Marital dissatisfaction following the death of a child: the influence of genetic factors at cause in the death

The death of a child is commonly reported to lead to discord within the marital dyad. The hypothesis of this study is that, to the extent that this is so, dissatisfactions among bereaved parents are elicited by the perceived threat of similar reproductive failure in the future. Consequently, it was expected (a) that marital dissatisfaction would be predicted by the probability (both actual and perceived) that genetic factors in the spouse caused the death, and (b) that this effect would be greater in females than in males because of females' greater parental investment in each child. Responses to a bereavement questionnaire that was complete by 74 married couples revealed that when marital satisfaction was viewed as a function of the actual cause of death (accident, illness, or congenital), the hypotheses were not supported. However, when parents' perceptions of the cause of their child's death were examined, it was found that for females, but not males, the attribution of the death to genetic factors in the spouse was negatively correlated with marital satisfaction, both overall and with respect to specific behaviors within the marriage. Although genetic causation was no more likely to be attributed to one sex than the other, the level of between-spouse agreement regarding responsibility for genetic causation was significantly greater when attributions were made to males rather than to females.