Relationship between martial satisfaction and life style

Transcription

1 Relationship between martial satisfaction and life style Mahin Molaei M.A in Psychology, Islamic Azad University of Roodehen, Tehran, Iran Abstract The aim of the present study was to determine the relationship between life style and marital satisfaction in married students of all universities in Tabriz. The method of research was descriptive correlation. Statistical population consisted of married students of Tabriz universities in the year that 383 students (276 female and 107 male) were selected via multistage cluster sampling from five universities. The participants were asked to complete health promoting life Style questionnaire (walker, 1990), and enrich marital satisfaction inventory (enrich, 1986). The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (Pearson s correlation coefficient and multiple regression). The results showed that there was a significant positive correlation between life style and marital satisfaction (P<0.01). The multiple regression analyses indicated that life style could predict 20 percent variance of marital satisfaction. These results suggest that life style education can help couples to enrich their marital life through life style modification. Keywords: Life Style, Marital Satisfaction, Married Students. Page 874

2 Introduction Without healthy families, there is no society can claim to be utterly healthy and neither of social harms have been emerged, unless has been affected by families. Healthy couples create healthy families and healthy families form healthy societies. So, in order to have a healthy community, family health as the first social unit should be top of importance of attention. Martial satisfaction is one of the determinant factors of family health. Solidity and strength of family depends on permanent and fundamental marriage and martial relationship which means any vacillation and weakness in marital satisfaction or absence of a successful marriage not only impairs mental peace of couples, but also put at risk the survival and sustainability of the family (Chung & Choi, 2014). Martial satisfaction, level of love and interest between couples and having a positive attitude to being married can be affected by personal traits, communication, conflict solvation, financial management, leisure activities, sexual relationship, religious orientations, parenting styles and egalitarian roles (Chan, 1998). Martial satisfaction can be considered as the objective feeling of happiness and pleasure are experienced by couples when husband thinks of all aspects of marriage. Martial satisfaction can be reached by adaptation between the expected statuses of martial satisfaction with the current status. In fact, martial satisfaction is the positive and enjoyable attitude that wife and husband has from different aspects of their marital relationship (Winch, 2000). Martial satisfaction can be affected by different factors. Some of the most important factors are as follows: personality characteristics, communication styles, experiential styles, feedback methods and motivational styles which are assumed to be constant over times (Costa &McCrae, 1992). In the meantime, life style is generally accepted as the indicator of physical health that means bilateral relationship between mental health and physical health can be predictors of marital satisfaction (Javanmard & Garegozlo, 2013). Comprehensive discussion about life style in behavioral science goes back to Max Weber and Adler in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Weber has found remarkable information about life style in the years by studying about leisure activities and life style (Strien & Koenders, 2012). Interaction between mind and body, however, has long been obvious to humans, but in recent decades, the importance of having psychological processes in health and disease, is increasingly considered. Psychologists interest in this development were characterized by the introduction of the term "health psychology" in the mid-1970s for description and application of psychological theory and methods for solving problems related to physical health (Pawel & Lindsey, 2000). Initial discussions about lifestyle have been primarily focused on nutrition, exercise, smoking and alcohol use, while, today, understand the relationship between lifestyle and health have changed (Lyons & Langille, 2000). Health is not considered simply as a medical phenomenon by professionals, in fact, they look at it as a condition of biological, psychological and social and a combination of biological, psychological and social work. Health promotion requires a multidimensional approach which includes educational activities and promotes some behavioral Page 875

