Social Support In Relation To Marital Problems

Background

Conflicts or disagreements are unavoidable in any kind of relationship including a marriage relationship. While every marital relationship is considered to be unique just as the individuals involved are, some degree of disagreement is in fact necessary for the marriage to be lively and not a static one. The views of the quality of marriage relationship between two people in disagreement are very important. They hence need to be assessed since they can be used provide the best solution to that conflict. There are varied means conflict resolution that spouses usually use to deal with their marriage differences and all these that are essential and play a big role in shaping their marital contentment status. Making adjustment to the new life can be very tricky after marriage because this would mean adapting to different expectations, reacting to uncertain marriage risks and accepting the responsibilities of marriage (Cummings, 1998, p. 78). The partners will also be required to learn how to communicate with each other effectively, derive satisfaction from their collective activities and learn how to manage conflicts peacefully.

In marriage, it is important to have a significant balance between what one individual considers good and his/her partner regards as bad. Positive and negative interactions are all essential for the marriage and it is proper that the couple learn to identify which one satisfies their marriage needs and which ones causes conflict. Research has indicated that when couples fail to do this, their marriage can get into a very detrimental state that could have serious mental impact on them and even on their children (Buehler, et al, 1998, p. 120). As such, there several ways of dealing with marital problems including social support currently recommended. This social support concept evaluates the factors essential in marriage like finances, division of duties and the causes of conflict. This way, the couple together with the third party (mostly a family member) who is usually involved in such resolution seeking process attempts to find the most balanced solution. This is hence very critical for buffering the impact of marital conflict (Cummings, 1998, p. 78).

Problem Statement

‘Social support plays a significant role in providing the solution to marital problems and has provided significant difference especially for family support’. Very Few studies imply that social support is very important tool for dealing with marital problems as it often leads to positive outcomes hence good for survival of the marriage as well as the psychological wellbeing of the couple and the children (Cummings, 1998, p. 78). However there are no conclusive researches that have proved that social support actually offers the best solution to marital solutions. Some people claim that social support tends to connect marriage problems to traditions of a certain community or society, some of which are now long overdue. For instance in many Arab nations, women are still regarded somehow inferior to men and should be submissive and servants to their men. Their role in the society is just child bearing and to be in the kitchen. This is why there have been blossoming interests in the role of social support in safeguarding marriages from potentially pathogenic effects of marital problems (Verhofstadt et al, 2005, p. 23). Some studies on the other hand claim that the rise in number of marital problems is because there is double income, no social support and financial independence among couples and that the only solution would be based on the willingness to comply with professional therapy. There is very little empirical researches that have studied marital conflict as measured alongside social support to provide conclusive report on this. For this cause, this research will be seeking to explore the relationship between social support and marital problems with empirical support which can be used as valid reference. This comes when there are increasing numbers of studies looking at the use of social support as a means to solve psychological problems, money problems among other family disputes (Cutrona, 1996, p. 56).

The Rationale

This study stems from a number of elements that have been connected to poor social support system like social undermining. Social undermining includes the kind of behaviors that bring the harmful effect, pessimistic assessment of an individual’s attributes, lack of appreciation efforts and actions of an individual and anything else that could impede achievement of helpful goals (Cutrona, 1996, p. 56). Paradoxically, the person better placed to support the suffering couple particularly in creating a lasting relationship, can most readily cause negative outcomes as well. Enmeshment is one example of social undermining in this context.

Families that have diffuse emotional restrictions offer the best social support since in most cases they engage positively emotion wise (Cummings, 1998, p. 81). Family members have in most cases learnt how to avoid conflicts as a way of adapting to each other’s character and to reduce stress that could come from negative emotion. It’s important to note that, no emotion is ever properly regulated hence, family social support and avoidance of negative intrusiveness helps to prevent evoking negative feelings (Verhofstadt et al, 2005, p. 25). Families prefer to interact positively so that the members are comfortable with each other and minimal differences can be tolerated. The emotions usually flow uninhibited predictably through the permeable interpersonal boundaries where people are so open to each other and share almost everything that they go through.

