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 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. 1)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? VariablesMSDRange Age Wives – 47 Husbands – 48 First born – Years in US Wives – 22 Husbands – 27 Nuclear family size – 7 Total household size – 10 Marital duration (years) – 15 Education (years) Wives – 16 Husbands – 18 Work hours (per week) Wives – 60 Husbands – 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 Sample Characteristics (N = 125 Couples) ConstructMeasureAuthorScale & Reliability Husbands’ TraditionalityGender Roles Attitude Scale Marital roles & childrearing subscales: 10 items Hoffman & Kloska, point scale, higher scores indicate more traditional attitudes α =.84 husbands Wives’ Acculturation StatusAcculturation 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, point scale, higher scores indicate more Mexican orientation (i.e., less acculturated) Anglo orientation: α =.87 Mexican orientation: α =.81 Wives’ Marital QualityMarital Love and Conflict Love subscale: 9 items Conflict subscale: 5 items Braiker & Kelley, point scale, higher scores indicate greater levels of love and conflict Love: α =.86 Conflict: α =.59 Wives’ Personal Well-beingCenter for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) 12 items (shortened version) Radloff, point scale, higher scores indicate higher levels of depressive symptoms, α =.79 Abstract Research Questions Measures Results & Conclusions Bivariate CorrelationsEntire Sample (N = 125) Less Acculturated Wives a (n = 105) More Acculturated Wives a (n = 20) HUSBANDS’ TRADITIONALITY: Wives’ Marital Love Wives’ Depression Wives’ Marital Conflict -.22*.16 t t t.39 t.41 t Note: a Less Acculturated = Mexican status; More Acculturated = bicultural + slightly Anglo. † p <.10. * p <.05. 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 Sample Correlations Between Husband’s Traditionality and Wives’ Marital and Personal Well-Being 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% 1 st generation, 90.4% 2nd generation, 2.4% 3 rd 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: Wives: 84% Mexican oriented, 13.6% Mexican/bicultural, 2.4 % slightly Anglo oriented Husbands: 68.8% Mexican oriented, 29.6% Mexican/bicultural, 1.6% slightly Anglo oriented  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. Variables Less Acculturated (N = 105) More Acculturated (N = 20) Age Education Child’s generational status Family size Years in US Marital duration Wives’ Acculturation Group Comparisons Note: All comparisons are significant at the p <.05 level