3 changes related to lifestyle (Macovei, Tufan& Vulpe, 2014). Life style is a model of living which shows itself in activities, interests and personal thoughts. The World Health Organization (WHO) considers life style as the specific patterns and definable behavior is made by the interaction between personal characteristics, social relations, environmental and socio-economic situations (Chung & Choi, 2014). Communication, external factors and religion (components of lifestyle) could be protective factors of marriage (Javanmard & Garegozlo, 2013). Life style is a term used by Adler to refer the conditions of individual s life. Life style includes individual s goal, self-concept, feelings toward others and attitude of one to the world. Adler knows life style more than anything else is the result of creativity cope with the constraints, obstacles, conflicts and crises in the development of the ideal that one runs into (Macovei, Tufan&Vulpe, 2014). Due to globalization processes, the expansion of media communications and the shrinking of the center and the periphery of the information, constantly changing and a variety of different walks of life style is happening. Unlike traditional societies, in contemporary society due to the importance of lifestyle and personal responsibility, the power of choice has been increased and lifestyle is a reflection of the search for identity and personal choice. Studies of lifestyle are important because it reveals modes of communication and social bond of cultural processes of modern economy. The result of Khodayarifard, Shahabi & Akbari (2007) research showed that there is a significant positive relationship between religiosity and marital satisfaction. In Gorbanalipour, Farahani, Borjali & Mogadas (2008) research, it was shown that lifestyle changes can make changes in beliefs, dysfunctional couples, improve exchanges of verbal, sexual and alignment on how to solve the problems of life and leading to increased marital satisfaction. Also, multiple studies have shown that factors related to stress and stress management (lifestyle component) is effective on sexual problems and marital satisfaction, So that people who use problem-oriented way, were significantly higher satisfaction (Lau, Kim & Sui, 2005; Mahmoodi, 2011). Also, in Esmaeilpour, Khaje & Mahdavi (1392) research was determined that marital satisfaction is predictable based on communication skills. In a study was done by Ebrahimi, Dehgani & Javdan (2012) it was found that spiritual growth leads to high flexibility and higher consciousness. Macovei& et.al (2014) showed that exercise and an active lifestyle will lead to greater health. Boschloo, Reeuwijk, Schoevers & Penninx (2014) looked at the effect of lifestyle on symptoms of depression and anxiety and determined that these symptoms are reduced by a healthy lifestyle and active life. Monica (2014) showed that physical activity can lead to an increased ability to cope with the stresses and tensions of life. Due to changing lifestyles and consumption in recent years, not only consumption patterns have changed, but also patterns of work and leisure has changed and these changes have led to changes in value systems and social belongings. Given the importance of family and the importance of preventing the deterioration of its balance function, it seems necessary to understanding the factors associated with marital satisfaction which is the basic strength of family life. Therefore, by considering the factors influencing marital satisfaction, it can be expected that by increasing marital satisfaction, many problems of mental, emotional, social, family and the community will be reduced. Also, by improving the level of marital satisfaction and life satisfaction, individuals with more peace will reach to growth, excellence, and social services, cultural and economic and families will benefit from these advances. According to what Page 876

4 has been said, the researcher investigated the relationship between lifestyle and marital satisfaction. Methodology The research was conducted, is a descriptive-correlational study. The population of this study included all married men and women in different grades and students of Tabriz universities in the academic year of which included 20,000 people. The sample size was 381 people, which was obtained by Krejcie& Morgan table (1970). Sampling method of this study was multistage cluster sampling. This means that at first, Tabriz University, Payam Noor, Tabriz Islamic Azad University, Seraj Nonprofit University and Farhangian University were randomly selected and then from each university, some colleges and fields of study were chosen and finally, a total of 400 questionnaires were distributed randomly among married students. Of these numbers, 17 questionnaires were excluded because of being incomplete and the number of 383 questionnaires was analyzed. In descriptive statistics level, frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation were used and in inferential statistics, Pearson correlation and regression was used to analyze the data. In this current study two questionnaires, Health promoting life style inventory and Enrich Marital satisfaction Inventory were used. Health promoting life style inventory: Includes 52 questions in 4-part Likert scale, Never, Sometimes, Often, and Always. The current health promotion behaviors are assessed based on health promotion model in 6 subscales: spiritual growth, health responsibility, nutrition, physical activity, stress management and interpersonal relationships. The questionnaire was made by Walker in 1990 (Gillis, 1993). This questionnaire is scored for never = 1, occasionally = 2, often = 3, always = 4 (Gillis, 1993). The reliability of the questionnaire was respectively as follows for six subscales, 0/86, 0/86, 0/80, 0/85, 0/79, 0/87 and for whole of questionnaire, 0/94 was confirmed (Lee & Look, 2005).Ahadi (2008) found correlation coefficient with total score of health promoting life style as follows spiritual growth 0/71, health responsibility 0/78, nutrition 0/65, physical activity 0/70, and stress management 0/84 that all were significant and indicated validity of the test. Dubois (2006) also reported reliability coefficient of the questionnaire0/94. Enrich marital satisfaction Inventory: includes 47 question and 11 subscales. The subscales of this test include satisfaction, personality issues, communication, conflict resolution, financial management, leisure activities, sexual relationship, parenting, family and friends, religious orientation and gender equality. The questionnaire also used Likert scale and scored from 1 = Strongly Disagree to 5 = Strongly Agree. The questionnaire has a number of reverse items which the items received a reverse numerical value. Validity of the questionnaire was calculated 0/95. The reliability of this test was obtained, 0/89. Results Descriptive results such as mean and standard deviation were represented in table1. As it can be seen in table 1, the mean of martial satisfaction of the samples were reported 154/33. Among the variables of lifestyle, spiritual growth and physical activity were reported26/50 and 15/20 respectively have the highest and lowest mean. Page 877