Purpose of Study

Marital conflicts often result in serious family problems especially to the children they are more vulnerable to stress and are usually mere victims of circumstances (Buehler, et al, 1998, p. 120). However social support has been found to be among the better ways of directing the outcome of when dealing with marital problems. The purpose of this qualitative study will be to investigate the impact of social support on the general welfare of couples experiencing marital problems. This study will also aim to scrutinize the kind of perceived social support systems that have the greatest impact on the family in conflict (Cutrona, 1996, p. 56). The past researches on marital conflict have provided a clear impression of the profile social support approach gives when applied in resolving of marriage problems, but its relevance to change the marriage relationship is still contentious (El-Sheikh & Harger, 2001, p. 875). This study is one of the ways of amassing observations in a comparatively theoretical process and it’s anticipated that the patterns capable of directing better problem resolution will come up. On the hand, it’s hoped that this study will help to try and develop a unified framework for guiding social support and make empirical investigations valid.

Theoretical Framework

In psychology, the study of the human welfare and interaction is very critical for making critical conclusions regarding social life. Psychological wellbeing is described as having the ability to make informed decisions, effectively manage stress, communicating properly on sensitive issues, efficient parenting and good management of personal emotions (El-Sheikh & Harger, 2001, p. 875). Otherwise, some experts just describe it as that general feeling of contentment and hope. Hence they imply that the psychological welfare touches on many aspects of life and therefore requires proper management.

Much of the previous researches used marital status and state of individual well-being rated on scores and on a scale measuring depression to indicate the level of psychological stress. These researchers also focused on independent study of marital conflict and social concepts (Caughlin, 2002, p. 49). Psychological studies on marriage have impressively based their hypotheses on marital conflict. Contrastingly, much of the theory and research conducted on social support concentrated most on how it impacted on individual progress like mental health or physical well-being.

Research Questions

It’s extremely important to learn how to handle marital problems since they are inevitable. Over years, there has been an increased attention on the consequences that dissatisfaction in a marriage or separation of parents causes on the couple and the children (Buehler, et al, 1998, p. 123). Current studies show increased number of divorces across the country, which is not a good thing for the society.

The most important research question will be ‘what elements of marriage problems presents the highest risk of conflict?’ this research will also seek to answer questions on aspects like economy, emotions, social support and healthy relationship (Verhofstadt et al, 2005, p. 27).

1. What makes these social life dimensions significant in marriage?
2. What happens when these elements are well managed or absent?
3. Do the couples know (recognize) their family problem or the cause of it?
4. Do the couples feel that their problem was caused by factors like money issues, children, ghastly habits, daily plans and poor communication?
5. To what degree are the family problems recognized as individually-caused and what proportions are caused by both partners?
6. How effective is social support in handling family problems?
7. How do couples know when to seek help or suggest it to a friend in marital conflict?
8. Can social support manage marital problems? Does family support have bigger role in managing conflicts?

Hypotheses

In an endeavor to meet the objective of this study, the researcher will investigate the connection between social support and marital conflict among the participants (Caughlin, 2002, p. 49). The prospective impact of marital discord like disagreement is critical for exploration. This study will also aim at finding out the type social support that can achieve the greatest influence on an individual partner or a couple, mentally (Toepfer, 2010, p. 58). The following guideline helped to build the main hypotheses of the study;

• Will better conflict tactics better psychological status of the partners or the couple?
• Will social support translate to better psychological state?
• Will family support play a major role of improving ways of dealing with conflicts?

From the research questions and the above guideline, the hypotheses below will be used;

• H1 – better conflict tactics will translate into better psychological status of the partners
• H2 – betters social support will lead to better means of dealing with conflict hence develop better psychological health status in couples
• H3- family support is the most significant way of enhancing conflict resolution tactics

Three tools will be used for amassing the data. They include the conflict tactic scale which works along the premise that problem are inevitable and the important elements of every human use even force as way of solving the conflicts (Toepfer, 2010, p. 58). The general health questionnaire is a tool used for screening psychiatric disorders in grown-ups. It assesses signs like insomnia, depression and social support systems among other symptoms. Multidimensional scale to rate the social support has 12 items to be filled and it is designed for self administration. It measures perceived support from family members, friends and what can just be referred to as the significant other in such a case.

