Neuroticism and marital satisfaction

Thirty happily married and thirty unhappily married couples were examined by means of the MPI questionnaire to test the hypothesis that emotional instability impaired satisfaction in marriage. Unhappily married partners were very significantly higher on neuroticism than happily married partners, but there were no differences in extraversion/introversion. The data suggest that the high neuroticism of the unhappily married partners antedates their marriage.     

Attachment and relationship satisfaction in expectant first-time parents: The mediating role of relationship enhancing behaviors

Individual differences in attachment are well established as a correlate of couple relationship satisfaction. However, less is known about the role of attachment in predicting satisfaction at specific milestone points in couple relationships. The present study explored the role of attachment in predicting relationship satisfaction during couples’ first pregnancy, and the mediating role of relationship enhancing behaviors. Male and female attachment anxiety and avoidance predicted their own low relationship satisfaction, and this was partially mediated by relationship enhancing behaviors. Male attachment anxiety and avoidance predicted low female satisfaction, and this was fully mediated by relationship enhancing behaviors. This study is the first to highlight the important role of male attachment during pregnancy, and the mediating role of relationship enhancing behaviors.     

Neuroticism, marital violence, and the moderating role of stress and behavioral skills

Do high levels of neuroticism predict intimate partner violence (IPV)? Although neuroticism may predispose partners to increased risks of IPV perpetration, the extent to which it predicts such perpetration is likely to depend on the broader context of the relationship. Consistent with this prediction, the current longitudinal study of 169 community couples revealed that the effects of neuroticism on IPV perpetration over the first 4 years of marriage were moderated by observations of problem-solving behavior and objective ratings of chronic stress. Specifically, although husbands and wives who scored higher on a measure of neuroticism at the outset of marriage engaged in more IPV throughout the marriage on average, those who possessed more effective problem-solving skills or experienced lower levels of stress were significantly less likely to engage in IPV. Results highlight the importance of considering the broader relationship context when examining predictors of specific interpersonal processes.     

Personality and job satisfaction: the mediating role of job characteristics

This study tested a model of the relationship between core self-evaluations, intrinsic job characteristics, and job satisfaction. Core self-evaluations was assumed to be a broad personality concept manifested in 4 specific traits: self-esteem, generalized self-efficacy, locus of control, and low neuroticism. The model hypothesized that both subjective (perceived) job characteristics and job complexity mediate the relationship between core self-evaluations and job satisfaction. Two studies were conducted to test the model. Results from Study 1 supported the hypothesized model but also suggested that alternative models fit the data well. Results from Study 2 revealed that core self-evaluations measured in childhood and in early adulthood were linked to job satisfaction measured in middle adulthood. Furthermore, in Study 2 job complexity mediated part of the relationship between both assessments of core self-evaluations and job satisfaction.     

Partner phubbing and relationship satisfaction: Self-esteem and marital status as moderators

Current Psychology - The current study investigated the moderating effects of self-esteem and marital status on the association between partner phubbing and relationship satisfaction. Four hundred...     

Attachment,marital interaction,and relationship satisfaction: A diary study

The relations among measures of attachment, spouse behavior, and marital satisfaction were assessed in a broad sample of 193 married couples, using both questionnaire and diary methods. Insecure attachment was associated with less favorable reports of spouse behavior, as assessed by diary checklists. Marital satisfaction was predicted by attachment measures and reports of spouse behavior. The relation between attachment security and marital satisfaction was moderated, but not mediated, by reported spouse behavior. Specifically, insecure individuals’ evaluations of their relationships were more reactive to recent spouse behavior, an effect that was especially marked for fearful participants and for those in longer‐term marriages. Some gender differences in patterns of prediction were obtained. The results are discussed in terms of the working models associated with attachment styles, and the processes by which relationship satisfaction may be eroded over time.     

On the heritability of job satisfaction: the mediating role of personality

In this article the authors investigate the extent to which traits reflecting individual differences in personality and affectivity explain or mediate genetic influences on job satisfaction. Using estimates of the dispositional source of job satisfaction according to 2 dispositional frameworks--the five-factor model and positive affectivity-negative affectivity (PA-NA)--and behavioral-genetic estimates of the heritabilities of job satisfaction and the dispositional factors, the authors computed the proportion of genetic variance in job satisfaction that is explained by these trait frameworks. Results indicate that the affectivity model is a stronger mediator of genetic effects on job satisfaction than the five-factor model. PA and NA mediate about 45% of the genetic influences on job satisfaction, whereas the five-factor model mediates approximately 24% of these genetic effects.     

