Sources of Marital Dissatisfaction Among Newly Separated Persons

Abstract

Reported sources of marital dissatisfaction were examined in a sample of 153 newly separated persons, virtually all of whom subsequently divorced. Respondents were asked about their own marital dissatisfactions and about the dissatisfactions of their spouses in 18 different categories of behavior and attitude. Factor analysis of the responses yielded a highly coherent set of marital dissatisfaction source clusters that were relatively independent of each other. A number of these clusters were based upon similar expressions of marital dissatisfaction attributed to both respondent and spouse. Analysis of demographic and mental health characteristics revealed that many of these cluster scores were significantly associated with age, length of marriage, parent status, and with the respondent's role in the initiation of the marital separation. In addition, several marital dissatisfaction source cluster scores were significantly related to measures of psychological well-being and adaptation to the early marital disruption process.

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