Significance of Study

For years now, the attention given to the consequences of marriage dissatisfaction has also increased. The society is normally concerned about issues or consequences of parental separation and the impact of mental problems of the parents on their family (Caughlin, 2002, p. 52). The numbers of divorces that are recorded each year in America are alarming. Most of the divorces are associated with the varying expectations what marriage would offer, unfounded conflicts and couples’ working schedules. According to statistics, 23% of the divorces recorded are attributed to irresponsible attitude by the married partners while 21% are due to lack of compatibility (El-Sheikh & Harger, 2001, p. 876). Such big figures are a big threat to the integrity of the marriages especially the American family system. Researches on marriage indicate that conflicts in marriage are normal, inevitable and also necessary for survival of that marriage to a certain level (Toepfer, 2010, p. 59). Nonetheless, the couple’s ability to handle the conflicts will determine the degree of satisfaction and the type of impact that the conflicts will have on the marriage.

Previous researches have also shown that the marital conflicts common to most couples are as a result of mental or psychological health status. Two variables seem to be the most determining factors of the stability of a marriage; marital conflict and the psychological status of the partners (El-Sheikh & Harger, 2001, p. 878). This is why this study is important for informing the psychological field on the role of social support in marriage conflict or whether professional assistance could be the best alternative (Toepfer, 2010, p. 59).

Literature Review

Background

The purpose of this study will be to examine the outcomes that social support can have on a troubled marriage and the difference that the social support has as compared to professional assistance. To achieve this, the study will be a qualitative analysis scrutinizing the effectiveness of social support in dealing with marital conflict (Cutrona, 1996, p. 59). Marriage distress is the most common problem that affects man today. Everyone in a marriage relationship can agree to this presumption that they have at least experienced marital disagreements even though they managed to solve their disputes peacefully. However, in some cases, the problems in marriage can escalate to levels that the spouses are overpoweringly distressed and disappointed about their marital relationship that they begin questioning whether would actually remain married or get out of the marriage. Marital distresses are very disturbing and the manner in which these marriage problems progress many times, it’s very easy for things to get worse (Cummings, 1998, p. 85). Nonetheless, in many other instances, the progress in the negative direction can be changed. Most marriages can get back to a more satisfying marriage relationship provided that appropriate problem-solving tactics are used properly. Sometimes the spouses themselves can achieve this, but in most cases, they need help from outside, as in family members or professional marriage counselors or couple therapists (Toepfer, 2010, p. 61).

Whereas some studies specifically measure psychological health by assessing contentment and positive feelings, others evaluate psychological distress and lack of psychological well-being. Couples that are in conflict experience more psychological distresses. This is characterized by sadness, loss of hope, agitation, loss of appetite and insomnia. Marital problems are in most cases caused by factors like finances, children, daily stress, poor communications and bad habits (Toepfer, 2010, p. 62). However the impact affects the mental status of the couple and their economy, intimacy and interpersonal relationships can get into jeopardy. Marital problems translate to unhealthy psychological well-being leading to a marriage with no intimacy and even lack of trust in perceived social support.

Marital Conflict

Intervention programs built on the premise of effective social support for families or couples that are experiencing marriage problems have been developed for a number of people including mentally affected, stressed couples, bereaved, for parents of young children and unmatched couples (Cummings, 1998, p. 78). Cummings in 1998 described the meaning of marital conflict as the occurrence of very high degrees of disagreement, nerve-racking and argumentative interactions between spouses, lack of respect and vocal ill-treatment. On the other hand, Cummings (1998, p. 60) interpreted marital conflicts as any serious or minor interpersonal differences that involved one partner having a different thought, opinions or ideas (whether they were mostly negative or positive). Consequently, there are various emotional and strategic expressions that characterize marital disagreements of everyday life. When things get to the extreme negative end, then marriage aggression sets in and this can include violence, both vocal and physical (Sagrestano et al, 1998, p. 76).