5 Table1: descriptive results for life style and martial satisfaction variables Variables Mean Standard deviation Spiritual growth 26/50 4/6 Responsibility 20/77 4/1 Nutrition 22/59 4/3 Physical activity 15/20 4/4 Stress management 19/54 3/8 Communication 24/9 4/3 Life style 129/38 19/4 Martial satisfaction 154/33 25/6 In table 2, frequency and percentage of duration of marriage were presented. Duration of marriage in this study was divided into 5 year periods. As it can be seen in the table 2, 55/9 percentage of marriage duration is spent in 1 to 5 year. Table 2: Frequency and percentage of duration of marriage Duration of marriage Frequency Percentage 1 to 5 year /9 6 to 10 year to 15 year 45 13/5 16 to 20 year 35 6/5 20 and above 13 5/1 Total As it can be seen in table 3, there is a significant relationship (R= 0/42, P<0/01) between life style and martial satisfaction. But, there is no significant relationship between duration of marriage and martial satisfaction. Table 3: Pearson correlation coefficients between subscales of lifestyle, years of marriage and marital satisfaction Subscales Spirit ual growt h Responsibi lity Nutriti on Physi cal activit y Stress managem ent Communica tion Life style Year of marria ge Satisfaction 0/47 0/24 0/29 0/25 0/37 0/30 0/35 0/45 Personal issues 0/20 0/15 0/10 0/09 0/12 0/07 0/18 0/02 Communica 0/32 0/19 0/17 0/17 0/24 0/18 0/30-0/06 tion Conflict 0/36 0/17 0/18 0/15 0/15 0/29 0/25-0/04 resolve Financial managemen 0/35 0/15 0/18 0/15 0/24 0/26 0/31-0/08 Page 878

6 t Leisure 0/36 0/14 0/17 0/14 /25 0/23 0/30-0/01 activities Sexual /32 0/24 0/25 0/21 0/29 0/28 0/35-0/01 relationship Parenting 0/40 0/28 0/34 0/21 0/28 0/17 0/40 0/15 Family and friends 031 0/16 0/32 0/09 0/19 0/20 0/25 0/03 Gender equality 0/05 0/04 0/09 0/05 0/01 0/07 0/07 0/12 Religious 0/21 0/03 0/16 0/10 0/16 0/12 0/19-0/03 orientation Martial satisfaction 0/48 0/25 0/26 0/21 0/33 0/27 0/42-0/07 (P<0/01), (P<0/05) Regression analysis was used to assess the direct and indirect effects of predictor variable "lifestyle" on the criterion variable. So, relationship between all subscales of predictor and criterion variables and their direct and indirect effect were investigated and the results were shown in table 4. Table 4, regression variance analysis to determine the lifestyle subscales Sources of Sum of Degrees of Mean Square F Significance changes squares freedom level Regression 37952/ /540 75/65 0/01 total remaining / / /701 The result of table 5 shown that spiritual growth subscale variable is the best predictor for martial satisfaction. Criterion variable Subscales predictors Beta Significant level Spiritual growth 0/45 0/01 Responsibility 0/07 0/58 Martial satisfaction Nutrition 0/07 0/65 Physical activity 0/06 0/89 Stress management 0/10 0/33 Communication 0/04 0/83 R 2 =0/20 According to statistics, Fisher (F=75/66, a=0/01) and the significance level, we can say that the model is significant at the level 0/01 and according to the multiple regression coefficient of determination (R2=0/20), this model can explain the variance in marital satisfaction with 20%. Page 879

