Power within Distressed Interracial Marriages

Date of Award

2003

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Ryan, Kimberly

Keywords

Power, Marriage, Interracial Marriage

Area of Concentration

Psychology

Abstract

The frequency of interracial marriages has increased dramatically over the past 30 years. Research indicates that these relationships possess their own unique challenges. This study examined power within distressed interracial marriages. Power was defined as an inequality between partners, specifically through their conversational interaction behaviors, shared meanings, and division of household duties. The Shared Meanings Questionnaire measured the individual's orientation to the couple unit (relational power). The division of labor has been used in past research to measure positional power. Past research has also shown a power difference, in the form of conversational dominance, between couples engaging in a conversation about their day. It was found that there was an inverse relationship between marital satisfaction and power inequality. The current study used the Specific Affect Coding System (SPAFF) to assess two dominance behaviors, stonewalling and domineering, in couples discussing an area of disagreement. Patterns of power, both within and outside the home were also assessed using a division of labor questionnaire, The Family Management Questionnaire. Through responses to the Shared Meanings Questionnaire, the couples emphasis on shared rituals, shared symbols, and shared goals were measured. It was hypothesized that interracial couples (n = 24) would demonstrate significant differences in power dynamics and marital satisfaction compared to samerace Caucasian couples (n = 55). The pretreatment results did not support the hypotheses. However, after marital intervention, husbands in interracial marriages displayed more conversational power behaviors than did husbands in same-race marriages. It was also found that husbands in interracial marriages rated the Shared Meanings: Rituals subscore higher than did husbands in same-race marriages. It is discussed that perhaps behaviors that have proven detrimental to satisfaction elsewhere, may not be so for interracial marriages.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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