Marital Adjustment, Perceived Social Support, and Marital Satisfaction in Young Married Working Women
Keywords:
Marital Adjustment, Perceived Social Support, Marital Satisfaction, Nuclear Family, Joint Family, Young Married Working WomenAbstract
This study aims to investigate the relationship between marital adjustment and perceived social support with marital satisfaction in young married working women living in nuclear and joint family groups. A A sample of 150 married working women between the ages of 25 and 40 was recruited from educational institutions and organizations across Lahore. Of them, 75 were from nuclear families and 75 were from joint families. Cross sectional survey was conducted to collect data by administering research questionnaire which included demographic information, Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale (RDAS; Busby et al., 1995), Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS; Zimet et al., 1988) and Couple Satisfaction Index (CSI-16; Funk & Rogge, 2007). The findings of Pearson correlation showed that the duration of marriage showed a significant negative correlation with both perceived social support and marital satisfaction in the sample. Moreover, hierarchical regression analysis indicated that perceived social support emerged as the most significant predictor of marital satisfaction, while perceived social support and marital adjustment jointly explained a substantial proportion of total variance in marital satisfaction. Among the subscales of perceived social support, significant other support emerged as the strongest predictor of marital satisfaction, and friends support was also a significant predictor of marital satisfaction. An independent sample t-test showed no significant differences between nuclear and joint family women on any of the study variables. The study mentions the importance of enhancing spousal support and relational quality through targeted interventions and psychoeducational programs to improve marital satisfaction among married working women.
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