This paper is divided into three different sections; 1) relevant subjects in 1990, discussed in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in volume 59, issue 6, 2) methodology used within the article, “Chronic Parenting Stress: Moderating Versus Mediating Effects of Social Support, and 3) a comparison between two articles, the first being a professional article and the second being a newspaper article. Other outside sources will be included within the text to verify information used in the study. The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology covers many topics, but in 1990 there were several topical trends.
One trend in 1990 was emotional intelligence questioning how extraverts deal with issues versus introverts. Another trend covered issues describing how people with different personalities deal with decision making, and how different personalities cope with stress. Stress is a topic that people from all walks of life have to contend with. It doesn’t matter what a person’s age, whether they are single or married, parents or childless, each person is required to deal with stress at different times in their life. Articles that distribute information about how to cope with stress can be helpful. The article, “Chronic Parenting Stress: Moderating Versus Mediating Effects of Social Support,” deals with one type of stress.
The article, Chronic Parenting Stress: Moderating Versus Mediating Effect of Social Support was written by one woman and two men. There is one study in this article and the purpose of the study was to compare, “a mediating model of social support with the buffer model,” in relation to chronic parenting stress. The study in this article compares the influence of long-lasting specific stressors, with life-event stress, and to test two different ways in which outside support could change the results. Moderating versus mediating were the two methods compared to determine if their use would change the results in the study. The study was comprised of 96 mothers with deaf children and a control group of 118 mothers of children without special needs. The study calculated and observed whether the amount of social support a person received made a difference on their stress level. Did that social support help or hinder their situation? Were the stressors chronic or situational? The method used to find participants was a sample-wise method. The reason for this choice rather than a case-matching approach was that finding preschool-age deaf children was difficult (Quittner, 1990). The mediating model was tested using the LISREL techniques and multiple regressions (Baron & Kenny, 1986).
The study conducted was correlational and used observational methods to gather results. The initial screening for this study was conducted with a letter mailed from the hospital program that the family was enrolled in, or a notice from the school that the child attended. A representative went to each mother’s home and conducted a 100 –item well-though-out interview with each mother (Quitter, 1990). All mothers chosen for the study had regular hearing ability, because it was predetermined that a mother with hearing difficulty would not view her child’s lack of hearing as a problem, and an interpreter may be needed to assist in the study which made matters more complicated (Moores, 1987). By using several measures of each hypothesis, the dependability and legitimacy of the variables was increased (Mitchell, 1982). The study did not discuss the ethical aspects of the research other than the fact that the mothers consented to participate. The methodology was relevant, because there was a control group to compare to the study group. However, the numbers in this study were small compared to the number of mother’s with deaf children. Several surveys and tests were given out throughout the study to create accuracy and legitimacy. Statistics are often altered, but the results were interesting nevertheless (Quitter, 1990).
Mothers of the deaf children that were part of the clinical group rated their children as being more restless, challenging, temperamental, and less flexible than mothers in the control group. There were more problems reported in daily home activities by the mothers in the study group and this caused them additional stress. There was a large difference on how the mothers scored on the PSI scales. Moms with deaf children scored in the 90th percentile and moms in the control group scored in the 50th percentile. In regards to social support the findings were also varied. Mothers with deaf children tended to have smaller groups of supporters when it came to both family and friends. This leads one to believe that people with disabled children feel isolated and alone (Barrera, 1988). Strangely enough, there was no difference calculated in the perceived support between the two groups (Quittner, 1990).
The support came from different places. Mothers of deaf children found support through their doctors and mothers of non-deaf children found support through friends and neighbors. Mothers of deaf children were found to be far more depressed than the control group mothers. All methods used in this study were correlational research methods. Different models have shown that there were virtually no moderating effects for social support. However, path analyses showed that social support mediated the relationship between the different stressors and the eventual results. When a parent has chronic stress they come to perceive that they have less emotional support and therefore increased anxiety and depression. Parents without chronic stress feel more supported and therefore suffer less from worry and depression.
The last section of this paper will be a comparison between a professional paper and a newspaper article. The paper to be used in comparison is entitled, The Baby and the Marriage: Identifying Factors that Buffer against Decline in Marital Satisfaction after the First Baby Arrives. This article is from the Journal of Family Psychology in the year 2000. The newspaper article is entitled, Rocking the cradle – And the marriage. This article came from a 2006 issue of the Seattle Times. The main goal of the study in the professional paper was to determine if buffers could be identified in the early stages of marriage that would prevent an eventual course towards later divorce. By examining couples at the start of their marriage and before any pregnancies, could buffers be detected that would predict whether a couple would be at higher risk for divorce after the first child? Previous studies were not longitudinal. Without examining the relationships prior to pregnancy it is impossible to determine if the marriage was ruined due to the baby (Shapiro, 2000).
