The study of marital role expectation, commitment and marital stability in early years of marriage.

• Main Author: 蘇奕勳
• Other Authors: 沈瓊桃
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2003
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/11012414437781760010

碩士 === 國立暨南國際大學 === 成人與繼續教育研究所 === 91 === The study of marital role expectation, commitment and marital stability in early years of marriage. Abstract Research shows that about 1/3 divorces occurred during the first four years. Among the factors associated with the stability of early years of marriage, the discrepancy in marital expectation between spouses is the main cause of marital conflict. In addition, the stability of marriage also depends on the marital commitment of the spouse. Therefore, this quantitative study explores the relationship between marital expectation, marital commitment and marital stability. The objectives of this study are as follows. 1. To understand the similarities and differences in marital role expectation and marital commitment between spouses in early years of marriage. 2. To understand the relationship between couples’ role expectation, marital commitment and marital stability in early years of marriage. 3. To examine the relationship between discrepancies in couples’ role expectation, marital commitment and marital stability in early years of marriage. 4. To make suggestions to couples in early years of marriage and adult educators according to the research findings. This study collected data from a sample of 112 married couples in their first four years of marriage. The main research findings were as follows. 1. The husbands’ total role expectation, their own role expectation, their own expectation of raising children, their own financial expectation, and housework sharing expectation toward their spouses were significantly higher than their wives’. The wives’ affection and financial expectation toward their spouses were significantly higher than the husbands’. 2. The husband’s total marital commitment, sacrifice commitment, and involvement commitment were all higher than the wives’. 3. For either husbands or wives, if they had greater affections expectation towards themselves or toward their spouses, then the wives’ and couples’ marital stability were higher, too. If the wives had greater expectation to get along with husbands’ relatives, then the wives’ and couples’ marital stability would be higher. 4. If the husbands’ or wives’ marital commitment after marriage was stronger, then the couples’ marital stability would be higher. If the husbands’ sacrifice commitment was stronger, then the husbands’ and couples’ marital stability would be higher. If the husbands were more committed to work hard on marriage, then their marital stability would be higher. If the wives were more committed to work hard on marriage, then the wives’ and the couples’ marital stability would be higher. In addition, if the wives married because of internal factor, then the wives’ and the couples’ marital stability would be higher. 5. For couples with greater discrepancy in total expectation and in husband’s role expectation of children raising, the husbands’ and couples’ marital stability were lower. For couples with greater discrepancy in how the husbands should get along with the wives’ relatives, the husbands’ marital stability were lower. 6. There were significant differences in couples’ marital stability, in husbands’ marital stability, and in wives’ marital stability, if the couples had different commitment when they got married. If the couples were married because of external factor, then the wives’ and couples’ marital stability were lower. 7. There were five significant predictors in husbands’ marital stability, including couples’ discrepancy in the husbands’ role expectation of raising children, husbands’ commitment after marriage, wives’ own expectation of raising children, wives’ commitment when they got married, and wives’ expectation of housework sharing toward their spouses. 8. The wives’ commitment when they got married, and wives’ own affections expectations were significant predictors of the wives’ marital stability. 9. There were four significant predictors in couples’ marital stability, including wives’ commitment when they got married, couples’ discrepancy in the husbands’ role expectation of raising children, husbands’ commitment to sacrifice, and couples’ discrepancy in commitment to sacrifice. Finally, suggestions were made according to research findings. The contribution of this research and its limitation were also described.