Spouses’ fit and marriage satisfaction in late adulthood

Abstract

Although marital satisfaction is intensively explored in the psychological literature at present, there are few papers strictly focused on spouse fit in late adulthood. The aim of the present study was to determine whether spouses’ personality fit and values fit are associated with marital satisfaction. To test this, we examined 60 Polish married couples (120 participants) aged 60-75. We used the following measures: NEO-PI-R (as adapted by J. Siuta), Scheler Values Scale (P. Brzozowski), and the Well-Matched Marriage Questionnaire (Plopa & Rostowski). Due to the nonindependence of dyads, data was analyzed in the single-level paradigm, and the level of fit was estimated by Gower Agreement Index (J. C. Gower). The results yielded by SEM path analysis indicate that spouses’ personality fit is associated with the satisfaction of both spouses, while spouses’ values fit, under-stood objectively in accordance with Scheler’s theory, is not related to their satisfaction. The findings may be useful in psychological practice such as marriage counselling and marital therapy.