Return to search

A STUDY OF THE DIFFERENCES IN RELATIONSHIP SATISFACTION BETWEEN MARRIED AND COHABITING COUPLES

The present study was conducted to determine whether there are any differences in relationship satisfaction between married and cohabiting couples. The Comprehensive Index of Satisfaction for Couples was distributed to a nonrandom sample of 60 married and 60 cohabiting couples matched for minimum length of time living together (9 months). A two-tailed t-test was performed on the mean of both group's satisfaction scores obtained from the responses to 261 Likert-type items appearing in the questionnaire's 11 separate subscales. The results of this analysis showed no significant differences between married and cohabiting couples on any of the 11 subscales. Discussion of the findings focuses on speculation as to why the reported satisfaction of these two groups was nearly identical. Conclusions are drawn regarding possible biasing effects of the sample, the structure of the survey instrument, and the methods used to collect the sample. In addition, reference is made to some cultural and social values which may have affected this research, and which may in fact affect any future research which attempts to differentiate marriage and cohabitation on relationship variables such as satisfaction. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-10, Section: A, page: 4299. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_74614
ContributorsGLASSER, JOSEPH PAUL., Florida State University
Source SetsFlorida State University
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeText
Format179 p.
RightsOn campus use only.
RelationDissertation Abstracts International

Page generated in 0.0026 seconds