正向與負向婚姻品質對新婚夫妻自我概念的影響: 行動者—伴侶相依模式之探討

Abstract

研究目的:本研究探討婚姻初期自身及伴侶對關係的正向與負向整體評估對形塑華人夫妻的婚姻我(婚 姻關係中與配偶相互尊重並維護和諧互動的關係自我概念)與家族我(家人團體中達成家人共識與團結 並實現家族目標的團體自我概念)的影響。研究方法:兩波間隔兩年的追蹤調查共蒐集到93對夫妻的有 效資料，第一波施測時平均婚齡為1.30年(標準差0.68年)，丈夫與妻子的平均年齡分別為31.46歲(標 準差3.51歲)與29.89歲(標準差2.84歲)。研究結果:分別針對正向婚姻品質(模型一)與負向婚姻品 質(模型二)進行行動者—伴侶相依模式分析，皆獲得可接受的整體適配度。模型一結果指出，夫妻雙 方的正向婚姻品質對自身婚姻我與家族我皆具正向顯著的行動者效果，妻子的正向婚姻品質對丈夫婚姻 我具正向顯著的伴侶效果，其餘效果未達顯著水準。模型二結果發現，妻子負向婚姻品質對自身婚姻我 與家族我具負向顯著的行動者效果，並對丈夫婚姻我與家族我也有負向顯著的伴侶效果，其餘效果未達 顯著水準。研究結論:婚姻生活中的正、負向婚姻品質在婚姻初期有著形塑、再構婚姻我與家族我的作 用，且在夫妻間有著不同影響。最後探討抽樣偏誤、缺乏細緻運作機制等相關研究限制與未來方向，並 期望各項發現可供實務應用，增進理解婚姻生活經驗形塑華人多元自我概念的運作機制。  Context and Objectives: Marriage brings many challenges, which require careful management and adjustment by both spouses. One of the noteworthy challenges is that individuals will start to view themselves in different ways. During the newlywed period, the self-concepts corresponding to the couple’s new role of spouse and family group members will be developed. As a spouse in a marital relationship, Chinese couples’ marital self-concept (MSC) represents their relationship-oriented self-construal to have mutual love and support with their spouses and maintain a harmonious interaction in their relationship. As a member of both the original family and in-law family, Chinese couples’ familial self-concept (FSC) represents their group-oriented self-construal to honor their families, reach consensus among family members, and achieve the goals of all their family members. Even though the self- concept has an important effect on couples’ marital adaptation, research on how the marriage couples’ self- concepts would be reconstructed is scarce. Because one’s self-concept would be reconstructed by life experience, the purpose of this study is to investigate how marriage life influences Chinese couples’ MSC and FSC in the early stage of marriage. Considering that positive and negative self-involved experiences could drive dissimilar mechanisms, this study attempts to explore the specific effect of positive and negative marital quality. Then, based on the nature of interdependence between marriage couples, this study also uses the actor-partner interdependence model to further explore the actor effect and partner effect between husbands and wives. Method: This study conducted two waves of follow-up surveys separated by a 2-year lag and collected a total of 93 valid dyad-data from couples living in the north (n = 53), middle (n = 11), south (n = 20), and east regions of Taiwan (n = 9). The average length of marriage at the first wave was 1.30 years (SD = 0.68 years), and the average age of the husband and wife were 31.46 years old (SD = 3.51 years) and 29.89 years old (SD = 2.84 years), respectively. This study used structural equation modeling to analyze two hypothetical actor-partner interdependence models. Results: The first model investigated the actor- and partner-effect of positive marital quality on couples’ MSC and FSC and showed acceptable model fit (􏴆 2 = 264.16; df = 204; p = .003; 􏴆 2/df = 1.29; CFI = .93; TLI = .91; RMSEA = .056; SRMR = .052). The actor-effects of husbands’ and wives’ positive marital quality was positively significant on their own MSC (husbands:􏴇11 = .50, SE = 0.11,p < .001; wives:γ32 = .55,SE = 0.12,p < .001) and FSC (husbands: 􏴇 21 = .33, SE = 0.12, p = .007; wives: 􏴇 42 = .27, SE = 0.13, p = .034). The partner-effect of wives’ positive maritalqualitywaspositivelysignificantonhusbands’MSC(􏴇12 =.24,SE =0.12,p =.036),andtheotherpartner- effects were non-significant. The second model investigated the actor- and partner-effect of negative marital quality and also showed acceptable model fit (􏴆 2 = 253.49; df = 204; p = .011; 􏴆 2/df = 1.24; CFI = .93; TLI = .91; RMSEA = .051; SRMR = .059). The actor-effect and the partner-effect of husbands’ negative marital quality were non-significant on their own and with wives’ MSC and FSC. However, the actor-effect and the partner-effect of wives’ negative marital quality were negatively significant on their own and with husbands’ MSC (actor-effect: 􏴇 32 = -.53, SE = 0.14, p < .001; partner-effect: 􏴇 12 = -.48, SE = 0.15, p = .001) and FSC (actor-effect: 􏴇 42 = -.42, SE = 0.14, p = .003; partner-effect: 􏴇 22 = -.35, SE = 0.15, p = .025). Discussion and Conclusion: This study highlighted that positive and negative marital quality in the early stage of marriage can shape and restructure Chinese couples’ self-identification as a spouse and a family group member. Additionally, husbands’ and wives’ marriage life experiences can have different influences on their own and their partners’ self-concepts. Particularly, the wives’ both positive and negative marital qualities have impressive impacts on shaping their own and their husbands’ marital and familial self-concept. The limitation of sampling bias and its influences on the current results are discussed, and the understanding of the detailed mechanism linking positive and negative marital quality to Chinese couples’ self-concept is still very limited and requires further exploration and more attention. These findings might be of importance in providing professional consultants and family life educators a better understanding of how Chinese couples’ marital and familial self-concept will be affected by their life experiences in the early stage of marriage.