families Jan92
Any four Issues for $45.00
Any three for $35.00 Any two for $25.00
Single issue $15.00
(includes U.S. Postage & Handling)
Foreign & Canadian Orders add $2 Per Journal
Canadian Orders add 7% GST# R-123-830-465
U.S. Funds Drawn on U.S. Banks Only

S Bank or PostalCouncil
National Money Orders AcceptedRelations
on Family ..
3989 Central Avenue N.E., #550
Minneapolis, MN 55421
I? 621/781-9331 FAX 612/781-9348

This content downloaded from 104.239.165.217 on Sun, 26 Jun 2016 13:53:06 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms