Decision‐Making Power, Autonomy, and Communication in Remarried Spouses Compared With First‐Married Spouses*

• Author: Norman Epstein,Elizabeth Sandin Allen,Donald H. Baucom,Charles K. Burnett,Lynn A. Rankin‐Esquer
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3729.2001.00326.x
• Published date: 01 October 2001
• Date: 01 October 2001

326 Family Relations

Decision-Making Power, Autonomy, and Communication in

Remarried Spouses Compared With First-Married Spouses*

Elizabeth Sandin Allen, Donald H. Baucom,** Charles K. Burnett, Norman Epstein, and Lynn A. Rankin-Esquer

The current study evaluated differences between remarried and first-married individuals in communication and standards for autonomy

and decision-making power using self-report data from 111 remarried and 111 matched first-married spouses. Remarried spouses

endorsed more autonomous standards in childrearing and finances. Also, remarried women endorsed greater autonomy regarding

friendships and family. These standards for greater autonomy were not related to marital distress. No differences were found in

standards for marital decision-making power. Remarried spouses did not report more avoidance in communication about marital

problems, and avoidance of problem discussion was related to marital distress for both groups.

Almost half of all marriages in the United States involve

at least one previously married partner (Wilson &

Clarke, 1992). Although a large body of literature has

examined the dynamics of remarried families, usually with step-

children, relatively little empirical work has examined the mar-

itally relevant cognitions and behaviors of remarried spouses.

From a cognitive–behavioral model of marriage, an examination

of maritally relevant cognitions and behaviors is key to under-

standing marital functioning (Baucom & Epstein, 1990). Clinical

experience, theory, and existing empirical studies indicate that

the cognitions and behaviors of remarried individuals can change

from an earlier marriage (e.g., Byrd & Smith, 1988; Prado &

Markman, 1999; Roberts & Price, 1985). Such cognitive or be-

havioral change might occur as a function of experience in a

previous marriage, followed by divorce, singlehood, and remar-

riage. Alternatively, these changes might occur because of the

unique challenges and circumstances of remarriage or natural

developmental changes as the individual ages. Regardless of the

specific etiologies of such changes, individuals in remarriages

might have changed their marital cognitions and behaviors from

their first marriages.

Given these reported changes from first marriage to remar-

riage, a possible inference is that remarried individuals, as a

group, differ in key ways from those in a first marriage; however,

this inference rarely has been empirically tested. An awareness

of possible differences is helpful for basic understanding of re-

married persons and for clinical intervention with remarried in-

dividuals and their marriages. It is problematic to use first-mar-

riage families as the norm when evaluating stepfamilies (e.g.,

Anderson & White, 1986; Fine & Schwebel, 1991; Pink & Wam-

pler, 1985); similarly, it may be maladaptive to use norms de-

veloped from persons in their first marriages to evaluate a re-

married individual’s maritally related cognitions and behavior.

Because most remarriage literature focuses on the remarried fam-

ily rather than remarried individuals, there is a need for basic

information about these individuals to further our understanding

of how their cognitions and behaviors compare with persons in

a first marriage.

*Collection of this data was supported by a grant from the National Institute ofMental

Health (MHSBIR43 MH47627). This is a subset of data presented in Baucom, Epstein,

Rankin, and Burnett (1996) and Rankin-Esquer, Burnett, Baucom, and Epstein (1997).

**Address correspondence concerning this article to: Donald H. Baucom, Ph.D. De-

partment of Psychology, CB# 3270, Davie Hall, The University of North Carolina atChapel

Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3270; e-mail don baucom@unc.edu

Key Words: autonomy, communication, decision-making power, remarriage.

(Family Relations, 2001, 50, 326–334)

Research examining cognitions and behavior in marriage has

established that one important type of cognition related to marital

quality is an individual’s standards for how marital relationships

and partners should be (Baucom, Epstein, Rankin, & Burnett,

1996). Individuals typically have standards for relationship au-

tonomy and power—two dimensions important in individual and

marital functioning (Epstein & Baucom, 2001). Marital adjust-

ment also is related to communication behaviors such as spousal

tendencies to approach or avoid discussion of relationship con-

flicts (Christensen & Sullaway, 1984). In the current study, we

compare individuals who are remarried with those in their first

marriages, investigating their standards for how marriage should

be in the domains of autonomy and decision-making power and

their reported communication patterns.

Decision-Making Power

Decision-making power appears to be fairly equal between

partners in remarriages; moreover, persons in a remarriage per-

ceive that they have more equal sharing in decision making in

their remarriage compared with their first marriage (Coleman &

Ganong, 1989; Crosbie-Burnett & Giles-Sims, 1991; Furstenberg

& Spanier, 1984). This is consistent with other literature that

indicates remarried individuals may be more egalitarian than

first-married individuals (e.g., Byrd & Smith, 1988; Ishii-Kuntz

& Coltrane, 1992; Pyke, 1994). However, Kurdek’s (1990) direct

comparison of the decision-making power of remarried individ-

uals to that of persons in their first marriages revealed no dif-

ferences. Given these seemingly contradictory findings, the cur-

rent investigation assessed the standards for marital decision

making for remarried persons compared with first-married per-

sons. Based on the body of literature that posits shifts in deci-

sion-making power for remarried individuals, we hypothesized

that remarrieds have a higher standard for sharing decision mak-

ing than first-married spouses.

Autonomy

A second major area that may differ for remarried and first-

married spouses is level of autonomy within marriage. Theoret-

ical models of the process of divorce and remarriage, discussions

with members of remarriage groups, and retrospective interviews

with remarrying women indicate that remarried spouses, espe-

cially women, may desire more autonomy as individuals within

their remarriages (Goetting, 1982; Roberts & Price, 1987; Walk-

er & Messinger, 1979). However, these studies did not use com-

parison groups to test whether remarried spouses desire greater

autonomy than do first-married spouses. Thus, we investigate the

standards remarried individuals have regarding autonomy com-