RELATIONS BETWEEN MARITAL SATISFACTION AND COPING STRATEGIES

Abstract

The main goals of this study were: to examine the extent to which different coping strategiescontribute to marital satisfaction; and to determine the structure of the differences in use of thecoping strategies between wives with high and low levels of marital satisfaction. The relationshipbetween marital satisfaction and different coping strategies was tested on a sample of 2049 wives,currently living on the territory of the Republic of Serbia, in marriage or cohabitation; age from 19to 75, and of diverse socioeconomic status. Marital satisfaction was measured by the Dyadic Satisfactionsubscale (Dyadic Adjustment Scale – DAS: Spanier, 1976, 1989), and coping strategies weremeasured by the Brief COPE scale (Carver, 1997). The results of the multiple regression analysisare showing statistically significant correlation of moderate intensity (r = 0.46 (p <0.001) betweenthe set of the predictor variables (i.e. 14 different coping strategies), and the level of marital satisfactionas the criterion variable. As independents significant predictors were: the use of emotionalsupport, Self-distraction, behavioral disengagement, venting, use of instrumental support, substanceuse, Self-blame and humor. The use of emotional support from other people was most significantpredictor of marital satisfaction (β = 0.33, p = 0.00). The results of Discriminant analysis are showingstatistically significant difference in the use of coping strategies between wives who are globallysatisfied with their marital relationship and the wives with low levels of marital satisfaction(canonical correlation coefficient is rc = 0.53; p = 0.00). The results indicate that the wives with lowlevels of marital satisfaction are more prone to passive-depressive reaction when faced with stress,while women who are globally satisfied with their marital relationship tend to plan a way how toovercome existing problems in life, relying more on emotional support of other people.