1

UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTHERN CARIBBEAN

MARACAS ROYAL ROAD, MARACAS, ST. JOSEPH.

Research Paper on Marital Satisfaction

An Assignment

Presented in Partial Fulfilment

of the Requirements for Marriage and the Family- FMST 456

INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Lesley Moses

ByPeter Missole

November 26, 2020

Approval………………..
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Table of Contents

Introduction...............................................................................................................................................3
Newlyweds..................................................................................................................................................4
Finance....................................................................................................................................................5
Health.........................................................................................................................................................5
Emotional Health.......................................................................................................................................7
Children.....................................................................................................................................................7
Finance.......................................................................................................................................................9
Sexual Intimacy, Stress and Personality Traits.....................................................................................10
Other Factors...........................................................................................................................................11
Race.......................................................................................................................................................11
Psychoeducation / Psychological Well-Being........................................................................................11
Religiosity..............................................................................................................................................12
Conclusion................................................................................................................................................12
Bibliography..............................................................................................................................................13
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Introduction

Marriage is undoubtedly one of, if not, the most popular and important instructions in

human history. Humanity has been engaging in this ritual for thousands of years on an ubiquitous

scale. Whilst marriage may be popular, and pushed by governments, religion and other

institutions, marital satisfaction is not the inevitable result of every marriage. Marital satisfaction

may be affected by many different variables, some of which include finance, health, education

and presence or absence of children. People generally marry for love and affection, lifetime

companionship, and various emotional and psychological needs [ CITATION Zah18 \l 1033 ]. As we

explore this topic, we shall examine what expert from across the globe in different disciplines

have said about the topic through various research papers and journals. These scholars have

apparatus to measure marital satisfaction and have been able to identify specific factors that

would contribute to marital satisfaction.

One research conducted used meters like extraversion, openness to experience,

agreeableness, conscientiousness and neuroticism as indicators of marital satisfaction or the lack

thereof [ CITATION Amy11 \l 1033 ]. Claxton, et al. also notes that a great deal of research has

focused on younger couples who may have been married just a few years as opposed to older

couples who would have had decades of experience. The danger in this approach, the authors

posit is that earlier in marriage, couples may have a skewed view of their partners and so may

not adequately describe vital traits that lead to marital satisfaction. In addition, there are often

discrepancies when younger couples describe their spouse as opposed to their spouse’s self-

disclosure. Whether negative or positives, as in their partner described him/herself worse than

was presented, the results may not be as accurate. That same data, positive discrepancy, however

is used as a determining factor for marital satisfaction in older couples [ CITATION Amy11 \l 1033 ].
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The rationale is that older couples would have been privy to their partners negative traits or

unfavourable situations but chose to rate them highly.

This singular piece of research shows that studying marriage is difficult and marital

satisfaction, no different. For example, men are affected by different factors than women as far

as marital satisfaction is concerned [ CITATION Bon00 \l 1033 ]. No apparatus is perfect, especially

when people are tested based on subjective questions by researcher and in turn give subjective or

sometimes fairy-tale responses that are far from reality. We can never know for certain the true

extent of marital satisfaction that people experience, however by cross checking many different

authors and looking for patterns, it is possible to produce an answer that is closer to the truth.

Albeit, there may still be some parameters that need to be added to the apparatus used for testing

marital satisfaction. For the purpose of this research, marital satisfaction shall be examined

under these categories: health, finance, sexual satisfaction, presence or absence of children in the

family, religion, race and communication. Newlyweds Shall be examined separately.

Newlyweds

Easily the most vulnerable group when it comes to marital satisfaction, newlyweds are

more likely to experience marital dissolution in the first few years of marriage [ CITATION Jus17 \l

1033 ]. Unlike newlyweds older couples have greater financial assets, lower health risk and an

overall greater marital satisfaction [ CITATION Ale17 \l 1033 ]. Many factors like lack of marriage

enrichment training, lofty expectations or being generally unprepared may be reasons why this

phenomenon exist (Claxton, et al. 2011; Dean, Carroll and Yang 2009; Farahzadi and Tasharrofi

2018). Newlyweds often report changing levels of satisfaction based on stressful events or a

recent argument and may evaluate their marital satisfaction as decreasing with the passage of

time [ CITATION Jus17 \l 1033 ].

