title: Marital Quality of Newlywed African American Couples: Implications of Egalitarian Gender Role Dynamics.
abstract: This research examined associations between husbands' and wives' gender role attitudes, division of household labor, and marital quality in a sample of 697 newlywed African American couples residing in the southern region of the United States. Guided by a cultural ecological framework, we tested hypotheses specific to the unique socio-cultural context of African Americans using a mixed model ANCOVA design. Results revealed that: (1) couples reported lower marital quality when husbands had relatively more traditional gender role attitudes; (2) husbands reported lower marital quality when the couple engaged in a relatively more traditional division of household labor; and (3) husbands with more traditional attitudes who also engaged in a traditional division of labor reported lower marital quality compared to all other husbands. Although African Americans are thought to have more flexible gender role orientations than other racial/ethnic groups within the U.S., these results documentwithin group variabilityin couple gender dynamics and its association with variability in marital quality.
authors: The Pennsylvania State University, 105 Beecher-Dock House, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
authors: Christine E
authors: CE
authors: Stanik
authors: Chalandra M
authors: CM
authors: Bryant
keywords: African American; Division of household labor; Gender role attitudes; Marriage