Tsui-Shan Li
Department of Child & Family Studies Fu-Jen Catholic University
Ying-Ling Hsiao
Department of Child & Family Studies Fu-Jen Catholic University
This study had two purposes: (1) to identify married couples’ resilience profiles, and (2) to examine specific interactional characteristics that spouses might have to protect their marital relationships against life stress. Of the 352 married couples from Taipei city and county participated in this study, 215 had experienced one of 49 stressful life events during the past year. Cluster analyses of married dyads’ martial satisfaction and marital stability generated two groups: high resiliencey (high satisfaction and stability) and low resiliencey (low satisfaction and stability). Multivariate analyses of variance indicated that married couples who were classified in different groups could be distinguished according to their affection and interactional characteristics. Both spouses in the “high resiliencey” group had a higher level of en-qing and intimacy than the counterparts. Husbands in the “high resiliencey” group tended to be willing not to engage in certain activities their spouses didn’t like for maintaining their marital relationships. Husbands were also more likely to endure and calmly discuss with their spouse in dealing with marital disagreements. Wives in the “high resiliency” group were less likely to use direct confrontation in solving their marital problems. The stepwise logistic regression model revealed that marital affection and confrontational behaviors were two major factors that predicted the odds of being high or low resiliency groups.
Keywords: couple resilience, life stress, marital affection, marital interaction