The relationship between wives' marital last name style and husbands' self-esteem, locus of control, gender role and perception of power within their marriage

The aim of the present study was to examine the personality structures and attitudes of husbands married to women who changed their last name, combined their last name or retained their last name upon marriage. It was hypothesized that husbands whose wives combined or retained their name would endorse higher self-esteem, more internal marital locus of control, more egalitarian gender role ideology, perceive less power within their marriages and report a smaller income difference between their wives' income contribution than husbands married to women who have changed their name to their husband's name upon marriage. In addition, it was hypothesized that husbands whose wives had combined or retained their names would report feeling less happy about their wives' last name, report engaging in more discussion with their wives about the last name decision and report feeling like they had less influence on their wives' name than husbands whose wives changed their name. One hundred seventy-eight husbands participated by completing five online scales and a demographic questionnaire. The results of the present study demonstrate that men who are married to women who have either retained their own last name or combined their last name with their husband's last name endorse higher self-esteem, more internal locus of control, more egalitarian beliefs and report a smaller income difference with their wives than men married to women who have changed their last name to their husband's last name. No differences were found between the three groups of husbands with regards to their perception of power within their marriage. Although results indicate that husbands whose wives changed their name reported feeling more happy about their wives' last name than husbands of wives with combined or retained names, husbands of wives with changed names reported less discussion with their wives about their name and perceived having less influence over their wives' name than husbands of wives with combined or retained names. Clinical implications and directions for future research are discussed.