There are varied definitions of what conflict is all about and are all interdependent on the individuals in that relationship. This is what makes it important for this study to address the differences that exist between the partners. A conflict can also be described as a circumstance whereby interdependent individual communicate differences by attempting to content their personal needs and interests and then they are interrupted by the other person trying to meet new objectives (Sagrestano et al, 1998, p. 76). Conflicts usually erupt when the differences between individuals call for changes in at least one of the people so as to continue being engaged to their relationship. When two people get married, they have to undergo a process of adapting to each other’s expectations, perceptions, judgments and character. These differences can never survive together without some adjustments. This means the differences existing between spouses can only co-exist when a proper resolution is found. This is based on the principle that disagreement is an inevitable and key element of every human interaction where use of compulsion, force and aggression are used as a scheme of determining harmful conflicts.

Social Support

This is a description of the conflict resolving process that encourages various types of assistances offers by other people outside that particular marriage. This support could be from the immediate family, close friends and marriage experts. Some researchers have shown that quantifying the supposed total amount and also the contentment brought about by social support was critical in the attempt to understand the amount of impact this would have on health (Cohen et al 2000, p. 12). Many measurement tools used to evaluate social support and its impact on relationships typically assess how frequently various forms of support have been used over time or basically in the context of a certain occurrence. In addition, this type of support is controlled by the social environment characteristics and the personalities of the individuals in the program, their notion of things, the available resources and their implication (Cohen et al 2000, p. 12).

The probable protective impact of social support amid stressful experiences is accurately claimed in preventative move. Marital problems often have deleterious impact on the general welfare of the spouse especially those who do not get any form of social support; however, the impact is significantly reduced or totally eliminated among couples who get proper social support (Cohen et al 2000, p. 15). It is for this cause that this paper will address the impact of social support on marital problems as well as the influence that professional assistance could play in managing social these problems (Sagrestano et al, 1998, p. 78).

From this perspective, marital conflicts and social support are critical interpersonal elements in marriage and they entail interaction where the married partners deal with their problems jointly – either within the marriage or singly in their private lives (Cutrona, 1996, p. 175). Well functioning couples are presumed to depend on efficient communication and better problem solving skills to handle their marital problems and also deal with private lives. By conceptualizing spousal conflict and the social support concept the researchers will be able to draw very beneficial results since the two concepts are thought to share same problems solving orientation (Sagrestano et al, 1998, p. 78).

Depression appears to be the major sign of a troubled marriage relationship and usually sets in the event that the partners cannot compromise their differences. Additionally, social support, despite the source certainly plays a role in inhibiting the negative impact of conflicts on the marriage survival, on the couple’s state of mind and on the children’s wellbeing (Cohen et al 2000, p. 21). All this information is vaguely implied in previous researches as there are very few empirical studies investigating marital conflicts versus social support is one study. Some sources are available on the use of social support to manage troubled marriages but they do not give the actual relationship resulting in the said outcomes (Sagrestano et al, 1998, p. 79). This study will provide qualitative information that connects marital conflict to social support and the actual outcomes of using social support.

When to Seek Assistance

It is true that no one can have a perfect marriage because of the small differences that individual have even when they are in love. However every couple has a chance of benefitting from some external help at times when there are problems in the marriage (Cohen et al 2000, p. 21). There are programs today designed to help couples get prepared for their marriage encounters including premarital preparations program, relationship enhancement program among others. A lot more people look for couple counseling from professional experts so that they can improve their marriages even when their relationship is not excessively distressed (Goodman, 1999, p. 342). A couple does not have to get extremely distressed in order to seek help. Many people in solid marriages have chosen to go through marriage therapy programs in order to enhance their relationships (Goodman, 1999, p. 342).

Disappointment in marriage is not something that will just come and disappear, it is persistent. Most frequently, the couples that experience highest levels of distress disagree a great deal and their fights usually do not end up in a positive workable solution, rather in a feeling of being worn out (Goodman, 1999, p. 342). Alternatively, couples may not fight but they strongly feel disconnected that their intimacy moments are lost, they do not have sex, there is no communication and there are no joint responsibilities anymore. Consequently, distressed marriages tend to manifest signs such as loss of vitality and friendship, and reduced interest in sex Others include aggression, disdain, withdrawal and complete lack of connection that the risk of divorce is very high (Cutrona, 1996, p. 176).

