Lower Levels Of Marital Satisfaction Research Articles

Literature Review: The Effects of Attachment Styles and Perfectionism on Life Satisfaction

Attachment and perfectionism are two important psychological factors that can significantly influence individual satisfaction in various aspects of life, including relationships, work, and personal achievement. This essay reviews four studies that explore the connection between perfectionism—whether it's positive or negative—and attachment type and their impact on life satisfaction or marital satisfaction. Results indicate that securely attached individuals tend to exhibit higher positive perfectionism and lower negative perfectionism, leading to greater life satisfaction. In contrast, people with insecure attachment tend to exhibit higher levels of negative perfectionism, thereby reducing their life satisfaction. Maladaptive forms of perfectionism are linked to insecure attachment styles, leading to lower levels of marital satisfaction. These findings have practical implications for counselling and interventions aimed at promoting positive mental health and improving relationship satisfaction. However, these studies have limitations that need to be considered, including the use of self-reports, limited generalizability of results, and lack of evidence of a causal relationship between attachment, perfectionism, and satisfaction. Future research could address these limitations and advance our understanding of the complex interactions between the three concepts.

업무 부하와 소진, 그리고 직무 만족

The aim of the present study is to explore how and when daily workload is related to next-day exhaustion and job satisfaction. Prior research has been primarily interested in identifying the conditions that mitigate the negative impacts of heightened job demands. However, the potential buffering role of resources accrued within the home domain, where employees spend most of their post-work hours, has not been given adequate attention. Building upon the work-home resources model, we propose that the general levels of marital satisfaction of both employees and their spouses act as cross-level moderators that alleviate the negative consequences engendered by an increased workload. We tested our hypotheses using experience sampling data from a sample of 95 married employees across 15 consecutive workdays. Our results indicate that daily workload had a positive relationship with next-day exhaustion and a negative relationship with next-day job satisfaction through an increase in morning negative affect. Furthermore, these relationships were found to be moderated by the employees’ general marital satisfaction but not by their spouses’ marital satisfaction. Specifically, the detrimental effects of increased daily workload were more salient for employees with lower levels of marital satisfaction compared to those with higher levels. Our findings underscore the critical role of contextual home resources as potential buffers against job stress. In light of these findings, theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Not All in the Same Boat. Socioeconomic Differences in Marital Stress and Satisfaction During the Covid-19 Pandemic.

The Covid-19 pandemic is a global threat that affects a large part of the population, but the risks associated with it are higher for some people compared with others. Previous studies show that lower socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with more chronic stress and less marital satisfaction. Thus, the uncertainty caused by the pandemic might greatly affect those who were already vulnerable. This longitudinal study explores the extent to which stress originated outside (external) and inside (internal) the relationship is associated with marital satisfaction during the Covid-19 pandemic and whether the associations are different based on the socioeconomic status of the participants. The study was conducted at two points in time (first, immediately after the national lockdown was instituted; second, after the lockdown ended) with a sample of 144 married Romanian couples. We used the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model with Mediation and multi-group SEM analysis. Higher levels of external stress were associated with subsequent lower marital satisfaction for women with higher SES. For the couples with lower SES, men's level of internal stress during the first assessment mediated the relationship between their higher level of external stress at the first time point and their partner's lower marital satisfaction during the second assessment. Our results show that men and women respond differently during a crisis and that couples with lower SES are more prone to greater stress and lower levels of marital satisfaction. We finally suggest that the therapists, health professionals, policy makers, and researchers should take into account the existing vulnerabilities of a couple when offering psychological and health services during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Male Service Members' and Civilian Wives' Perceptions of Partner Connection Regarding Deployment and PTSD Symptoms.