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Finance

In addition to other problems which we will discuss later, a major part of marital

dissatisfaction is attributed to financial strain, as much as 15% if we were to quantify it (Sawai,

et al. 2018). Sawai et al. discovered that conflicts did not necessarily fight over lack of finances

but more so, how those finances were being managed. The same author also discovered that

couples who were satisfied with their marital relationship were quicker to resolve financial

conflicts when they arose. This presents a classic dilemma: which came first, the chicken or the

egg? Overall, financial strain is positively related to marital satisfaction, similarly to financial

management. Newlywed couples who budget, are careful with spending and reduce debt pilling

practices report a higher level of marital satisfaction [ CITATION Saw18 \l 1033 ].

Health

Whether overtly or covertly whenever health deteriorates in a relationship there is some

type of consequence. Throughout this section we shall examine if poor health or severe health

conditions affect marital satisfaction and to what extent. There are many different health

challenges that can affect marital satisfaction but because of the broad nature of this research we

shall examine only a few conditions and extrapolate.

One article points out that women who experience Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) report

lower marital satisfaction that others [ CITATION Zoh19 \l 1033 ]. This finding can be attributed to

the symptoms which accompany PMS such as: mastalgia, muscle pain, arthritis, bloating, weight

gain, anger and irritability. Karimiankakolaki et al. posit that these symptoms affect the family

first and then lead to marital dissatisfaction. Reduced marital satisfaction can also be observed in

mothers of children with developmental delay. These mothers have an increased risk of

depression, which eventually leads to reduced marital satisfaction [ CITATION Ahm19 \l 1033 ].
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Breast cancer can also seriously affect the health of any relationship and in addition to

incurring many difficulties on family life, it adversely affects marital satisfaction [ CITATION

Jeh18 \l 1033 ]. Factors such as religious beliefs and a good sense of humour may alleviate the

negative effect that breast cancer has on marital satisfaction as it changes the individual’s

perspective and approach to life and stressful situation. These two variables also help with

mental disorders. Whilst these factors help, the impact that breast cancer has on marital

satisfaction is still very much real.

Researches, when studying couples who coped with prostate cancer, discovered that for

couples who had a partner survive, their marital satisfaction was affected. It was discovered that

as health of the surviving partner increases, marital satisfaction also increases [ CITATION Eri11 \l

1033 ]. Their spousal caregivers would usually find ways to cope with the disease however in

some cases they would develop mental or physical health disorders. Zhou, et al. also noted that

men with prostate cancer were not as concerned about marital satisfaction whilst they were

experiencing their ordeal [ CITATION Eri11 \l 1033 ].

In relation to the effect of Rheumatoid Arthritis, Bermas, et al. noted that couples ha

different coping mechanisms for dealing with this disorder, though not always positive. Positive

or supportive partners made marital dissolution less likely and thereby helped improved marital

satisfaction [ CITATION Bon00 \l 1033 ]. The downfall to supportive spouses is that the more

involved they become, the higher the chances of them becoming depressed and that would

reduce martial satisfaction, especially for men [ CITATION Bon00 \l 1033 ]. Bermas, et al. remarked

that escape into fantasy and higher educational level led to greater marital dissatisfaction in

women [ CITATION Bon00 \l 1033 ]. In addition, women, more than men, especially women with
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higher education reported greater levels of marital satisfaction than men with a partner who has

Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Emotional Health

Contrary to popular belief, marital satisfaction was not increased or achieved when

couples negative concept of themselves were reinforced in the marital relation. Rather, Sacoo

and Phares 2001 discovered that partners with depression or poor self-concept were marital

enriched when their partner viewed them positively. These findings were consistent with the self-

esteem enhancement theory, a theory that supports the response of positivity to depressive traits [

CITATION Wil01 \l 1033 ]. Depression may sink marital satisfaction because of the negative bias

that the individual would have of the marital relationship, stemming from depression symptoms [

CITATION Wil01 \l 1033 ]. As expected, one research confirmed that violence in the marital

relationship led to greater levels of marital dissatisfaction [ CITATION Bru19 \l 1033 ].

Children

Here is presented another chicken and egg scenario, this time in determining the effect

that child bearing has on marital satisfaction. There may be problems determining whether

marital satisfaction helps couples to have more children or whether children negatively or

positively affect marital satisfaction; this however may even be two differently topics altogether.

