Happiness as a Significant Predictor of Women’s Marital Satisfaction

Introduction

Marital satisfaction (MS) has been defined as “a subjective experience of one’s own personal happiness and contentment in the marital relationship” [1]. MS is a key prerequisite for family stability [2], mental and physical health, and emotional stability [3]. MS brings security, welfare and improves people’s perceptions of their abilities. Marital dissatisfaction can be a predictor of marital distress and divorce and their outcomes [4]. Previous studies on different populations in Iran reported wide ranges of MS rates from 33.7% among married women [5] to 64.4% among nurses [6] and 63.6% among female healthcare workers [7].

Another study also found that the mean score of MS among people in Yazd, Iran was not good [8].

MS is influenced by different factors such as age [4, 6], educational status [5, 7], self-concept [2], life satisfaction, job [6], duration of marriage [4, 9, 10], economic status [4], intimacy and marital commitment [4], stress management ability [11], anxiety, depression [4, 6, 11], sexual dysfunction, religious beliefs [4], and happiness [3].

Happiness is one of indicators of population mental health [12]. Happiness is understood as a subjective and emotional positive evaluation of one’s’ own life [13]. Different people have different levels of happiness. A study on Australian adults reported that the mean score of happiness was high on a standard scale [14]. A study at international level (2009) also reported that the rank of Iran among 69 countries in the world respecting happiness was 61 with a happiness mean score of 48.60 (on a 0–100 scale) [15], also it’s lower in women compared with men [16, 17]. A study done in Kashan showed that mean of happiness among women was significantly lower than that among men [17]; and in another research that was done in employed population in 35 European countries, women reported lower psychological well-being and more health problems than men [16]. Also in the other research in India it was found that male participants were happier than female ones [13].

Most previous studies in the area of happiness and MS evaluated the role of MS in happiness. For example, a study in Iran showed that MS explained 38% of the variance of happiness [18]. Another study in Iran also reported that marital adjustment accounted for 19% of the variance of psychological wellbeing [19]. Similarly, another study in Iran found MS as a significant predictor of happiness so that each 1 point increase in MS was associated with 0.545 point increase in happiness [20]. Two other studies also reported the significant contribution of MS to happiness [12, 21]. However, only few studies have dealt with the effects of happiness on MS. For instance, in a qualitative study (2016) in Tehran, Iran, reported joyful dependence (romantic interaction) is a key component of MS [22]. Besides their paucity, studies in this area had some limitations. For example, one study (2014) was conducted only on the Isfahanian couples with marriage duration of ten years and at least one nine-year- old child [11]. Another study was done on depression and anxiety of people who involved in infertility treatment [23] or psychological well-being as influencing the quality of older couple’s relationships [24]. Therefore, there is no conclusive evidence regarding the effects of happiness on MS.

Considering the importance of positive psychology (that happiness is one of the most important markers) in promoting the health of communities and increasing the level of happiness is more possible than increasing the marital satisfaction by the health system, this study was designed. The main objective of this study was to assess women’s MS based on their happiness.

Results

In this study 23.5% of participants were employed, 23.6% lived in rural areas, and 36.2% had good or very good economic status (Tables 1 & 2).

The mean scores of participants’ MS and happiness were 164.68±28.33 and 45.11±14.40, with ranges of 76– 235 and 12–80, respectively. Statistical analyses showed that women’s MS had significant relationships with their age, educational status, place of residence, economic status, having close friends, serious stressful life events during the past six months, and happiness, along with their husbands’ age, educational status, and employment status. By adjusting the confounding effects of other variables, the multiple linear regression revealed that happiness, marriage duration, serious stressful life events during the past six months, and husband’s educational status had significant effects on MS (F =73.74; and P<0.001). This four-factor model explained almost 50% of the total variance of MS (R2=0.497). The most significant factor behind MS was happiness, which accounted for 43.8% of its total variance (Table 3).

Discussion

This study aimed to predict married women’s MS based on their happiness. In overall, our participants had fairly good MS. The results of studies by Ziaee, et al. Amiri, et al. and Azimian, et al. were in line with our findings [6, 7, 27]. However, in some studies, Heshmati, et al. Yoshany, et al. Abbas, et al. and Lee, et al. findings were different or inconsistent with this study [5, 8, 28, 29]. These discrepancies among the studies respecting MS level can be due to the differences in the tools used for MS measurement and also the differences in the employment and educational status, immigration situation, income, place of residence, and the ethnicity of the participants of the studies.