7 Discussion and Conclusion This research was done to determine the relationship between lifestyle and marital satisfaction. Correlation coefficient showed a significant relationship between life style and martial satisfaction (P<0/01). Another research was done by Gorbanalipour and et.al (1387)in this area that the results were in line with finding of this research. Changes in life style can causes changes in inefficient believes, improvements in verbal communication, sexual relationship and alignment in how to solve the life problems. Life style based on cooperation and common goals will bring a life with martial satisfaction. People by modifying their lifestyles, can put aside their selfish desire and choose targets with high social interest. Appropriate lifestyle can increase understanding of couples and lead to an increase in marital satisfaction. In explaining this hypothesis according to the subscales of life style, it can be said that nutrition and proper and timely use of food will lead to public health. Giving an importance to health leads to relaxation and comfort and avoid any disease and these features can raise the level of martial satisfaction. There is a significant relationship between physical activity and martial satisfaction. This relationship can be explained that these kinds of sports, both in the short term and in the long term bring to mind a mental boost and improve. Active life style, resulting in reducing the symptoms of depression and anxiety (Boschloo & et.al, 2014) and increase the ability of people to cope with stress and tension of life (Monica, 2014). Physical activity has a positive effect on raising confidence in adults and can reduce stress and psychological pressure on them. Clinically it is clear that physical activity can have beneficial effects on blood pressure disease, osteoporosis, diabetes, and some mental disorders. Physical activity in natural environments can be a sure way to reduce anxiety and emotions within people. Nervous tension, depression, anger, fatigue and confusion, all decreased as a result of physical activity, while mental power is increased (Monica, 2014). Positive changes in self-concept, self-confidence and self-awareness, positive changes in mood, increased energy and ability to deal with everyday activities, increased interest in social relationships and positive progress in difficulty, hope in life and health, all of them are the benefits of physical activity. Exercise and an active lifestyle is more conducive to health (Macouvi et al, 2014). Results of physical activity, will all lead to increased marital satisfaction. The correlation coefficient showed a positive relationship between stress management and marital satisfaction. This finding was in line with Mahmoodi s research results (2011). Couples who can solve their problems in depth and not superficial, resulting a growth and emotional security in relation others and they learn to find their conflict as an opportunity to deeper intimacy and contact more with each other. Stress has a huge impact on male-female relationships and if the pressure be high and social anxiety may result in the loss of love between men and women. When a relationship ends and fate makes a decision to separate them, it seems to be unlikely that anyone thinks that stress, social pressures and problems of life, was the reason for their separation from each other. If couples do not find a rational way to deal with these problems, in the long term along with other stressful factors, they cannot be able to control conditions and their dissatisfaction of martial life will be revealed and their life will be Page 880

8 encountered with different issues and they will be more susceptible to conflict with each other. Continued stress can lead to physical and psychological crisis. But if the couple managed to contain and overcome stress, they can be more satisfied with their martial life. There is a significant relationship between interpersonal communication and martial satisfaction. This result is in line with Dehle & Landers research findings (2005). Although wife and husband has his/her own specific interest, they decide to join together when they want to support their martial life and they consider personal interests lesser than mutual interests. But, in levels of dissatisfaction, independence is high and more time is spent alone and individual interests are more important than common interests (Olson, 2003). It seems that the person, who experiences greater intimacy in his /her relationship, is more able to supply the better approach in relations and express his/her needs more effectively to his wife or her husband. People with good interpersonal communication are more capable in dealing with the problem and change in the relationship and as a result, they have more martial satisfaction. Interpersonal relationships, significantly predicts public health. The amount of support that person receives from others has a positive relationship with mental health. People, who receive more social supports, are more able to overcome difficulties and are less likely to develop depression. There is a positive and meaningful relationship between spiritual growth and martial satisfaction. This finding was in line with Lichter & Carmlat (2009), and Sherkat (2004) research findings. Those who reach to a spiritual excellence will have more success in empathy, understanding, responsibility and flexibility and their ability is more to improve relations and interactions (Sherkat, 2004). Spritual growth will lead to more flexibility and self-awareness (Ebrahimi& et al, 2012). It seems that spiritual growth increases verbal participation, increase the amount of happiness, positive emotions such as good-temperedness, kindness and calmness, and also will cause a significant decrease in verbal aggression and conflict and marital disputes. Moreover, spiritual growth will lead to an increase in quality of life (Lanfredi & et al, 2014). Religious disputes between family members causes problems for the continuation of life which is a fact that leads to a decrease in marital satisfaction and increasing conflicts and disputes. Spiritual growth enables individuals to control his anger in terms of physiological, cognitive and emotional and to help him to accept responsibility for their actions in conflict. Thinking about god and have a communication with god has an interactive and compensatory role in terms of martial relationship. Spiritual growth leads to correct the thoughts and illogical expectations of couples and also leads to increase the resilience and safety of the person in front of psychosocial problems. Spiritual growth enlightens the purpose of life for people and it is the solace in painful and threatened conditions. The regression calculation showed that lifestyle may predict 20% of the variance in marital satisfaction at 0/01 significance level. Spiritual growth factor is significantly effect or factor to predict the martial satisfaction. Stress management after spiritual growth variable is the most effective factor to predict martial satisfaction. Nutrition, interpersonal communication, responsibility and physical activity have less impact on predicting the level of martial satisfaction. Page 881

9 In this research it was determined that there is a significant correlation between life style and martial satisfaction. Based on this finding, through training lifestyle changes, can help to couples by correcting their life style and identifying the destructive life styles that can interfere with their marital satisfaction, put aside their selfish desires in order to improve their relations which would enrich their marriage. It should be noted that the findings of this study can be generalized only into the geographical areas in Tabriz and in other areas should be used with caution. At the end, our thanks and appreciation to everyone who participated in this study. Page 882

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