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.