Zadowolenie z małżeństwa – przegląd badań
Marital satisfaction – a literature review

Summary/Abstract: Introduction. In recent decades, marital satisfaction has received considerable attention in the subject literature, being probably the most frequently analysed dependent variable in the field. Whereas the studies of the analysed issue have a long, and well-documented history, statistics indicate that marital satisfaction is often difficult to achieve and maintain, proving a need for identifying determinants of marital success. Material and methods. This article is a review. Inclusion criterion was that the article was published in English in a peer-reviewed journal. Article relevance and quality assessments were made by at least two independent reviewers.Purpose. The paper presents a literature review on determinants of marital satisfaction and underlines a need to include the importance of the premarital period for spousal relationships in future research. Results. Love, patience, reciprocity, communication, understanding, personal identity, religious, orientation, commitment, intimacy, flexible boundaries, shared responsibility, persistence, hopefulness, and congruence, have been suggested as the most significant components of marital success.Conclusion. It may be advantageous for programmes of support services for couples to assist them through the process. Levels of marital satisfaction are likely to be increased as a result of the support services offered. Further study in this area would be useful on account of rising divorce rates. As the present review shows, many determinants of marital success have been identified. However, there are others which should be analysed, such as partners’ hierarchies of values, the division of domestic labour, the number of children. Findings of research on marital satisfaction can hopefully provide useful guidelines on counselling couples how to achieve a higher level of marital satisfaction.

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