In general, a sense of understanding and connection is an important aspect of marital relationships. In the context of military couples in which a service member may have symptoms of PTSD, spouses' understanding of the nature and causes of service member PTSD symptoms may be protective for both partners' marital satisfaction. However, partners may vary in the degree to which they understand and connect around (1) historical experiences of combat and deployment, versus understanding and connecting around (2) any ongoing manifestation of PTSD symptoms post deployment. In a sample of 58 male Army service members and their civilian wives drawn from a larger study of military couple functioning, we found that a measure of "Combat/Deployment connection" and a measure of "PTSD connection" were strongly correlated with each other yet not isomorphic. Both Combat/Deployment connection and PTSD connection had unique predictive effects for marital satisfaction. Both husbands and wives reported higher levels of PTSD connection relative to Combat/Deployment connection. At low or average levels of Combat/Deployment connection, higher levels of PTSD symptoms were associated with lower levels of marital satisfaction, whereas at high levels of Combat/Deployment connection this association was no longer significant. No such moderation effects were found for PTSD connection. The utility of distinguishing these two domains of potential connection for military couples is discussed.

Pathological personality, relationship satisfaction, and intimate partner aggression: Analyses using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, alternative model of personality disorder traits.

Personality disorders (PDs) have been linked to lower levels of marital satisfaction and the perpetration of intimate partner aggression (IPA). Much of this work has used self-reports of PD symptoms conceptualized via the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder's (DSM) categorical approach. The current study adds to the literature by examining how marital satisfaction and IPA are associated with a dimensional assessment of PDs, specifically by conceptualizing PDs using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Section III alternative model of personality disorder. By collecting data from both partners in a sample of newlywed couples, we also leverage PD trait agreement between (a) both partner's own self-reports (similarity), (b) self- and spouse report (accuracy), and (c) self and ratings of partner (perceptual similarity), to examine couple-level predictors of relationship well-being (i.e., satisfaction and psychological/physical IPA). Data were drawn from a sample of 101 newly married couples who participated in baseline and follow-up data collection over a period of 12 months. Actor-partner interdependence analyses revealed significant self-report actor and partner effects on marital satisfaction and psychological and physical IPA; for spouse report, actor effects were more consistent than partner reports. Agreement was moderate for both similarity and accuracy, but greater agreement was related to greater relationship satisfaction, particularly at later time points. Thus, although reports of elevated personality pathology are detrimental to marital functioning, spousal agreement may protect against these effects. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

The relationship between personality traits and marital satisfaction: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BackgroundPersonality traits can be used to predict an individual’s behaviors in different life situations, including marital life situations. Marital satisfaction that is influenced by different factors is a criterion used to assess couples’ relationship quality. The goal of the present study was to review Iranian studies on the correlation between personality traits and marital satisfaction.MethodsIn this systematic review, all the related Iranian studies in international databases, including Google Scholar, PubMed, Web of Science (ISI) and Scopus, and national databases, including Scientific Information Database (SID) and MagIran were reviewed. The following keywords and also combinations of them were used to search the databases: “Marital satisfaction,” “Personality traits,” “Personality factors,” “Big five model of personality,” and “Iran.”ResultsA total of 18 correlational studies, without any time limitation, with a total sample of 4049, were reviewed. The following correlation coefficients were found between marital satisfaction and personality traits: r = − 0.439 with neuroticism (95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 0.27–0.60), r = 0.833 with extraversion (95% CI: 0.77–0.88), r = 0.777 with openness (95% CI: 0.70–0.84), r = 0.855 with agreeableness (95% CI: 0.80–0.90), and r = 0.90 with conscientiousness (95% CI: 0.84–0.95).ConclusionsCouples high in Neuroticism experience lower levels of marital satisfaction, and couples high in Conscientiousness are more satisfied with their marital life.

Family relationships and behavioral disorders. Resilient resources for quality of life.

This paper examines the situation of families with children having behavioral disorder with regards to aspects related to family relationships and couple dynamics. In fact, many international studies highlight the daily difficulties that a family has to face, above all related to the social impact of behavioral disorder (which has direct repercussions on the sense of parental self-efficacy and, consequently, on the planning skills and educational aspects of mothers and fathers) but also to the high level of stress affecting the couple. Survey data confirm parents of children with behavioral disorders report lower levels of marital satisfaction and are more likely to divorce. Analyzing some of the most recurrent parent-training interventions for children with behavior disorder, this work aims at investigating all these aspects in a pedagogical perspective, raising questions about the quality of life of parents and children and the opportunities to promote a high quality of interpersonal and resilient relationships in the family.