Sometimes marital problems are entirely caused by normal relationship conflict like poor communication, arguments, sex, poor problems solving skills and intimacy. The partners simply do not have a good sense of staying married or communicating or even offering their support. During the early years of a marriage when romance and friendship that couples shares are at its peak, chances are high they the couple may very well adequately manage their problems (Goodman, 1999, p. 345). There are indications that when a marriage is rocked by problems during its early stages, ultimately, a divorce becomes imminent. Moreover, the risk of a failed marriage increases during the adolescent stage of the children.

Marital problems have a great impact on the partners, in most cases resulting into great sadness, agony, extreme anxiety and even depression (Cutrona, 1996, p. 177). When the problems are prolonged, they can even cause direct impact on their physical health. The impact on the while family is profound when the conflict is great. Children raised in unstable homes tend experience more problems in school and with the law than other children, they also suffer stress and behavior problems (Goodman, 1999, p. 347). Once a marriage is said to be distressed, this is road downward and can eventually lead to dissolution of the marriage unless proper intervention is sought and effectively applied with compliance of the partners.

Summary

Good family relationships especially for the extended family are healthy for marriages. When family members feel very close to one another, they can share emotions, propose solutions to problems and even help mediate and attain consensus in the event of a marriage dispute (Beach et al, 1996, p. 45). This façade of intimacy among family members is interspersed by serious conflict and consequent withdrawal before resolving the problems. Communication is usually the main reason conflicts ensue and different people deal with the issue in a different way. For example, in an enmeshed family, children are usually drawn into the disputes and this amplifies the impact that marriage conflict can have on children’s feeling of security. Consequently, such children have problem of adjusting back to normal life after the dispute (Beach et al, 1996, p. 47). Cohesive family systems encourage better communication that is characterized by warmth, affection and harmony. Such cohesiveness builds better psychological welfare whereas the enmeshed and detached patterns are an indicator of detrimental family interactions.

Research Methodology

Introduction

The study will be set to investigate social support in relation to marital problems by use of qualitative research. It will aim at finding the relationship that exist or the impact that family social support has on marital problems. The social support is hypothesized to be very effective in buffering detrimental effects of marital problems. Social support as a marital conflict tactic will be studied to determine its effect on the wellbeing of a couple (Lian & Geok, 2003, p. 102). It’s quite obvious that the manner in which couples deal with its marital problems will have an influence on their psychological status and eventual welfare of the marriage.

The study will evaluate conflict tactics that result into improved psychological status of the couple, investigate whether social support positively correlates with better marriage relationship and the significance of family social support in couple’s conflict management (Lian & Geok, 2003, p. 103).

Method and Design

This will be a qualitative research that will employ experimental design where couples will be randomly selected for participation. The reason for using qualitative analysis will be to fill the gaps that currently exist between the quantitative researches linking social support and marital conflict. This study will seek to put an explanation to it so that there are valid reasons for believing that social support is effective in handling marital conflicts (Lian & Geok, 2003, p. 103). The study will employ semi-structured questionnaires which will help is assessing specific behaviors or characteristics that occur in these domains and how they positively connect.

The couples will be given a chance to discuss their problems and share as long as they would be relevant to the study and this will allow naturalistic interaction to take place. The techniques that will be used for the study will be questionnaires. There are two basic domains that will form the major part of the discussion, marital conflict and social support. However professional help will also be assed to a lesser extend since the purpose of this study is basically to investigate the impact of social support (Lian & Geok, 2003, p. 103). This study method will be basically concerned with finding out why and how the social support influences resolution of marital problems. In the process, qualitative study will attempt to find the meanings and the implications of main elements of research, social support and marital problems.

Participants

The sample size will be 399 and the response rate is expected to be 95%. There will be 218 married or cohabiting females (about 54.6%). Then men will be 181 and this will be done so to ensure that there is no bias in the collection of data where a partner will respond in a certain way fearing that the other partner will know. One partner will represent a couple (Lian & Geok, 2003, p. 103). Because daily schedules are very important for couples’ relationship, the participants who claim to work together and live together with their spouses be investigated more deeply on time management and work-life balance. This sample will also be controlled in terms of age, education, absence or presence of children, race and general personality of the participants. The age will range from 18-65 years where the mean will be about 35 years. Various races will be includes from African America, Caucasian, Spanish and Latino, Indians and even Chinese.

