Marital satisfaction in long lasting marriages: a feasible construction

Marital relationship is related with couple's health and quality of life, especially during the adulthood and the aging years. However, the fact that a marriage is long lasting, does not mean it is necessarily satisfactory to the partners. This paper aims to identify the processes and variables associated to satisfaction in long lasting marriages (those longer than 20 years). Thirty eight couples from São Paulo, Brazil, answered a set of questionnaires used previously in multicultural studies carried out in Sweden, USA, Germany, Canada, Netherlands, South Africa, Israel and Chile. In about half of these couples, at least one consort was found satisfied. Comparing satisfied and unsatisfied couples, it became clear that higher levels of satisfaction are found among couples who have adequate strategies for problem solving, proximity, cohesion, good communication skills; who are religiously active and satisfied with their economical status.

marriage; long lasting marriages; conjugal satisfaction