One study, albeit novel and somewhat inconclusive, found out that women who experience less

marital satisfaction bear more children [ CITATION Mar17 \l 1033 ]. The women interviewed were

from Tehran, Iran and the data supported this conclusion but since it goes against conventional

study, the authors decided to leave it for further study.

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The transition from childlessness to childbearing amongst housewives and working

women alike was found to particularly stressful[ CITATION Sha19 \l 1033 ]. Nourani, et al.

discovered that the more difficult it was for married couples to transition into parenthood, the

lower their martial satisfaction. This was decreased, and not averted, by the involvement of

fathers in household duties. When compared to housewives however, women employed outside

the home experienced a greater level of marital dissatisfaction when children were introduced in

the marital relationship [ CITATION Sha19 \l 1033 ]. In the context of this research (Iran), women

with jobs suffered more marital satisfaction based on their educational or socioeconomic status

but no age or length of marriage. Women who had careers report feeling of stagnation or a

disruption in their professional life and were even more likely to terminate an unfavourable

marital relationship [ CITATION Sha19 \l 1033 ].

Another factor that will affect marital satisfaction is the presence of children with

terminal or lifelong illnesses like cancer or developmental disorders (Ahmadi, et al., 2019;

Okanli & Ay, 2018). Researchers discovered that couples who had children with develomental

disorders suffered greater marital dissatisfaction that those without [ CITATION Ahm19 \l 1033 ].

Chiildren, without any difficulty have shown to add a strain on a marriage, farless for a child

with cancer. Okanli & Ay 2019, discovered that in marital relationships where one of the

children suffer from cancer couples spend more time absorbed into the needs of that child and

may neglect other children or even each other’s needs. In addition to this, most of the caregiving

usually falls on the mother as mothers feel that children are an extension of themselves

[ CITATION Ays18 \l 1033 ]. When roles are shared, and the father is involved significantly in

caregiving, marital satisfaction is shown to increase [ CITATION Ays18 \l 1033 ].

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Finance

The financial behaviour of couples have been observed to greatly contribute to marital

satisfaction. As opposed to single people, married couples often pool their finances together and

would usually achieve greater success in gaining capital during the course of their

marriage[ CITATION Dew08 \l 1033 ]. Whilst the acquisition or non-acquisition of wealth may not

be a meter for marital satisfaction, couples are usually happier when partners subscribe to the

financial practices of their spouse [ CITATION Dew08 \l 1033 ]. On the other hand, couples who

wished that they were better off and were more materialistic in the marriage reported lower

levels of marital satisfaction (Dean, Carroll and Yang 2009; LeBaron, Kelly and Caroll 2018).

This is corroborated by other researches who found out that financial stressors were inversely

related to marital satisfaction, that is as financial stressors increased, marital satisfaction

decreased [ CITATION Lau09 \l 1033 ]. Money problems, the authors agreed, was a recurring issue

in marital conflict and may even lead to martial dissolution or even divorce [ CITATION Lau09 \l

1033 ].

Not all couples respond similarly to financial stressors or financial conflicts. The

response of couples may depend on their personality traits, attachment styles and education level[

CITATION Amy11 \l 1033 ]. Couples become more affected by financial issues or other issues when

that issue is accompanied neuroticism. This happens because neuroticism brings with it many

negative traits and coping mechanisms that are detrimental to marital satisfaction [ CITATION

Amy11 \l 1033 ]. One research showed that if the family of origin a partner came from was

impoverished and suffered financial challenges, amongst other challenges, that might contribute

negatively to martial satisfaction.

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Sexual Intimacy, Stress and Personality Traits

Sexual intimacy can easily affect marital satisfaction. Sexual intimacy is not just a one-

off event but is connected to other aspects of the marriage. Researches explain that marital

stressors may decrease the time that couples spend together, affect how they feel about each

other, impair their communication between one another and increase the change that

“problematic personality traits may be expressed to one another [ CITATION Guy07 \l 1033 ]. For

example, stress, marital conflict and marital unhappiness reduces sexual intimacy and frequency.