Materials and Instruments

To meet the objective of the research, the 399 participants were rated on three tools of analysis;

1. Conflict Tactics Scale
2. General Health Questionnaire
3. Multi-dimensional Scale for Social Support (Lian & Geok, 2003, p. 103)

Those who qualified were couple either married or had cohabited for some time. The study will seek to measure the social support tactics that are used to deal with conflicts among the couples especially the family support aspect. The ability of the couples to handle conflict and other problems will be assessed in relation to how they perceived the idea of social support. This also means that the couples with better conflict management skill and rated high on the conflict tactic scale were more likely to solve their problems better.

Data Collection/Processing/ Analysis

The conflict tactic scale will be used to assess domestic violence as it’s a standard tool for this. It functions on the premise that conflicts are inevitable and critical for any human relationship and force can b used to achieve it. The CTS will measure three major dimension of a relationship; verbal aggression, violence and rational reasoning. The tool is also divided into three sections, “oneself”, “the spouse” and “ever happen”. These three sections have 20 items to rate but this research shall only focus on oneself and the spouse (Lian & Geok, 2003, p. 103).

The general Health Questionnaire will be designed for evaluating psychiatric status of adults and it will be used to assess mental problem like anxiety, depression and social dysfunction. The information will be collected and rated on a 4-point scale (that is, 1= Better, 2 = Same, 3 = Worse, 4 = Much Worse than Normal). Multi-dimensional scale for social support will be used to evaluate what the participants thought of getting help from friends, family members and significant other and on a 7-point scale, participants will be able to respond agree or disagree (Lian & Geok, 2003, p. 103).

Procedure

The questionnaires will be administered by a group of trainee psychologists and the participants will allowed fill the questionnaire on the spot whereas some will carry them home if need be. However inclusion would only be after filling a consent form (Lian & Geok, 2003, p. 103).

Assumptions/Limitations

There are possibly two limitation that can affect research is the choice of study period in which to conduct the research. It could be possible that it could be possible that issues of reciprocity that marriage hold may not be addressed.

Second, the study utterly concentrated on the interface between the way one partner’s characters interacts with the other partner. Participants own behavior also affect their emotional experiences a great deal in the event of a marital conflict. For this cause, future research needs to ensure that differential effects are disentangled.

Ethical Issues

The research study will adhere to the ethical processes set by the American Psychological Association. All the process and instruction will be built on the premise of the standardized procedures for data collection, analysis and presentation. This means that all participants will have to assent to informed consent to be allowed to participate in the study. The data collected will be treated with maximum confidentiality. Participants will not be allowed to write their names on the questionnaires, but just to indicate age and sex for purposes of statistical analysis. The researcher will also ensure that the study will be approved by the college and the relevant research authorities in the North central University.

Summary

Analysis of the data will be done via recursive abstraction where summaries of the responses will be made without coding them. To draw conclusions the researcher will summarize the notes further since this is a qualitative study. The figures that will be collected from the study will be interpreted to theoretical meaning.

Reference List

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El-Sheikh, M., & Harger, J. (2001). Appraisals Of Marital Conflict And Children’s Adjustment, Health, And Physiological Reactivity. Developmental Psychology, 37: 875 – 885

Goodman, C.C. (1999). Reciprocity Of Social Support In Long-Term Marriage. Journal Of Mental Health & Aging, 5(4): 341–357

Jenkins JM, Simpson A, Dunn J, Rasbash J, O’Connor T. G. (2005). Mutual Influence Of Marital Conflict And Children’s Behavior Problems: Shared And Non-Shared Family Risks. Child Development, 76:24–39.

Lian, T.C., & Geok, L, S. (2003). A Study Of Marital Conflict On Measures Of Social Support And Mental Health, Sunway Academic Journal, 5: 97-107

Sagrestano, L.M., Christensen, A., & Heavey, C.L. (1998). Social Influence Techniques during Marital Conflict. Personal Relationships, 5: 75-90.

Toepfer, S.M (2010). Family Social Support And Family Intrusiveness In Young Adult Women. Family Science Review, 15(2): 58-61

Verhofstadt, L., et al. (2005). Conflict and Support Interactions In Marriage: An Analysis Of Couples Interactive Behavior And On-Line Cognition. Personal Relationships, 12: 23–42.