Marital stress and emotion work in same-sex and different-sex marriages: the moderating role of childhood adversity

ABSTRACT

Adverse experiences in childhood may set the stage for future response to stress, emotion regulation, and interaction with partners in intimate relationships. This study examines the moderating role of childhood adversity on the association of daily marital stress with emotion work provision (intentional activities devoted to enhancing others’ emotional well-being) and considers whether the association varies for men and women in same- and different-sex marriages. Specifically, I use ten days of dyadic diary data collected from 378 midlife same- and different-sex married couples (n = 756 individuals) and conduct multilevel regression models. The results show marital stress is positively associated with emotion work provision, and that the association is stronger for respondents who report more adverse childhood experiences. For respondents with low childhood adversity, the association of marital stress with emotion work is greater for same-sex couples compared to different-sex couples; for those with high childhood adversity, the association is equally strong. Findings from this study suggest that both men and women in same- and different-sex relationships do more emotion work in response to increased daily marital stress. Furthermore, early experiences of adversity are linked to stress responses in adulthood, with differing implications for men and women in different-sex and same-sex unions.

KEYWORDS:

• Dyadic data
• same-sex couples
• emotion work
• marital stress
• childhood adversity

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by grant, P30AG066614, awarded to the Center on Aging and Population Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin by the National Institute on Aging, and by grant, P2CHD042849, awarded to the Population Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. Please direct inquiries to Yiwen Wang, Department of Sociology, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712; email: [email protected]

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development: [Grant Number P2CHD042849].