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prediction of marital satisfaction among dual-career couples with children by instrumental and expressive personality traits and marital role strain
The major purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of marital role strain and masculine and feminine personality traits on the level of marital satisfaction among dual-career couples with children. Studies show that dual-career couples tend to experience a high degree of stress, yet also realize high marital satisfaction. The present study was an attempt to distinguish personality trait combinations among couples that augment the adaptation to the dual-career lifestyle. The couples' personality traits were also compared to the actual and ideal role divisions in an attempt to differentiate factors influencing the level of role strain and marital satisfaction. A further expressed purpose of this study was to begin to develop an inventory that measured role strain in marriage based on role divisions among couples. The Marital Satisfaction Scale-Form B was selected as the criterion measure. Sixty-nine dual-career couples with children completed the following inventories: The Personal Data Inventory, used to compile descriptive data; the Personal Attributes Questionnaire, a measure of masculinity and femininity as separate variables; and the Marital Tasks Inventory, developed by the author to measure actual versus ideal role task divisions among couples. Data analysis used multiple regression models to determine the predictiveness of research variables. The results of the study indicate that the dual-career couples with children realize a high degree of marital satisfaction. High masculine traits in both husband and/or wife were predictive of high marital satisfaction. High masculine and feminine traits in the wife were also conducive to high marital satisfaction. Couples where both husband and wife were high in masculine and feminine traits experienced low role strain. Couples where the husbands were high in masculinity and low in femininity married to wives high in both traits, experienced high marital satisfaction and high role strain. Results also indicate that wives were performing the most significant amount of marital tasks and were experiencing a high degree of role strain. Husbands were contributing to a degree on the majority of tasks, and were also expressing some role strain.
"Major subject: Educational Psychology."
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 76-82).