Essay On Marital Satisfaction

So it seems that it is not simply being married that offers benefits and marital stability, but it is what people do in marriage that offers benefits and maintains the marriage (actively doing behaviors to maintain the marriage–being committed beyond being satisfied). Marital satisfaction being a catalyst for marital stability is beneficial to the extent that marital satisfaction does not decline, but this is problematic considering marital satisfaction is inconsistent throughout marriage. It is vital then to examine commitment and marriage, as commitment seems to be a more reliable factor that buffers against divorce and supports marital stability according to the literature.

Marital Commitment

According to Johnson (1973, 1982, 1991) there

Marital quality, is traditionally defined as an, “individual’s affective response varying in the amount of satisfaction, gratification, or happiness with his or her marriage” (Shriner, 2009, p. 83). Martial satisfaction is often used as a global best measure of marital quality. The Quality of Marriage Index, for example, is a six-item measure of marital quality, which only includes questions that relate to marital satisfaction (Norton, 1983). Fincham and Bradbury (1987), found that the Marital Adjustment Test (Locke and Walace, 1959), which is purposed to assess overall marital quality, has 22% of the possible score on this assessment as marital happiness. The Dyadic Adjustment Scale (Spanier, 1976), another measurement that is commonly used to assess marital quality, assesses for satisfaction and other aspects of marriage including dyadic consensus, cohesion, and affection expression. However, these subscales although admirable, all assess for compatibility, which indirectly points back to satisfaction within the relationship. To be more clear, satisfaction and compatibility go hand it hand with the American glamorization of romantic love and the assumptions that if spouse are compatible and satisfied, these are the ingredients to a long happy marriage (Crawford, Houts, Huston, & George, 2002). Crawford et. al (2002) mentioned that, “the consistency of the link found between companionship and satisfaction has been such that the notion that companionship is some how ‘good’ for marriage has acquired the status of a cultural truism” (p.