Sexual Distress and Marital Quality of Newlyweds: An Investigation of Sociodemographic Moderators

• Author: Lauren M. Papp,Shari M. Blumenstock
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12285
• Published date: 01 December 2017
• Date: 01 December 2017

S M. B  L M. P University of Wisconsin–Madison

Sexual Distress and Marital Quality of Newlyweds:

An Investigation of Sociodemographic Moderators

Objective: Drawing from the vulnerability–

stress–adaptation model, we explored sex-

ual distress as a lack of adaptive processes

within marriage by assessing whether sociode-

mographic variables associated with stress

moderated the association between sexual

distress and marital quality.

Background: Sexual intimacy and marital qual-

ity are strongly linked, but it remains unclear

what role sexual distress (distinct from low

sexual satisfaction) plays in marital quality

and whether this role differs across sociodemo-

graphic characteristics (race, socioeconomic

status, premarital childbearing).

Method: Data are fromin-person and telephone

interviews of 199 African American and 174

European American couples across their rst

4 years of marriage.Dyadic multilevel modeling

was used to analyze longitudinal associations

between sexual distress and marital quality and

to test whether these associations were moder-

ated by race, socioeconomic status, and premar-

ital childbearing, while controlling for joyful sex

and pregnancy.

Results: Sexual distress and marital quality

were bidirectionally linked. Sexual distress was

a stronger predictor of marital quality for

African American husbands compared with

European American husbands. Socioeconomic

Department of Human Development and Family Studies,

University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI 53706

(sblumenstock@wisc.edu).

Key Words: Intimacy, marital quality and satisfaction, mar-

riage and marital relationships: newlyweds, sexuality and

related issues.

status and premarital childbearing were not

statistically signicant moderators.

Conclusion: High sexual distress is distinct

from low sexual satisfaction and may indicate

insufcient adaptive processesfor partners expe-

riencing chronic stress. Social context and

factors beyond marital processes may inuence

the role sexual intimacy plays in marital quality.

Implications: Findings contribute to practition-

ers’ understanding of how sexual distress relates

to marital quality in diverse newlywed couples.

With the goal of promoting long-term relation-

ship satisfaction and stability, researchers of

intimate processes have attempted to identify

factors that predict positive relationship out-

comes over time (Bradbury & Lavner, 2012),

and sexual satisfaction has emerged as a strong

and robust predictor. Couples who maintain sat-

isfying sexual relations report happier marriages

and are less likely to divorce,whereas the reverse

is true for those experiencing low levelsof sexual

satisfaction (McNulty, Wenner, & Fisher, 2016;

Sprecher & Cate, 2004; Yeh,Lorenz, Wickrama,

Conger, & Elder, 2006). Notably, early marital

functioning is important for the course of the

relationship, as those who begin with higher

levels of satisfaction and stronger romantic

bonds tend to have more stable and satisfying

marriages over time (Birditt, Hope, Brown,

& Orbuch, 2012; Huston, Caughlin, Houts,

Smith, & George, 2001; Kurdek, 1999, 2005;

Orbuch, Bauermeister, Brown, & Mckinley,

2013). Thus, the association between sexual inti-

macy and marital quality in the newlywed years

794 Family Relations 66 (December 2017): 794–808

DOI:10.1111/fare.12285