Date of Award

1-1-2010

Document Type

Campus Access Dissertation

Department

College of Social Work

First Advisor

Sadye L. Logan

Abstract

This study explored the association between marital attitudes and messages received about marriage on mental health of 18-45 year old never married Black women living in the United States. A cross-sectional web survey design using purposive sampling was employed.

Four instruments were administered: a sociodemographic questionnaire; Marital Attitude Scale (MAS) to assess marital attitudes; Marital Messages Received Scale (MMR) to assess messages received about marriage; and Hopkins Checklist-25 (HSCL) to assess psychological distress. Four hypotheses were tested using stepwise regression, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and linear regression analyses. Findings suggested that sexual identity and health insurance had a differential effect on positive marital attitudes; positive messages received about marriage were predictive of positive marital attitudes; positive attitudes about marriage were associated with lower levels of psychological distress; and health insurance was predictive of psychological distress.

Rights

© 2010, Kendra Pili DeLoach

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