External Stress of African American Heterosexual Married Couples

Simple item page
dc.contributor.advisorColeman, M. Nicole
dc.contributor.committeeMemberSchwartz, Jonathan P.
dc.contributor.committeeMemberJenkins, Rosell
dc.contributor.committeeMemberJordan, Erica
dc.creatorFisher, Felicia D.
dc.date.accessioned2019-09-18T00:55:14Z
dc.date.available2019-09-18T00:55:14Z
dc.date.createdAugust 2017
dc.date.issued2017-08
dc.date.submittedAugust 2017
dc.date.updated2019-09-18T00:55:14Z
dc.description.abstractThere is a body of literature that consistently finds that African Americans have higher rates of perceived stress than their White counterparts; therefore, stress may be a compelling factor to consider among African American married couples. This study focused on identifying external stressors experienced by African American married couples. Furthermore, this study sought to understand if these stressors were perceived as taxing to African American married couples’, and how, if at all, the stress experienced impacted the couples’ relational functioning and perception. Ten self-identified African American heterosexual married couples aged 26 and older participated in the study. With the use of semi-structured interviews, couples participated in an individual and couple interview. Using the qualitative framework of Constructivist Grounded Theory, initial coding, constant comparative, and focused coding methods were used to obtain analytic categories synthesized to represent African American couples’ perception of the effect of external stress on their romantic relationships. To attend to rigor, an independent qualitative researcher was recruited to audit the codes, themes, and transcriptions, and a methodological journal was utilized throughout the data collection process. Results: The couples identified the external stressors of finances, work/career, grief, environment, extended family and parenting/co-parenting. Ten themes surfaced from the data, which revealed that stress often initially has negative implications for interpersonal interaction for African American couples; however, couples use cognitive (i.e., Divorce is not an option; Stress is inevitable) and behavioral strategies (i.e., Date night) to prevent stress from having long-term consequences on their relationship. African American married couples encounter external stressors that impact functioning. While couples develop positive strategies to safeguard their relationship, African American couples may benefit from continued social support and education on how to cope with stressors, as well as resources that assist in alleviating external stressors experienced.
dc.description.departmentPsychological, Health, and Learning Sciences, Department of
dc.format.digitalOriginborn digital
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10657/4786
dc.language.isoeng
dc.rightsThe author of this work is the copyright owner. UH Libraries and the Texas Digital Library have their permission to store and provide access to this work. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of this work is prohibited except with permission of the author(s).
dc.subjectAfrican American married couples
dc.subjectIntimate relationships
dc.subjectMarriage
dc.titleExternal Stress of African American Heterosexual Married Couples
dc.type.dcmiText
dc.type.genreThesis
thesis.degree.collegeCollege of Education
thesis.degree.departmentPsychological, Health, and Learning Sciences, Department of
thesis.degree.disciplineCounseling Psychology
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Houston
thesis.degree.levelDoctoral
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy

Files

Original bundle

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
FISHER-DISSERTATION-2017.pdf
Size:
781.13 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Download

License bundle

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
PROQUEST_LICENSE.txt
Size:
4.43 KB
Format:
Plain Text
Description:
Download
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
LICENSE.txt
Size:
1.81 KB
Format:
Plain Text
Description:
Download

Collections

Published ETD Collection