THE ROLE OF INITIATION, LOCUS OF CONTROL, AND BLAME ATTRIBUTIONS IN THE ADJUSTMENT OF MEN AND WOMEN TO MARITAL SEPARATION AND DIVORCE.
Item
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Title
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THE ROLE OF INITIATION, LOCUS OF CONTROL, AND BLAME ATTRIBUTIONS IN THE ADJUSTMENT OF MEN AND WOMEN TO MARITAL SEPARATION AND DIVORCE.
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Identifier
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AAI8508697
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identifier
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8508697
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Creator
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FILLER, HADASSA.
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Contributor
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Morton Bard
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Date
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1985
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Social
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Abstract
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Marital dissolution is a stressful life event which is disruptive of individual, family, and societal functioning, and is an increasing social problem. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect that differences in locus of control, initiation of separation, gender, and blame attributions have on the process of adjustment to marital separation and divorce.;The sample consisted of 155 men and women, between the ages of 26-56, who had at least one minor child at home at the time of their marital separation, who have remained unmarried, who have been separated for five years or less, and who were members of two support organizations for single parents in Northern New Jersey.;Data was collected by the use of a questionnaire which was comprised of a number of separate measures, including: Background information, Rotter's I-E Scale, the Psychiatric Epidemiological Research Interview (PERI) as the measure of adjustment, and The Causes of Marital Failure (CMF) which was developed specifically for this study. The questionnaires were distributed by mail, and by the researcher. Contingency tables constituted the mode of statistically testing the hypotheses.;The results indicate that those who have internal locus of control, or those who initiate the marital separation have significantly better adjustment than those who are external in their locus of control and who do not initiate. Although locus of control and initiation were significant main effects, there was no interaction effect on adjustment for these two variables. These factors, while generally applicable, when gender is considered are relevant to men only. Regardless of their locus of control, whether or not they initiated the separation, and to whom they assigned blame for the marital dissolution, women demonstrate consistently lower adjustment levels than do men. People who identify fewer problems as causative of the marital dissolution, adjust better than those who identify many problems, especially if they have an internal locus of control. However, there was no clear relationship between an internal locus of control orientation and types of blame attribution.;The implications of these findings for future research are discussed.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Psychology
