THE QUALITY OF MARRIAGE IN FUNCTION OF SATISFACTION WITH LIFE, SATISFACTION WITH WORK, DEPRESSION AND ALTRUISM

Abstract

There are multiple contributors that help maintain and improve partner relationships in marriage, however, there are also those that cause the quality of marriage to decrease. As a result, the researched subject matters often were length of marriage, health of partners, personality traits, and number of children. One of the research goals, conducted in 2018 using PORPOS-3 battery, was to examine if satisfaction with work, satisfaction with life, depression, and altruism are significant predictors of different dimensions of marriage quality. Quality of marriage was measured using shorten scale Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS, Spanier, 1976) that estimate dyadic adaptability. Applying factor analysis three factors of the DAS scale were extracted: dyadic consensus (α=0.889), satisfaction with marriage (α=0.847), and risks for marriage stability (α=0.758). Altruism was measured using the scale that represents combination of the Altruism scale (Raboteg-Šaric, 2002) and the Alzam scale (Cekrlija, Turjačanin & Puhalo, 2004) (α=0,938). Participants evaluated the level of satisfaction with life and satisfaction with work on a scale from 1 (for completely unsatisfied) to 10 (completely satisfied). Depression was measured with scale Patient health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) (α=0,862). The sample consisted of couples who are married or in a relationship (N=900), mean age 41 (SD=12,471) (aged 19 to 79), living in 37 urban and rural locations distributed through 20 administrative districts of Serbia. Hierarchical regression analyses were applied, whereby at the first step, we entered sociodemographic variables (age, education, number of children, gender), and at the second step we entered satisfaction with life and work, depression, and altruism. Only the predictors that were significantly correlated with the criterion were included in the models. Depression, satisfaction with life, age, and satisfaction with work were significant predictors of criterion variable dyadic consensus (F(7, 733) = 26,310, R2 =,201, p = ,000); depression, satisfaction with life, age, gender, and altruism were significant predictors of criterion variable risks for marriage stability (F(6, 744) = 30,332, R2 = ,197, p = ,000), and depression, age, satisfaction with life, altruism, satisfaction with work, and the number of children were significant predictors of criterion variable satisfaction with marriage (F(7, 741) = 30,657, R2 = ,225, p = ,000). Depression increased risks for marriage stability (risks entail disagreement and divorce discussion), and it negatively affected satisfaction with marriage and dyadic consensus. Altruism did not have a significant impact on dyadic consensus, but it influenced satisfaction with marriage and reduced risk of marriage stability. When lower satisfaction with life, risks of marriage stability increased. Satisfaction with work had a significant but low impact on dyadic consensus and satisfaction with marriage.