Between- and within-subject associations of PTSD symptom clusters and marital functioning in military couples.

Using data from 570 male service members and their wives, the current study investigated over-time associations between male service members' self-report of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and marital functioning (marital satisfaction, positive bonding, conflict behavior) as perceived by both spouses. Analyses spanned 5 time points over a 2-year period and fully disentangled between- and within-subject effects. Higher levels of all four PTSD symptom clusters (numbing, hyperarousal, effortful avoidance, and reexperiencing) showed significant between-subject associations with lower levels of marital satisfaction and positive bonding, and higher levels of conflict for both men and women, whereas there were markedly fewer significant within-subject associations. When running models with all four PTSD symptom clusters entered at once, the primary between-subject finding was that men with higher numbing symptoms overall reported poorer marital functioning in all domains; there were no significant between-subject links between numbing and marital functioning for women. In contrast, within-subject effects for numbing were found for both men and women, linking increased numbing with decreased positive bonding and increased conflict behavior over time; women also had lower marital satisfaction when their husbands reported relatively higher numbing. Between-subject analyses also revealed that for men with higher average levels of effortful avoidance, wives reported lower levels of satisfaction and positive bonding, whereas men themselves reported less frequent conflict behavior. Finally, within-subject effects showed that at times when men reported increased hyperarousal, they also perceived increased marital conflict, whereas women surprisingly reported increased marital satisfaction. Implications of divergent between- and within-subject results are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Marital Satisfaction among Korean Commuter Couples

In Korea, some dual-earner married couples, where both husbands and wives have careers, live separately because their workplaces are located too far for a daily commute. These “commuter couples” are on the rise all over the world. In general, physical closeness is important for the quality of the relationships; thus, marital satisfaction is one of the most important issues in the literature on commuter couples. While some studies found a lower quality of relationships among commuter couples, others found cohesive and trustful relationships in these couples. However, the existing studies were conducted mainly with convenience samples of specific occupational groups in developed countries. Using a recent representative sample of commuter couples in Korea, this study found that commuter couples report lower levels of marital satisfaction compared to typical dual-earner couples. Additionally, this study found that in commuter couples, wives feel less marital satisfaction compared to their husbands.

Workload and marital satisfaction over time: Testing lagged spillover and crossover effects during the newlywed years

Although many studies have found that higher workloads covary with lower levels of marital satisfaction, the question of whether workloads may also predict changes in marital satisfaction over time has been overlooked. To address this question, we investigated the lagged association between own and partner workload and marital satisfaction using eight waves of data collected every 6months over the first 4years of marriage from 172 heterosexual couples. Significant crossover, but not spillover, effects were found, indicating that partners of individuals with higher workloads at one time point experience greater declines in marital satisfaction by the following time point compared to the partners of individuals with lower workloads. These effects were not moderated by gender or parental status. These findings suggest that higher partner workloads can prove deleterious for relationship functioning over time and call for increased attention to the long-term effects of spillover and crossover from work to marital functioning.

Within- and Between-Family Associations of Marital Functioning and Child Well-being.

This study clarifies within-family and between-family links between marital functioning and child wellbeing. Expanding on existing prospective research, this study tests whether changes in parents' marital functioning are associated with corresponding changes in their children's wellbeing, independent from associations that exist when comparing different families. Participants (N = 1033) were members of married, opposite-sex couples with children who participated in five waves of a larger study of marriage in the U.S. Army. Spouses' constructive communication, verbal conflict, and marital satisfaction each showed between-family associations with parent-reported child internalizing and externalizing problems. In contrast, within-family associations were significant only for parents' communication behaviors. That is, parents who reported lower levels of marital satisfaction also reported lower child wellbeing, whereas change in parents' communication was associated with change in child wellbeing over time. Isolating within-family effects is important for understanding marital and child functioning and for identifying potential targets for effective intervention.

