Abstract: Accumulating evidences have found the association between intimate relationship and self-esteem during early in adulthood. According to Social Investment Theory, entering and maintaining a marital relationship could boost self-esteem. This is because marriage as a safe haven could satisfy individuals’ needs for belonging and increase their relational values. However, previous research on the relationship between marriage and self-esteem ignores the multidimensional nature of marriage and individual difference in marriage. Therefore, employing longitudinal person-centered approaches and treating the marital dyad as the unit of analysis, the current study (a) identified the profiles of marriage based on marital satisfaction, intimacy, commitment and marital instability, and (b) examined the differences among those marriage profiles on couples’ self-esteem. Couples (a) who had been married less than 3 years, (b) were in their first marriage, (c) without children, and (d) living together in Beijing, China were recruited. Finally, 268 eligible couples agreed to participate in the investigation at Time 1. Husbands averaged 29.59 (SD = 3.25) years of age and wives averaged 28.08 (SD = 2.51) years of age. Two years later, 203 of the 268 couples remained in the study (retention rate = 75.37%). All couples were invited to the laboratory to complete questionnaires regarding demographics, marital satisfaction, intimacy, commitment, marital instability, and self-esteem. Latent profile analysis was conducted to identify the best number of the potential marriage profiles. Then the BolckCroon-Hagenaars (BCH) method was further used to estimate group differences in couples’ self-esteem. The covariates (i.e., marital duration, self-esteem at baseline) were treated as control variables. Latent profile analysis revealed 3 profiles of marriage: (a) happy marriage (78.6%), (b) tasteless marriage (16.6%), and (c) distress marriage (4.9%). Spouses in distress marriage had relatively higher level of self-esteem than those in happy and tasteless marriage. Moreover, wives in tasteless marriage reported also higher level of self-esteem than those in distress marriage, but these effects were not observed for husbands. These findings suggested that heterogeneity exists in marriage of Chinese newlyweds. The majority of newlywed couples reported a stable and happy marriage. Only 4.9% of couples experienced distress marriage. Notably, happy marriage is more prevalent among Chinese newlyweds. In addition, the distinct marriage profiles are differentially associated with self-esteem. A happy marriage is related to high level of both husbands’ and wives’ self-esteem, indicating the positive effects of good marriage on the feeling of self-worth. However, tasteless marriage is also benefit to wives’ self-esteem indicating that there may exist gender difference in effect of marriage on self-esteem. These findings offer a more nuanced understanding of the association between marital relationship and self-esteem.

Key words: marriage, self-esteem, latent profile analyses, Chinese newlyweds

摘要： 基于社会投资理论，本研究采用潜在剖面分析考察我国新婚夫妻的婚姻类型，并采用BCH法检验不同婚姻类型与夫妻双方两年后的自尊水平的关系。结果发现我国夫妻的婚姻可分为：“幸福”型、“平淡”型和“妻子痛苦”型；不同婚姻类型对夫妻双方自尊的影响存在差异。结果表明，幸福的婚姻的确有利于个体自尊；但在不幸婚姻中，丈夫的自尊可能因为妻子的婚姻不幸而受损；而妻子的自尊还受到夫妻婚姻感受一致性的影响。

关键词: 婚姻, 自尊, 潜在剖面分析, 中国新婚夫妻