Glenn (1975) and Bernard (1975) have debated the relative benefits of marriage for men and women. An analysis of data from three samples of midwestern married couples yielded partial support for both positions. While men and women were equally happy on the average, when there was an extremely wide difference in marital satisfaction, it was almost always the woman who was less satisfied—“her” marriage was quite different from “his”—much worse.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Anderson, S. A. , C. S. Russell, and W. R. Schumm.1983. “Perceived marital quality and family life-cycle categories: a further analysis.”J. of Marriage and the Family45: 127-139.
2.
Bernard, J. 1972. The Future of Marriage. New York: Bantam.
3.
Bernard, J.1975. “Comments on Glenn's paper.”J. of Marriage and the Family37: 600-601.
4.
Cronbach, L. J.1951. “Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests.”Psychometrika16: 297-334.
5.
Edmonds, V. H.1967. “Marital conventionalization: definition and measurement.”J. of Marriage and the Family29: 681-688.
6.
Glenn, N. D.1975. “The contribution of marriage to the psychological well being of males and females.”J. of Marriage and the Family37: 594-600.
7.
Grover, K. J. , L. A. Paff-Bergen, C. S. Russell, and W. R. Schumm.1984. “The Kansas marital satisfaction scale: a further brief report.”Psychological Reports54: 629-630.
8.
Jorgensen, S. R. and J. C. Gaudy.1980. “Self-disclosure and satisfaction in marriage: the relation examined.”Family Relations29: 281-287.
9.
Locksley, A.1980. “On The effects of wive's employment on marital adjustment and companionship.”J. of Marriage and the Family, 42: 337-346.
10.
Miller, B. C.1975. “Child density, marital satisfaction, and conventionalization: a research note.”J. of Marriage and the Family37: 345-347.
11.
Mitchell, S. E. , G. K. Newell, and W. R. Schumm.1983. “Test-retest reliability of the Kansas marital satisfaction scale.”Psychological Reports53: 545-546.
12.
Nie, N. H. , C. H. Hull, J. G. Jenkins, K. Steinbrenner, and D. H. Bent. 1975. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. New York: McGraw-Hill.
13.
Norton, A. J.1983. “Family life cycle: 1980.”J. of Marriage and the Family45: 267-275.
14.
Olson, D. H. , H. I. McCubbin, H. Barnes, A. Larsen, M. Muxen, and M. Wilson. 1983. Families: What Makes Them Work. Beverly Hills: Sage.
15.
Schumm, W. R. , J. L. Hess, S. R. Bollman, and A. P. Jurich.1981. “Marital conventionalization revisited.”Psychological Reports49: 607-615.
16.
Schumm, W. R. , M. J. Martin, A. P. Jurich, and S. R. Bollman.1982. “Classifying family violence: whither the woozle?”J. of Family Issue3: 319-340.
17.
Schumm, W. R. , G. A. Milliken, R. H. Poresky, S. R. Bollman, and A. P. Jurich.1983. “Issues in measuring marital satisfaction in survey research.”International J. of Family Sociology13: 129-143.
18.
Schumm, W. R. , C. W. Nichols, K. L. Shectman, and C. C. Grigsby.1983. “Characteristics of responses to the Kansas marital satisfaction scale by a sample of 84 married mothers.”Psychological Reports53: 567-572.
19.
Schumm, W. R. , E. D. Scanlon, C. L. Crow, D. N. Green, and D. L. Buckler.1983. “Characteristics of the Kansas marital satisfaction scale in a sample of 79 married couples.”Psychological Reports53: 583-588.
20.
Spanier, G. B.1976. “Measuring dyadic adjustment: new scales for assessing the quality of marriage and other dyads.”J. of Marriage and the Family38: 15-28.