Associations Between Prior Deployments and Marital Satisfaction Among Army Couples

AbstractAlthough the experience of deployments has been described as devastating to married life, evidence linking deployments directly to poorer marital functioning has been sparse. The analyses described in this article compare associations between prior deployments and current marital satisfaction across four different ways of measuring prior deployment within a large and representative sample of married Army service members and their spouses. Results indicate that the experience of prior deployments is associated with significantly lower current marital satisfaction among military couples. The association is disproportionately strong for first deployments and first cumulative months of deployment and weakens over subsequent deployment experiences. Most of these associations, but not all, can be accounted for by the fact that service members who have been deployed are more likely to have experienced traumatic events and to experience posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, both of which are independently associated with lower levels of marital satisfaction.

Activity Restriction and Depressive Symptoms in Older Couples.

The present study aimed to clarify the circumstances under which activity restriction (AR) is associated with depressive symptoms among patients with osteoarthritis (OA) and their spouses. A total of 220 older adults with OA and their caregiving spouses participated in the study. The actor-partner interdependence model (APIM) was used to examine the associations between AR stemming from patients' OA and the depressive symptoms of patients and spouses. The potential moderating role of marital satisfaction also was examined. After accounting for pain severity, health, and life stress of both patients with OA and spouses, higher AR was associated with more depressive symptoms for both patients and spouses. In regard to partner effects, patients whose spouse had higher AR reported more depressive symptoms. In addition, the association of spouses' and patients' AR and their own depressive symptoms was moderated by their marital satisfaction. For both patients and spouses, the associations between their own AR and depressive symptoms were weaker for those with higher levels of marital satisfaction compared with those with lower levels of marital satisfaction. This pattern of findings highlights the dyadic implications of AR and the vital role of marital satisfaction in the context of chronic illness.

Filial Obligation and Marital Satisfaction in Middle-aged Couples.

Although prior research suggests that high filial obligation has an adverse impact on psychological well-being, little is known about the implications of these beliefs for marital quality during midlife. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine dyadic associations between middle-aged husbands' and wives' filial obligation beliefs and their marital satisfaction. Using a sample of 132 middle-aged husbands (M = 51.45 years) and wives (M = 49.75 years) drawn from Wave 1 of the Family Exchanges Study, we tested actor-partner interdependence models to determine associations between husbands' and wives' filial obligation beliefs and marital satisfaction in both spouses. We also examined associations between spousal dissimilarity in filial obligation and marital satisfaction. Wives' greater filial obligation was associated with their own lower marital satisfaction. Conversely, husbands' greater filial obligation was associated with their own higher marital satisfaction. Greater spousal dissimilarity in filial obligation was associated with lower levels of marital satisfaction for husbands but not for wives. Given that support provided to aging parents most often occurs within the context of marriage, findings highlight the importance of examining dyadic associations between filial obligation beliefs and marital quality among middle-aged couples.

Borderline personality disorder symptoms and newlyweds’ observed communication, partner characteristics, and longitudinal marital outcomes.

Given borderline personality disorder's (BPD) relation with interpersonal dysfunction, there is substantial interest in understanding BPD's effect on marriage. The current study used data from a community sample of 172 newlywed couples to examine spouses' BPD symptoms in relation to their observed communication, partner BPD symptoms, 4-year marital quality trajectories, and 10-year divorce rates. BPD symptoms were correlated cross-sectionally with more negative skills during observational problem-solving and social support tasks, and spouses reporting more BPD symptoms were married to partners reporting more BPD symptoms. Longitudinally, hierarchical linear modeling of newlyweds' 4-year marital trajectories indicated that BPD symptoms predicted the intercept of marital quality for spouses and their partners, reflecting lower levels of marital satisfaction and higher levels of marital problems. BPD symptoms did not predict 10-year divorce rates. These findings highlight the chronic relationship impairment associated with BPD symptoms, indicate that distress begins early in marriage, and suggest that partners with higher levels of BPD symptoms remain in more troubled marriages.

African American Marital Satisfaction as a Function of Work-Family Balance and Work-Family Conflict and Implications for Social Workers

African Americans are more likely than any other race/ethnic group to report lower levels of marital satisfaction. Due to numerous benefits of marriage such as better physical and mental health, it is important to identify factors that impact African American marital satisfaction. This study examines the impact of work-family conflict and work-family balance on African American marital satisfaction. The results reveal a negative relationship between work-family conflict and marital satisfaction as well as differences in work-family factors that predict husbands' verses wives' marital satisfaction. The article offers implications for social work.

