Impact of racial perspectives and contextual variables on marital trust and adjustment for African American couples

This study examined the associations of racial perspectives that represent pro-African American, anti-African American, or a mixture of these beliefs with marital trust and adjustment for African American couples (N=93). Religious well-being and socioeconomic status (SES) were examined as contextual moderators. For husbands only, the anti-African American perspective was inversely associated with couple functioning, the mixed perspective was inversely associated with marital trust, and the pro-African American perspective predicted marital trust only for husbands having relatively low religious well-being and relatively high SES. The limited effects of pro-African American attitudes suggest the need to evaluate a wider range of these attitudes in future research. Also, findings corroborate suggestions for therapists to routinely assess and address both cultural pride and shame issues relevant to African American couple relationships.