Information for this study was collected through interviews and observations. Couples were asked about their history together and their philosophy in regards to their relationship as a couple. Through time, it was discovered that the overwhelming contributor to a woman’s marital satisfaction was greatly determined by the expression and amount of affection her husband gave to her. When a husband was extremely negative toward his wife, she became unhappy and eventually he would become unhappy as a result. The data collected from this study can be generalized to other populations. The concepts of this study were measured by OHI, which is a type of interview with open-ended questions. The OHI was guided during the first year of marriage. There were two groups that were interviewed. The first group had 50 couples and was studied in detail. These studies were videotaped in an apartment laboratory. The couples discussed questions over dinner. The second set had 68 couples. Half were interviewed in the apartment lab and half were interviewed in their homes. Eventually there were a total of 82 couples studied out of the original 130 selected (Shapiro, 2000). There were several findings in this study.
The research indicated that marital friendship is a buffer that greatly helps during the difficult times that arise during a marriage. Moving into the role of parenthood is one of those difficult times and having the friendship buffer aids in strengthening the marriage. Marital dissatisfaction is proven to decline once children are present. Having a good foundation in the marriage before pregnancy is the key to keeping the relationship alive after the family begins. The relationship between the variables was correlational. The author’s findings were conclusive and although the study was small and within one type of demographic it still had validity. The methodology is as strong as it could be. Interviews and surveys are only as accurate as the truth being revealed by the participants (Shapiro, 2000). The second set of information is from the Seattle Times.
This article reveals that studies have shown that children make marriages more difficult in three ways; 1) there are a much higher number of conflicts, 2) relationships between the man and woman are put on hold, and 3) mothers are far less happy than women in general and men feel put on the back burner. The article does not give any specific study statistics, but generalizations. The article provides several comments from parents. The data in the newspaper article cannot be generalized to other populations. Generalizations on recent studies indicate that having a baby may be the beginning of the end of a marriage, according to John Gottman. Recent studies that have been done regarding marriage after the first baby have discovered several things:
Out of every eight couples one gets divorced before their first baby is a year-and-a-half old.
Women lose satisfaction in marriage after a bay in 70% of marriages
More people get divorced in the first 5 years of marriage and also at 16 years of marriage. These times overlap with having kids and when kids enter adolescence.
Relationships that begin with difficulties get progressively worse with children.
More than 33% of new parents are as stressed as couples that are in counseling.
There is a great risk for moms without support to get clinically depressed if they have children under five years old.
One fact this article suggests is that more counseling or training needs to be done with couples before they have children. The relationship between the couple needs to be solidified so that it has a better chance in surviving the difficulties of marriage and family throughout the years (DeLeon, 1999).
According Gottman, there are signs that foretell about the impending demise of a marriage:
When a relationship is more negative than positive there is cause for concern.
When couples do not fight fair.
When one member of the relationship does not feel appreciated or maybe they feel taken advantage of.
When all efforts to fix a problem seem to go awry.
Studies discussed in a professional paper give very specific facts regarding; how a study takes place, what methods are used, how participants are chosen, and how the results are defined through the use of statistics. A newspaper on the hand is about informing the public about a subject and making it interesting to read. There are often quotes, stories, and in the end, results or conclusions. Newspaper articles discuss more about how participants feel about the subject and not just the specific answers to direct questions that will then be calculated into a statistic. Professional papers are necessary when used to determine statistical analysis of studies and to get direct facts. Newspaper articles are much more enjoyable to read and give you the emotion and overall picture of what happens regarding a subject, not just the facts.
References
Baron, R. M, & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51,1173-1182.
Barrera, M.(1988). Models ofsocial support and life stress: Beyond the buffering hypothesis. In L. H. Cohen (Ed.), Life events and psychological functioning: Theoretical and methodological issues (pp. 211-236). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
DeLeon, F.M. (1999, October 24). Rocking the Cradle – And a Marriage –After D-Day: Programs Help Couples Prepare for Parenthood. Seattle Times. Retrieved from http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19991024&slug=2990888
Mitchell, R. E., Billings, A. G, & Moos, R. H. (1982). Social support and well-being: Implications for prevention programs. Journal of Primary Prevention, 3, 77-98
Moores, D. (1987). Educating the deaf: Psychology, principles, and practices. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Quittner, A.L., Glueckauf, R.L., & Jackson, D.N. (1990). Chronic Parenting Stress: Moderating Versus Mediating Effects of Social Support. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59(6), 1266-1278.
Shapiro, A.F., Gottman, J.M., & Carrere, S. (2000). The Baby and the Marriage:Identifying Factors That Buffer Against Decline in Marital Satisfaction After the First Baby Arrives. Journal of Family Psychology, 14(1), 59-70.
Whelan, C. T. (2008). The Role of Social Support in Mediating the Psychological Consequences of Economic Stress. Sociology of Health and Illness, 15(1), 86-101. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-9566.ep11343797/pdf
