This study investigates the relationship between romantic love and marital adjustment in a sample of middle class couples. Romantic love is defined as a general disposition an individual has toward love, marriage, the family, and relationships involving male-female interaction in which the affective component is regarded as primary and all other considerations are excluded from conscious reflection. Marital adjustment is defined as the positive accomodation of husband and wife interacting within the framework of a legally established marital relationship. Middle socioeconomic class is operationally defined as a specific quantitative range on the Warner Index of Social Characteristics. This study examines the nature of any quantifiable relationship between romantic love and marital adjustment, current or future. Three views of this relationship are investigated. The first view contends that romanticism is functional, contributing to positive marital adjustment. The second is characterized by the belief that romantic love has a negative impact upon marital adjustment and is dysfunctional. A third view of the relationship between romantic love and marital adjustment suggests that the critical element determining dysfunctionality is the isparity between partners, rather than the individual level of romanticism. No author has heretofore considered this alternative.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc501139 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Gill, John D. |
| Contributors | Dahm, John W., Kooker, Earl W., Dameron, Joseph D., Tanner, Fred W. |
| Publisher | North Texas State University |
| Source Sets | University of North Texas |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | 3, iii, 95 leaves, Text |
| Rights | Public, Gill, John D., Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. |
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