Navigating challenges together: the role of problem-solving and trust in marital satisfaction among African American newlyweds

Abstract

African American married couples receive limited attention from relationship researchers even though this population experiences one of the lowest rates of marriage and highest rates of divorce. This is particularly worrisome as most African American individuals desire and respect the institution of marriage. As such, the present study examines the mediating role of dyadic trust between problem-solving and marital happiness among newly married African American couples. Using three waves of data from years one, two, and three of marriage among 697, 488, and 295 complete couples, respectively, an actor-partner interdependence mediation model (APIM) was applied to explore these associations longitudinally. Full Information Maximum Likelihood (FIML) was used to account for missing data, allowing for the inclusion of the initial sample in analyses despite attrition across waves. Direct effects became non-significant for both husbands and wives when trust was added as a mediator, indicating that trust fully mediates the link between husbands’ and wives’ problem-solving and marital happiness. Partner effects were also observed, with both husbands' and wives' problem-solving impacting their partner's trust and marital happiness. These findings suggest problem-solving increases trust which subsequently increases marital happiness among African American newlyweds, highlighting the role of trust in sustaining marital happiness and the importance of centering African American couples in research.