Psychoticism and marital satisfaction

The author has tested the hypothesis that psychoticism, as described in Eysenck's theory of personality, is related to marriage outcome. Thirty happy and 30 unhappy couples answered the Eysencks' EPQ questionnaire. The unhappy husbands and unhappy wives scored significantly higher on the P scale than their happy counterparts respectively. The results suggest that psychoticism (like neuroticism) may impair the marriage satisfaction. In addition, happily married spouses show greater similarity with respect to personality than do unhappily married spouses. Thus the results support the likeness and go counter to the complementaries theories of marital satisfaction.     

The relationship between core self-evaluations and work and family satisfaction: The mediating role of work-family conflict and facilitation

This study examines the impact of work-family conflict and work-family facilitation on work and family outcomes and explores the influence of core self-evaluations (CSE) among these relationships. CSE is comprised of self-esteem, neuroticism, locus of control, and general self-efficacy. CSE was found to be negatively related to work interfering with family (WIF) and family interfering with work (FIW) conflicts, but not to work-to-family facilitation (W→FF) or family-to-work facilitation (F→WF). WIF and FIW negatively predicted work and family satisfaction, respectively. Additionally, W→FF was significantly related to job satisfaction in the hypothesized direction, and F→WF positively predicted family satisfaction. Job satisfaction negatively predicted intentions to quit. The research and practical implications, as well as limitations of this study are discussed.     

The relationship of sexual adjustment and related sexual behaviors and attitudes to marital adjustment

Abstract

This paper examines the extent of relationship between sexual adjustment and marital adjustment for 30 married couples followed for 3–6 months. Sexual adjustment was assessed by means of the LoPiccolo-Steger Sexual Interaction Inventory, and two other measures termed a Couple Interaction Scale (CI) and a Couple Compatibility Ratio (CCR). Marital adjustment was assessed by means of the Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment Scale (L-W MAS) and a clinically-devised instrument based on the extent of support between the marital partners. The two marital adjustment instruments agreed closely. A high degree of association was obtained between most of the sexual adjustment measures and the two marital adjustment measures; using the most reliable of these measures, it is estimated that sexual adjustment contributed between 40 % and 55 % of the variance in marital adjustment. This association was not due to a specific stage of. the human sexual response cycle of desire, excitement, orgasm and gratification. Intercorrelation of measures of each of these stages with the marital adjustment measures generally yielded significant relationships.     

Sex role identity,marital power,and marital satisfaction among middle-class couples in India

The study attempted to ascertain the circumstances or conditions under which power structure in families may vary from husband domination to egalitarianism and to wife domination. Power was inferred on the basis of decision-making outcome. Among the antecedents were included two variables of wives' employment and androgyny. Consequences of power were explored with reference to marital satisfaction. Data were collected through in-home interviews conducted with husbands and wives in 101 families. The results indicated wives' employment and androgyny to be significantly and positively related to their decision-making authority in the family. Also, as compared to those in autonomic or wife-dominated families, respondents in syncratic and husband-dominated families reported higher levels of marital satisfaction. Results are explained in the light of theoretical formulations relating to resources and norms. The need for taking an unconventional approach to the conceptualization of resources is stressed.     

The relationship of marital satisfaction and social support to depressive symptomatology

The relationship between depressive symptomatology, as measured by the short-form Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and two social support variables was assessed. Based on a sample of 131 married men and 136 married women, the results indicated that the quality of the marital relationship and the frequency of positive social contact with adults other than the spouse were significantly related to depressive symptomatology for both men and women. These two variables accounted for 16% of the variance in BDI scores. Further, analyses of risk for high BDI scores showed that individuals having the least support were 13 times more likely to be in the high-BDI group than individuals with the highest levels of social support. These results suggest that social isolation and marital discord are related to high BDI scores among married adults.     

Sex role orientation and marital satisfaction in dual- and one-provider couples

Scores on the Baucom scales of Masculinity (MSC) and Femininity (FMN), and on three scales from the Snyder Marital Satisfaction Inventory, were obtained from samples of dual- and one-provider couples. Data on rewards and difficulties of the dual- and one-provider lifestyles were collected by means of open-ended questions. The two groups of couples did not differ in sex role orientation or marital satisfaction. The men's levels of MSC were positively related to their marital satisfaction in both groups, and the women's levels of FMN were especially important to couples' satisfaction in the dual-provider group. In both groups, cross-sex scores (women's MSC and men's FMN) were positively related to couples' satisfaction with marital companionship.Bernadette Gray-Little, Ph.D., W. Grant Dahlstrom, Ph.D., and Elizabeth Rossman, Ph.D. are gratefully acknowledged for the guidance and support they provided to the author during this research.     