This would then affect marital satisfaction negatively [ CITATION Guy07 \l 1033 ]. On the flipside,

although daily hassles increase marital stress it has been shown to increase sexual activity. With

the rise of sexual activity in daily hassle men reported more marital satisfaction but not women,

seeing that men regard sex as more important than women do [ CITATION Guy07 \l 1033 ].

Unemployed men, surprisingly were easier to experience sexual dysfunction that employed men.

Whilst men were more evident by stressors outside the relationship, women were more affected

by stressors within the relationship [ CITATION Guy07 \l 1033 ]. The presence of disease like

coronary angioplasty has also been showed to decrease sexual desire and by extension marital

satisfaction [ CITATION Muh19 \l 1033 ].

Women and men have differing sexual expectations in marital relationships based on

culture and upbringing. It is showed that men are poor predictors of women’s (especially non-

orgasmic women) sexual satisfaction [ CITATION Zah17 \l 1033 ]. For women, especially, sexual

happiness is more dependent on the quality of the marital relationship than anything else. This is

greatly aided by greater levels on intimacy and closeness amongst couples [ CITATION Zah17 \l

1033 ]. Greater sexual happiness and marital satisfaction, the researchers explain, can be achieved

by couples sharing their sexual preferences [ CITATION Zah17 \l 1033 ].

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Other Factors

Race

One author noted that people who are in interracial relationships are more likely to be an

object of discrimination and may suffer low marital satisfaction because of it [ CITATION Joy18 \l

1033 ]. These researches discovered that families when grouped by races were discriminatory in

that order: white, black and Hispanics. For this purpose, we shall examine white-black

relationships. Discrimination may come from friends, family or strangers but may be more

observed by the black partner in the relationship [ CITATION Joy18 \l 1033 ]. When partners were

open about their experience with discrimination, however, marital satisfaction increased.

Psychoeducation / Psychological Well-Being

A study focused on the employment of choice theory in research discovered that marital

therapy, with choice theory as its premise, helped improve marital satisfaction amongst couples

[ CITATION Ate19 \l 1033 ]. The theory proposes that if couples were to change their attitude

towards conflict in their marriage. Strategies used in this research included reality therapy,

psychotherapy and psychoeducation [ CITATION Ate19 \l 1033 ]. In regards to psychological health

and marital satisfaction, research has shown that men experience higher levels of marital

satisfaction and women reported higher levels of psychological health in healthy marital

relationships [ CITATION FLK19 \l 1033 ].

Religiosity

Religion has been studied to play a big part in marital satisfaction and has been proven to

help mitigate marital dissatisfaction [ CITATION Jeh18 \l 1033 ]. It is proven religion, whatever it is,

helps “shield couples against divorce and marital dissatisfaction” [ CITATION Aur19 \l 1033 ].

Research has found out that, although religion helped marriages, religious heterogamy only has
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negative effects on marital satisfaction and actually increase the chances of divorce. Religious

homogamy has no effect on marital satisfaction, except in African American couples [ CITATION

Aur19 \l 1033 ].

Conclusion

There has been extensive research on the topic of marital research, leaving some results

inconclusive or even premature. All researchers seem to agree however that health and financial

management practices had a big role to play in marital satisfaction. There were varying methods

used to measure marital satisfaction and some researches choose to veer off into less

conventional means in order to see what obtains across the board. Most researches admitted that

the subject of marital satisfaction is complicated and can easily vary across race, culture,

religion, socio-economic and educational status. For different people, marital satisfaction may

mean different things since the subject may be highly subjective. It would be wise to conclude

however, that people’s perception of their marriage is a good indication of whether that marriage

is healthy or not.

Researches have also pointed out that marital satisfaction may change as frequently as

from day to day and may be impacted by perception. Couples may feel that their marriage is not

going so well if they had a fight or huge quarrel. It is safe to say that no marriage is perfect and

that every couple will feel a level of dissatisfaction in their marital relationship. Couples may

experience marital dissatisfaction in the earlier years only to enjoy the bliss of marital joy in later

years. This is tantamount to eating sugarcane from the top to bottom.

Recommendations from reviewing the research on the topic would include using greater

sample sizes, conduct qualitative research on couples over a long period of time, approach
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research without a bias include more cultures and races in research. As some researches pointed

out, marital therapy was of great benefit to hold dysfunctional marriages together.

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