Bonding behaviour in newly married couples

• Main Author: Delisle, Mary Ann
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: Marriage
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/21455

The purpose of the study was to conceptualize the construct, "bonding behaviour", and to develop a preliminary inventory to measure the concept in newly married couples. The study was conducted with thirty couples, married less' than one year. The subjects were tested once, with a questionnaire completed in the presence of the researcher. A standardized marital satisfaction inventory I.M.S.: (Hudson/ Glisson 1976) was completed immediately after the questionnaire. The study involved four variables - care, intimacy, trust, and communication - each of which was inter-correlated, and correlated with the I.M.S. The study included demographic items which were correlated with the study variables and with the I.M.S. The findings indicate that the four variables exist separately to some extent, but clearly tend to overlap. The majority of the items correlate significantly with a cluster of the four variables, and suggests that they may measure one construct which could be relabelled bonding. The four variables are highly significant in their correlations with the I.M.S., and show that the variables are an indication of marital satisfaction. Generally, the findings supported the research premise that bonding is affected by family relationships and attachments, that it involves personal competence, and that it is present in the first year of marriage. The study suggests implications for further research, including a follow-up study. Since this research used a convenience sample, of utmost concern is a replication of the study, on a random sample. The study cited relevance for practice in single case exploration, and for social policy in preparation for marriage programs. === Arts, Faculty of === Social Work, School of === Graduate