RE-CONCEPTUALIZING SPOUSAL CAREGIVING FROM A DYADIC PERSPECTIVE IN THE U.S.

Existing literature on later-life spousal caregiving tends to focus on one member of the marital dyads, assuming a priori distinction between the caregiver and care-receiver. Theoretically and empirically, this individualistic role-related (caregiver-receiver) approach is inaccurate, as the concept of spousal care intrinsically involves two people within a marital dyad. Therefore, this paper used a social exchange perspective to re-conceptualize spousal caregiving as a dyad-level phenomenon. Using the 2014 wave of the Health and Retirement Study, 6,500 individuals (3,250 couples) aged 65 and above and their spouse were selected. Based on each partner’s need for care, receipt of spousal care, and provision of spousal care, the study identified five distinctive caregiving typologies. Household-level factors such as the availability of other types of informal care were associated with these typologies. This paper offers a broader and more dynamic perspective of the spousal caregiving experiences.

Marital Investments and Community Involvement

It is customary to test Coser’s greedy marriage thesis by comparing marital status groups. We propose a new approach that uses the marital dyad as the unit of analysis and examine whether investments in the marital relationship discourage community involvement through formal volunteering. Data from a U.S. national sample of 1,368 married couples revealed mixed support for the proposed relationship. Consistent with the greedy marriage thesis, wives’ soulmate view of marriage was negatively associated with their own and their husbands’ reports of volunteering. Although these associations were attenuated by religious service attendance, wives’ soulmate view had a more dampening effect than husbands’ soulmate view on their own and their husbands’ volunteering. However, the time couples spend alone together was positively associated with husbands’ reports of volunteering, which counters the greedy marriage thesis. These findings suggest that the greedy nature of marriage is, in part, determined by its participants—how they define and manage their marriage.

Sport and Family Functioning: Strengthening Elite Sport Families

<p class="text" align="left">Families play an important role in society, both in human sustenance and individual development. Family systems theory views the family as a series of interconnected parts that when functioning properly, provide individual members with multiple benefits. Interaction with external systems, such as sport, school or church, can have positive and negative impacts on the family. It is unclear, however, what elements of sport relate to specific outcomes. The purpose of this study is to better understand the relationship between elite youth sport participation and family units, and how these two spheres, individually and in combination, impact family functioning. In-depth, purposeful interviews with seven “sport families” revealed that in addition to the depletion of resources (financial and time), elite sport engagement strongly detracts from the marital dyad and family unit receiving sufficient time and attention for proper functioning. The results also offer insight into how the leagues can be better managed such that they positively contribute to family functioning. Specifically, the results indicate that leagues can aid in strengthening family functioning through allowing families to have <em>coaching input, </em>and providing greater attention to <em>scheduling, league expectations, </em>and<em> instrumental support</em>.</p>

Mr. & Mrs

Recent literature has demonstrated the power of marriage in influencing spousal physical activity behavior, yet the relationship between marriage and activity is not fully understood. The purpose of this qualitative study was to add to current literature by examining the mechanisms within the marital context that may influence physical activity. Employing constructs of Social Cognitive Theory to guide the inquiry, researchers used the qualitative techniques of in-depth interviews, photo elicitation and field notes to gather data in 2012 from twelve spousal pairs (n=24 participants). Results indicated verbal persuasion by husbands encouraged wives, yet verbal persuasion by wives was perceived as nagging by men. Verbal persuasion by husbands increased a few of wives’ sense of self-efficacy (25%), yet the majority of women (83%) felt that persuasion increased motivation, not necessarily confidence. Results also highlighted the power of modeling to increase husbands’ physical activity. Overwhelmingly, men reacted less positively to verbal persuasion than modeling (75%). This study demonstrated the utility of Social Cognitive Theory in advancing our understanding of spousal physical activity and underscored the need for health professionals to consider the marital dyad when designing health interventions.