Financial satisfaction and financial stressors in marital satisfaction

Using a sample of 310 married respondents from one U.S. Midwestern state, a test was conducted to examine the association of financial satisfaction and financial stressors in a spouse's decision to stay married to the same person or leave the relationship. The role of demographic and socioeconomic variables, religiosity, psychological constructs, financial satisfaction, and financial stressors as factors influencing marital satisfaction was tested. Financial stressors were measured using a list of financial stressors adapted from the literature. Financial satisfaction was measured with a one-item scale. The Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale was used as a validation tool to assess whether individuals would marry or not marry again. Religiosity and financial satisfaction were positively associated with marital satisfaction. A negative interaction between financial satisfaction and financial stressors was also noted. Findings suggest that respondents who are financially satisfied tend to be more stable in their marriages.     

The relationship between sex role identity and marital adjustment

One hundred forty-four maritally distressed clinic couples and 138 nonclinic couples participated in a study investigating the relationship between individual sex role identity and marital adjustment. Subjects completed Baucom's (1976) masculinity (MSC) and femininity (FMN) scales, and either the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS; Spanier, 1976) or the Marital Adjustment Scale (MAS; Locke & Wallace, 1959). As predicted, femininity was related to positive marital adjustment; masculinity was related as well, but perhaps to a lesser degree. Androgyny within a relationship was found to be highly desirable, whereas marriages involving undifferentiated individuals were more likely to be distressed.     

Personality and compatibility: a prospective analysis of marital stability and marital satisfaction

The antecedents of marital stability (divorce or remaining married) and marital satisfaction (within the group that remains married) were investigated with a panel of 300 couples who were followed from their engagements in the 1930s until 1980. Twenty-two of the couples broke their engagements; of the 278 couples who married, 50 got divorced at some time between 1935 and 1980. Personality characteristics (measured by acquaintance ratings made in the 1930s) were important predictors of both marital stability and marital satisfaction. The three aspects of personality most strongly related to marital outcome were the neuroticism of the husband, the neuroticism of the wife, and the impulse control of the husband. In combination, the 17 major antecedent variables were moderately predictive of a criterion variable composed of both marital stability and marital satisfaction (R = .49). The three major aspects of personality accounted for more than half of the predictable variance. The remaining variance was accounted for by attitudinal, social-environment, and sexual history variables.     

Social cognitive processes mediating the relationship between exposure to television's sexual content and adolescents' sexual behavior

This study used multiple-group structural equation modeling to test a model explaining the association between exposure to televised sexual content and initiation of intercourse among an ethnically diverse national sample of 1,292 adolescents. The authors hypothesized, on the basis of social-cognitive theory, that exposure to televised sexual content would influence adolescents' safe-sex self-efficacy, sex-related outcome expectancies, and perceived peer norms regarding sex, and that each of these would, in turn, influence intercourse initiation. Findings support a model in which the relationship between exposure to TV's sexual content and intercourse initiation is mediated by safe-sex self-efficacy among African Americans and Whites but not among Hispanics. Outcome expectancies and perceived peer norms may also mediate the link between exposure and intercourse initiation among all 3 racial/ethnic groups, although evidence of this could not be confirmed.     

More gratitude,less materialism: The mediating role of life satisfaction

An empirical relationship has been documented between gratitude and materialism, such that stronger feelings of gratitude are associated with lower materialism. Building on Fredrickson's (1998, 2001) theory that positive emotions ‘broaden’ and ‘build’ we sought to expand upon this finding by (1) examining satisfaction with life as a potential mechanism for this relationship, and (2) exploring the causal direction of this relationship through experimental means. Study 1 (n = 131) demonstrated that satisfaction with life mediated the relationship between gratitude and materialism. Study 2 (n = 171) showed that that experimentally induced gratitude resulted in higher satisfaction with life and lower materialism in a high gratitude condition compared to an envy (low gratitude) condition. Implications and directions for future research were discussed.     

The importance of similarity and understanding of partners' marital ideals to relationship satisfaction

This article extends earlier work on the association between relationship partners' similarity and understanding about marital ideals and relationship satisfaction by controlling for individual differences in stereotype endorsement or typical responding. For heterosexual couples we separated a measure of understanding into the general understanding of partners and understanding that is unique to the specific relationship partner. The measures of similarity and understanding were also separated into general similarity and understanding and into those that are unique between partners. We examined the contribution of each type of similarity and understanding to relationship satisfaction in 238 dating and married couples. Findings indicate that the more satisfied individuals believe that the partner endorses a “female” stereotype. Understanding does not relate to length of the relationship or satisfaction, but similarity in values does There is some indication that marital discord decreases with an increase in the male partners' understanding of their female partners.