Findings also showed that participants’ MS had significant relationships with several factors. However, only happiness, marriage duration, serious stressful life events in the past six months, and husband’s educational status had significant effects on MS, with happiness as the most significant factor. In other words, happiness explained 43.8% of the total variance of MS. The results of study by Nasiri, et al. also illustrated that the best predictors of MS were general mood and stress management, so that general mood explained 34% of the total variance of MS [11]. Similarly, a study found that women’s happiness significantly contributed to their own and their husbands’ MS and marital quality [3]. Another study reported joyful dependence as an important factor behind MS [22]. Moreover, the quality of marital relationship was found to have negative correlation with negative emotions and positive correlation with life satisfaction and positive emotions [30]. Negative emotions, such as verbal aggression, reduce MS and marital quality. Moreover, women’s and their husbands’ negative feelings and behaviors are the significant predictors of women’s MS [3]. It’s noticeable that positive and negative emotions, despite of different culture and context, are effective on MS of women and people do better in positive emotions [31].

Marriage duration was another significant predictor of MS in the present study, so that its increase was associated with decrease in MS. Previous studies reported contradictory results respecting the relationship of marriage duration and MS. For instance, two studies reported that marriage duration was not a significant predictor of MS [7, 32]. However, another study in Iran revealed that MS has a U-shaped curve. In other words, it is at its highest level after marriage, but considerably reduces during the first ten years after marriage and then, considerably increases from the tenth to the fifteenth post-marriage years to reach almost its initial level. The second considerable decrease in MS starts 23–25 years after marriage [9, 10]. A review study also revealed that women with marriage duration of less than fifteen years had the greatest sexual satisfaction [33]. MS fluctuates during married life and significantly affects marital relationships as well as the physical and mental health of family members. Most people have high levels of MS at the onset of their married lives; however, besides the gradual decrease of MS over time, they may experience serious problems and conflicts during the first weeks and months after marriage which if remained unresolved, can negatively affect MS and family stability. Marital conflicts significantly affect marital quality both in short- and long-term marriages [9]. Gradual decrease in MS over time may be due to factors such as increasing number of children, role conflicts, time limitations, inability to manage new conditions [10], and children’s separation from family [9].

Our findings also indicated greater MS among women whose husbands had higher educational status. Another study in Iran also reported the same finding [5]. Similarities between couples’ regarding their educational status and university majors can help them better understand each other, more effectively communicate with each other, and more simply reach agreements. Of course, positive correlation between educational status and MS does not necessarily mean that illiterate couples have very low MS or severe marital conflicts, because these variables are interpreted based on couples’ epistemic and intellectual backgrounds [4]. It seems that couples with higher educational status have greater expectations of MS, which if remained unfulfilled may negatively affect MS [33].

The other predictor of MS in this study was serious stressful life events during the past six months. One study reported that women with low scores of marital satisfaction reported high psychological distress [34]. Consistently, another study in Iran showed that stress management was a significant predictor of MS [11]. A review study on 24 studies also confirmed the negative effects of different types of stress on the quality of marital and sexual relationships. Moreover, that study reported that chronic daily stress is associated with lower self-disclosure, poorer communications, ineffective coping, and poorer outcomes for marital partners, and greater risks for physical and mental health problems, alienation, and divorce [35]. Given the significant effects of happiness on MS, educational programs on life skills (such as effective communication) and recreational programs can be held for couples in order to elevate their level of happiness and thereby, improve their MS. Couples with greater happiness are more likely to experience positive emotions, consider problems as positive phenomena, manage problems through effective communication, and thereby, feel greater MS [2, 3, 22]. Limitation of the study was study sample only consisted of women. Conducting the study on both women and their husbands could result in different findings. In addition, some participants might have avoided providing precise answers to items on sensitive issues such as their sexual relationships.

Conclusions

As conclusion, Women’s greater happiness is associated with their greater MS. Therefore, mental and public health authorities need to develop programs and interventions to inform and educate couples about the effects of this factor on their MS. Moreover, public education programs on happy living and continuing through childhood, adolescence, youth and after marriage are necessary in order to reduce couples’ marital conflicts, improve their MS, and promote their family stability.