婚姻对自尊的影响:以人为中心的视角

The Relationship between Marriage and Self-Esteem:Insights from the Person-Centered Approach

基于社会投资理论,本研究采用潜在剖面分析考察我国新婚夫妻的婚姻类型,并采用BCH法检验不同婚姻类型与夫妻双方自尊的关系。结果发现我国夫妻的婚姻可分为:“幸福”型、“平淡”型和“妻子痛苦”型;不同婚姻类型对夫妻双方自尊的影响存在差异。结果表明,幸福的婚姻的确有利于个体自尊;不同婚姻类型对自尊的影响在夫妻之间存在差异。

Accumulating evidences have found the association between intimate relationship and self-esteem during early adulthood.According to Social Investment Theory,entering and maintaining a marital relationship could boost self-esteem.However,previous research on the relationship between marriage and self-esteem ignores the multidimensional nature of marriage and the individual difference in marriage.Therefore,employing longitudinal person-centered approaches,the current study(a)identified the profiles of marriage based on marital satisfaction,intimacy,commitment and marital instability,and(b)examined the differences among those marriage profiles on couples’self-esteem.Couples(a)who had been married fewer than 3 years,(b)were in theirfirst marriage,(c)without children,and(d)living together in Beijing,China were recruited.Finally,268 eligible couples agreed to participate in the investigation at Time 1.Husbands averaged 29.59(SD=3.25)years of age and wives averaged 28.08(SD=2.51)years of age.Two years later,203 of the 268 couples remained in the study(retention rate=75.37%).All couples were invited to the laboratory to complete questionnaires regarding demographics,marital satisfaction,intimacy,commitment,marital instability,and self-esteem.Latent profile analysis was conducted to identify the best number of the potential marriage profiles.Then the BolckCroon-Hagenaars(BCH)method was further used to estimate group differences in couples’self-esteem.The covariates(i.e.,marital duration,self-esteem at baseline)were treated as control variables.Latent profile analysis revealed 3 profiles of marriage.Profile 1,happy marriage representing 78.6%of couples,was labeled because of both partners scored high on marital satisfaction,intimacy and commitment while low on marital instability;Profile 2,tasteless marriage representing 16.6%of couples,was labeled as both male and female partners reported moderate level of marital satisfaction,intimacy,commitment and marital instability;And for profiles 3,couples in wife distress marriage,representing 4.9%of the couples,was labeled in reference to the indicators of marriage in the other profiles as wives reported low levels of marital satisfaction,intimacy and commitment while high levels of marital instability,and there was within couple differences.Spouses in happy marriage reported higher levels of self-esteem than those in tasteless and wife distress marriage.Thesefindings suggest that heterogeneity exists in marriage of Chinese newlyweds.78.6%of newlywed couples experienced a stable and happy marriage,while only 4.9%of couples experienced distress marriage.Thus,happy marriage is more prevalent among Chinese newlyweds.In addition,the distinct marriage profiles are differentially associated with self-esteem.A happy marriage is related to high level of both husbands’and wives’self-esteem,indicating the positive effects of happy marriage on the feeling of self-worth.However,wives in tasteless marriage reported higher levels of self-esteem than wives in distress marriage,while there was no significant difference in self-esteem between their husbands,indicating that there may exist gender difference in effect of marriage on self-esteem.Thesefindings offer a more nuanced understanding of the association between marital relationship and self-esteem.