تداوم هدف و "پنج عامل بزرگ" به عنوان پیش بینی کننده های تنظیم روابط زناشویی بزرگسالان مسن تر

This study proposes that goal continuity contributes incrementally to older adult perceived marital adjustment when controlling for the five-factor model of personality (FFM). Analyses using correlational techniques, including hierarchical linear modeling, were used to test our hypothesis for a group of 117 currently married older adults. The final model, which included the FFM variables and goal continuity, provided the best fit to the data, with goal continuity being the largest and most significant predictor. Consistent with previous research using the construct, goal continuity served as an important predictor of older adult behavior and perceptions. Implications for conducting research in the areas of marital adjustment and continuity theory are discussed.

An emergent literature on the intrapersonal correlates of marital adjustment (Bradbury, 1998; Gottman, 1994; Karney & Bradbury, 1997) reflects the prevailing notion that personality characteristics significantly contribute to positive and negative outcomes in marital relationships (Bouchard, Lussier, & Sabourin, 1999; Kosek, 1996; Kurdek, 1993; Nemechek & Olson, 1999; Russell & Wells, 1994). These personality characteristics typically derive from the five-factor or “Big Five” model of personality, which was developed from the lexical tradition of trait descriptors (e.g., Digman, 1990; Goldberg, 1981; Norman, 1963). Structural analyses of these descriptors have repeatedly revealed five broad factors: (1) neuroticism, which reflects individual differences in the extent to which a person perceives and experiences the world as threatening, problematic, and distressing; (2) extraversion, which implies an energetic approach to the social and material world and includes traits such as sociability, activity, assertiveness, and positive emotionality; (3) openness to experience, which describes the breadth, depth, originality and complexity of an individual’s mental and experiential life; (4) agreeableness, which contrasts prosocial and communal orientation toward others with antagonism and includes traits such as altruism, tender-mindedness, trust, and modesty; and (5) conscientiousness, which describes socially prescribed impulse control that facilitates task- and goal-directed behavior, such as thinking before acting, delaying gratification, following norms and rules, and planning, organizing, and prioritizing tasks. This five-factor structure has been shown to be quite robust across raters, sample characteristics, and cultures (e.g., Digman & Takemoto-Chock, 1981; McCrae and Costa, 1987 and McCrae and Costa, 1997). In particular, neuroticism has repeatedly related (negatively) to marital adjustment and satisfaction (Eysenck, 1980; Karney and Bradbury, 1995 and Karney and Bradbury, 1997; Russell & Wells, 1994; Thomsen & Gilbert, 1997; Zaleski & Galkowska, 1978). Additionally, other broad personality characteristics, such as agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and openness (Botwin, Buss, & Shackelford, 1997; Casillas & Watson, 2003; Kosek, 1996; Nemechek & Olson, 1999; Watson, Hubbard, & Wiese, 2000), have at times been associated with marital adjustment and satisfaction. For instance, in a longitudinal study by Casillas and Watson (2003), examination of marital and other types of satisfaction showed that both men and women who scored lower on neuroticism and higher on agreeableness measures at the beginning of the study reported being more satisfied with their marital relationship, as well as their life in general, during follow-up assessment six months later. Despite the relatively consistent findings relating neuroticism and, to a lesser extent, agreeableness to marital adjustment and satisfaction, the findings regarding extraversion and openness have been intermittent. This suggests that examining other characteristics not fully captured by the five-factor model may be useful. Indeed, some researchers (e.g., Block, 1995 and Block, 2001; Funder, 2001; McAdams, 1992) have expressed concerns regarding whether the Big Five “subsume all there is to say about personality” (Funder, 2001, p. 200) and have called for expanding research on personality to include other constructs from other theoretical perspectives. For example, Ozer and Reise (1994) suggest that a model of personality is best understood within a more comprehensive framework that incorporates measures of the self, as these measures may help to examine how individuals interpret their own experiences. Thus, it is proposed that the inclusion of measures derived from other theoretical perspectives may be necessary to more fully understand the marital adjustment/satisfaction process. In particular, we believe constructs derived from continuity theories of adult development (cf. Atchley, 1989; Erickson, Erickson, & Kivnick, 1986) are especially relevant for older adults, for whom the ability to make adaptive choices and to sustain internal structures and external relationships is a hallmark of later life adjustment. Datan, Rodeheaver, and Hughes (1987) went as far as to argue that the goal continuity construct was central to adult development and normal aging. Whether called life purpose and meaning, goal directedness, or goal continuity, continuity theories propose that the ability to “maintain and preserve existing internal and external structures … is linked to the person’s perceived past, producing continuity in inner psychological characteristics as well as in social behavior” (Atchley, 1989, p. 183). Put another way, a sense of goal continuity is linked to, but different from, broad personality characteristics as defined by the five-factor model. In particular, goal continuity reflects the individual’s ability to actively engage self and others by connecting past and present life circumstances to maintain psychological equilibrium. Indeed, we know that goal continuity is associated with life satisfaction (Emmons, 1986), health and psychological well being (Elliott, Uswatte, Lewis, & Palmatier, 2000; Holahan, 1988), self-efficacy (Bandura, 1982), and dispositional optimism (Scheier, Weintraub, & Carver, 1986). In one study, Payne, Robbins, and Dougherty (1991) found that high goal-directed retirees were rated as more optimistic, persistent, resourceful, and energetic than low goal-directed retirees, who were described as more anxious, worried, cautious, and distractible. In another study, Robbins, Lee, and Wan (1994) tested a mediational model of early retirement adjustment using a goal continuity construct as the central mediator. The goal continuity construct was a composite of goal directedness, as measured by the goal instability scale (Robbins & Patton, 1985), and two of the life purpose and meaning scales developed by Reker and colleagues (Reker & Peacock, 1981; Reker, Peacock, & Wong, 1987). The life purpose and meaning scales are relevant to older adults and are predictive of psychological adjustment and physical well being (e.g., Reker et al., 1987). Robbins et al. (1994) found that goal continuity significantly mediated the effects of financial, health, and social resources when predicting leisure and life satisfaction. They argued that these findings support the argument that within an older adult population, a sense of continuity is a useful construct in the prediction of both intra- and interpersonal adjustment. Thus, the purpose of this study is to determine the relative relationship between the goal continuity construct and the five-factor model of personality when examining older adult marital adjustment. Older adults were chosen because (a) there is limited research on marital adjustment in older adults (e.g., Gagnon, Hersen, Kabacoff, & Van Hasselt, 1999; Melton, Hersen, Van Sickle, & Van Hasselt, 1995); (b) goal continuity is a useful construct when predicting older adult adjustment (Datan et al., 1987; Payne et al., 1991; Robbins et al., 1994; Robbins, Payne, & Chartrand, 1990); and (c) we expected that goal continuity would provide additional explanatory power, above and beyond that of the five-factor model, when predicting older adult marital adjustment.