Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
International Journal of Social Psychiatry
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Web of Science (2)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Isaac, R.
Right arrow Articles by Shah, A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Isaac, R.
Right arrow Articles by Shah, A.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Sex Roles and Marital Adjustment in Indian Couples

Rathna Isaac

Department of Clinical Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health & Neurosciences, Bangalore, India-560029.rathna_i{at}hotmail.com

Anisha Shah

Department of Clinical Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health & Neurosciences, Bangalore, India.

Background: Marital theorists suggest a link between sex role differences and close relationships for men and women. Marriage is often a context for the activation and expression of sex roles. As marital adjustment is influenced by complementarity of roles between husband and wife, the same could hold true for sex roles as well.

Aim: To study the relationship between sex roles and marital adjustment in Indian couples.

Methods: The sample consisted of 20 distressed and 20 non-distressed couples from a marital and family therapy centre in the city of Bangalore, India. The measures used included a sociodemographic data sheet, the Dyadic Adjustment Scale, the Bem Sex Role Inventory and a semi-structured interview schedule for gendered experiences. Means, percentages and ANOVAS were used to analyse statistically the data. Content analysis was applied on material from the semistructured interview schedule.

Results: The study revealed that: (a) the group as a whole showed greater femininity than masculinity; (b) more non-distressed individuals show high androgyny; (c) androgynous dyads show better marital adjustment; and (d) qualitative analysis suggests a trend for couples to move towards more gender-neutral constructions of marriage.

Conclusions: The results indicate a link between androgyny and marital adjustment. The results also suggest the type of match between dyads.

Key Words: androgyny • marital adjustment • marital distress • sex role

International Journal of Social Psychiatry, Vol. 50, No. 2, 129-141 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/0020764004040960
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?