ЕМОЦИОНАЛНА КЛИМА У БРАКОВИМА У СРБИЈИ – РАЗВОЈНА ПЕРСПЕКТИВА
EMOTIONAL CLIMATE IN SERBIAN MARRIAGES- DEVELOPMENTAL PERSPECTIVE

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this study was to describe the emotional climate of marriages in Serbia and to describe the changes in the estimated quality of the emotional climate depending on the developmental phase of the family life cycle. In addition, the study examines gender differences in the perceived positive and negative social and emotional exchange in marital interaction and also differences between the spouses who have and those who don’t have children. The study included 456 couples from Serbia, aged 19 to 85 years (ASm = 43.75; ASw = 41, 08). From the total sample of 456 couples, 119 couples do not have children, while others are relatively equally distributed across the developmental stages of the family cycle. To assess the emotional climate of marriage we used Inventory of Affection, Negativity and Sex in Relationships (Huston, Kamenov and Jelić, 2010). The results indicate significant differences in the perceived positive emotional exchange between the partners depending on the developmental phase, in the direction of decline, for both males (F = 2.786, p <.05), and females (F = 5.486, p <.001). On the other hand, the estimated differences in the negative exchange were not significant. We described a trend moving toward a climate saturated with negative exchange, either in the form of hostile relations or a neutral relationship dominated by emotional distance. Women tend to score higher on the perceived positive excange (t = -2131, p <.05), but no gender differences were observed in the perceived negative exchanges. The differences between the couples who have and those who don’t have children weren’t significant, for both positive and negative social and emotional exchanges.

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