Abstract

Married couples aged 55-98 were surveyed regarding their perceptions of family-of-origin distress, their affective communication and problem solving communication skills, and their emotional intimacy. Two 2-way ANOVAs were performed with husbands' (model 1) and wives' (model 2) emotional intimacy scores as dependent measures and family-of-origin distress scores as the independent measures. Then both models were re-analyzed with affective communication and problem solving communication entered as co-variates. Results suggested that for both husbands and wives, emotional intimacy was affected by family-of-origin distress. Additionally, intimacy was affected by the distress in their spouses' family-of-origin in both models. Post-hoc analyses suggested that as long as at least one member of the couple reports low family-of-origin distress, intimacy does not suffer for either spouse. Taking communication variables into account rendered the effects of family-of-origin distress non-significant in both models. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for psychoanalytic, systemic, and developmental theory.

Degree

College and Department

Family, Home, and Social Sciences; Family Life; Marriage and Family Therapy

Rights

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