Marital Happiness and Psychosocial Mechanisms in Low-Income Chinese Families

Abstract

The impact of economic circumstances on marital quality has been widely studied in Western countries; however, there is still no empirical evidence to examine this association in a Chinese context. This study aimed to investigate the impact of family income on marital happiness and associated psychosocial mechanisms among urban Chinese residents. Based on a national representative sample of 2,132 men and 2,394 women, the results demonstrated that low-income urban couples reported lower marital happiness compared with their higher income counterparts. For married women, low-income status increased the spousal hostility toward them, which in turn made them unhappy with their marriage, but this psychological mechanism did not happen to married men similarly. In addition, low-income status decreased both men’s and women’s perception of social support from family members and thus exerted a negative influence on their marital happiness. It is suggested that social work intervention programs aiming at low-income families should target their economic difficulties, help manage their assets, and deal with psychosocial relationships.