Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 1978 Marital adjustment, idealization, and conventionalization Gary Lee Hansen Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at:https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of theFamily, Life Course, and Society Commons Recommended Citation Hansen, Gary Lee, "Marital adjustment, idealization, and conventionalization " (1978).Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 6552. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/6552 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Retrospective Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This material was produced from a microfilm copy of the original document. 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University Microfilms international 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 USA St. John's Road, Tyler's Green High Wycombe, Bucks, England HP10 8HR 7903979 HANSEN, GARY LEE MARITAL ADJUSTMENT, IDEALIZATION, AMD CONVENTIDNALIZATION. IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY, PH.D., I97S International soon, zeeb road, amn arbor. wMsioe Marital adjustment, idealization, and conventionalization by Gary Lee Hansen A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department: Sociology and Anthropology Major: Sociology Approved: Signature was redacted for privacy. In Charge of Major Work Signature was redacted for privacy. Signature was redacted for privacy. For the Graduate College Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 1978 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER II. THEORETICAL ORIENTATION 7 Theoretical Strategy 7 Social Construction of Reality 8 Social Comparison Theory 9 Attribution Theory 11 Consistency Theories 15 Hypotheses 18 CHAPTER III. METHODS AND PROCEDURES 21 Population 21 Sample 22 Method of Data Collection 23 Development of the Questionnaire 28 Social and demographic variables 28 Marital conventionalization 32 Marital adjustment 34 Marital idealization 36 Social desirability 39 Anomie 40 "Dummy" items 40 Pretest of the questionnaire 41 Questionnaire format 41 Methods of Statistical Analysis 42 Summary 43 CHAPTER IV. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SAMPLE 44 Summary 56 iii Page CHAPTER V. FINDINGS 59 Distribution of Scale Scores 59 Summary 61 Tests of Hypotheses 62 Summary 78 Social and Demographic Variables 79 Marital conventionalization (true/false format) 79 Marital conventionalization (forced-choice format) 80 Affectional expression 80 Dyadic satisfaction 81 Dyadic consensus 82 Dyadic cohesion 83 Marital adjustment 84 Anomie 85 Social desirability ' 86 Idealized attributional style 86 Marital idealization 87 Summary 87 CHAPTER VI. DISCUSSION AND FURTHER ANALYSIS 88 Discussion of Hypotheses Testing 88 Further Analysis 92 Summary 102 CHAPTER VII. CONCLUSIONS 104 Limitations and Suggestions for Further Research 104 Restatement of Major Findings and Conclusions 106 REFERENCES 108 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 114 APPENDIX A: LETTER TO RESPONDENTS 115 APPENDIX B: QUESTIONNAIRE 117 IV Page APPENDIX C: MARITAL CONVENTIONALIZATION ITEMS (FORCED-CHOICE FORMAT) 132 APPENDIX D: FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTIONS OF MARITAL CONVENTIONALIZA­ TION, MARITAL ADJUSTMENT, MARITAL IDEALIZATION, IDEALIZED ATTRIBUTIONAL STYLE, SOCIAL DESIRABILITY, AND ANOMIE SCORES 135 APPENDIX E: MAJOR VARIABLES AS FUNCTIONS OF SOCIAL AND DEMO­ GRAPHIC VARIABLES (SIGNIFICANT RELATIONS FOR MALES, FEMALES, AND TOTAL SAMPLE) 147 V LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1. Age of respondents 45 Table 2, Race of respondents 46 Table 3. Year of marriage of respondents 46 Table 4. Number of marriages of respondents 47 Table 5. Number of children of respondents 47 Table 6. Educational level of respondents 49 Table 7. Occupation of respondents 50 Table 8. Respondents' residence by geographical area (high school years) 51 Table 9. Religious preference of respondents 51 Table 10. Denomination of Protestant respondents 52 Table 11. Other religion categories of respondents 53 Table 12. Influence of religion on respondents 54 Table 13. Frequency of church attendance by respondents 54 Table 14. Family income of respondents 56 Table 15. Occupation of respondents' fathers 57 Table 16. Occupation of respondents' mothers 58 Table 17. Summary scores and standard deviations for the marital adjustment scale and its subscale 51 Table 18. Mean ratings on positive and negative adjectives (spouse, friend, and spouse self-rating) 63 Table 19. Mean rating on positive and negative behaviors (spouse, friend, and spouse self-rating) 64 Table 20. Correlation coefficients between marital adjustment and marital conventionalization (Edmonds' true/false format) when marital idealization varies and is held constant 71 vi Page Correlation coefficients between marital adjustment and marital conventionalization (forced-choice format) when marital idealization varies and is held constant 74 Correlation coefficients between marital adjustment and marital conventionalization when social desirability varies and is held constant 92 Correlation coefficients between three background varia­ bles and marital adjustment and conventionalization (true/false format) when each varies and is held con­ stant 100 Correlation coefficients between three background variables and marital adjustment and conventionaliza­ tion (forced-choice format) when each varies and is held constant 101 Frequency distribution for marital conventionalization scores (true/false format) 136 Frequency distribution for marital conventionalization scores (forced-choice format) 137 Frequency distribution for affectional expression scores 138 Frequency distribution for dyadic satisfaction scores 139 Frequency distribution for dyadic consensus scores 140 Frequency distribution for dyadic cohesion scores 141 Frequency distribution for marital adjustment scores 142 Frequency distribution for marital idealization scores 143 Frequency distribution for idealized attributional style scores 144 Frequency distribution for social desirability scores 145 Frequency distribution for anomie scores 146 Marital conventionalization scores (true/false format) as a function of number of children 148 vil Page Table 37. Marital conventionalization scores (forced-choice format) as a function of year of marriage 149 Table 38. Marital conventionalization scores (forced-choice format) as a function of number of children 150 Table 39. Marital conventionalization scores (forced-choice format) as a function of influence of religion 151 Table 40. Affectional expression subscale scores as a function of year of marriage 152 Table 41. Affectional expression subscale scores as a function of influence of religion 153 Table 42. Affectional expression subscale scores as a function of income 154 Table 43. Affectional expression subscale scores as a function of mother's occupation 155 Table 44. Dyadic satisfaction subscale scores as a function of year of marriage 156 Table 45. Dyadic satisfaction subscale scores as a function of number of children 157 Table 46. Dyadic satisfaction subscale scores as a function of influence of religion 158 Table 47. Dyadic satisfaction scores as a function of church attendance 159 Table 48. Dyadic satisfaction subscale scores as a function of mother's occupation 160 Table 49. Dyadic consensus subscale scores as a function of year of marriage 161 Table 50. Dyadic consensus subscale scores as a function of number of children 162 Table 51. Dyadic consensus subscale scores as a function of influence of religion 163 Table 52. Dyadic consensus subscale scores as a function of church attendance 164