The Comparison of Marital and Family Factors Between Singaporean Monocultural and Intercultural Couples

Skowronski Dariusz P., Fong Tay Daniel Justin, Ho Wen Wan Michelle, Ying Cherie Toh Shi, Fernandez Tricia Marjorie, Waszynska Katarzyna, The Comparison of Marital and Family Factors Between Singaporean Monocultural and Intercultural Couples [Analiza porownawcza czynnikow malzenskich i rodzinnych w związkach monoi miedzykulturowych w Singapurze]. Studia Edukacyjne nr 31, 2014, Poznan 2014, pp. 249-266. Adam Mickiewicz University Press. ISBN 978-83232-2781-6. ISSN 1233-6688 The number of intercultural marriages in Singapore has recently been on the rise and research has found that these mixed marriages and relationships tend to have lower levels of marital satisfaction in comparison to monocultural marriages. To determine whether the level of marital satisfaction will be higher for monocultural couples as compared to intercultural couples, a 40-item questionnaire and an 8-item interview was developed based on 8 different factors of couple dynamics and family factors. 10 monocultural couples and 11 intercultural couples were recruited to complete the questionnaire and five monocultural couples, and five intercultural couples from this participant pool participated in an additional interview. It was hypothesized that the marital satisfaction scores, based on both couple dynamics and family factors, will be higher in monocultural couples as compared to intercultural couples. Contrary to that, results showed that intercultural couples demonstrated higher marital satisfaction scores as compared to monocultural couples. Arguably, it may be possible that Singapore and the other parts of the world might differ by having a strong foundation of interethnic ties, which may have made intercultural marriages more widely accepted.

Gender, Race, Adult Attachment, and Marital Satisfaction Among Malaysians

This study investigated the gender and race differences on attachment-related avoidance, attachment-related anxiety, and marital satisfaction in the three major Malaysian ethnic groups (i.e., Malays, Chinese, and Indians). Results showed the females reported higher levels of anxiety and lower levels of marital satisfaction than did the males. The Malays were found to report higher levels of anxiety than both the Chinese and Indians. Further regression analyses revealed that anxiety and avoidance were significant predictors of marital satisfaction in the Chinese females, Indian males and females, and Malay males and females while avoidance was the only significant predictor in the Chinese males. Gender and race differences were also observed in the association between attachment and marital satisfaction.

343 – Stress and marital satisfaction of parents to children diagnosed with autism

The current investigation expended on research among parents caring for a child who is diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). An online web survey was used to collect data from 253 parents caring for a child with a diagnosis of ASD. Both parents reported on elevated levels of parental stress associated with caring for the child on the spectrum. In addition, lower levels of marital satisfaction were found in both parents. About 13% of the parents in the sample met the diagnostic criteria for Major Depressive Disorder and About 15% of the parents met the diagnostic criteria for Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Although the majority of the sample were females (94%) significant differences were found between males and females in relation to meeting the diagnostic criteria for Major Depressive Disorder and for Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Higher levels of stress were associated with higher number of Generalized Anxiety Disorder symptoms and higher number of Major Depressive Disorder symptoms. Findings from this study indicate how vulnerable parents and especially females are in relation to caring to a child diagnosed with ASD.

An Exploratory Investigation of Marital Functioning and Order of Spousal Onset in Couples Concordant for Psychopathology

Individuals with a psychiatric disorder are significantly more likely to have a spouse with a clinical diagnosis--marital concordance. We used a community sample of 304 couples concordant for either major depressive disorder (MDD) or substance use disorders (SUDs) to examine the relationship between marital functioning and gendered patterns of mental health diagnosis onset. For SUD concordance, couples in which wives onset before husbands--despite typical later onset for men--reported lower levels of marital satisfaction compared with couples in which the husband onset first. For MDD concordance, couples in which husbands onset with depression before wives--despite typical later onset for men--reported lower levels of marital satisfaction. These results suggest that for couples concordant for mental diagnoses, it is most problematic for marital functioning for one partner to have an atypically early onset. Implications for treatment targets in marital therapy are discussed.