Marital Satisfaction and the Work-Family Interface: An Overview
Author(s):
- Krista J. Brockwood
Document type: Encyclopedia Entry
Appears in: Work and Family Encyclopedia
Year: 2007
Topic:
- Dual-earner
- Roles
- Wellbeing
- Work and Family
- Other
Discipline:
- Psychology
Abstract:
Marital satisfaction is a global evaluation of the state of one’s marriage or current long-term romantic relationship. This global evaluation can be a reflection of a how happy people are in their marriage in general or a composite of satisfaction with several specific facets of the marital relationship. Likewise, measurement instruments range from one item ratings (e.g., Roehling & Bultman, 2002; Schoen, Astone, Rothert, Standish, & Kim, 2002) to measures that encompass several specific facets of marital functioning (e.g., Barnett, Marshall, Raudenbush, & Brennan, 1993; Locke & Wallace, 1959). Johnson and colleagues used confirmatory factor analysis to support a five-factor model of marital quality: happiness or personal satisfaction with the relationship, frequency of interaction between partners in the activities they share, the extent of disagreements or arguments between spouses, problems which arise from jealousy, substance abuse or personal traits, and instability or indicators of divorce (Johnson, White, Edwards, & Booth, 1986).