Similar or Related Personality Traits as a Factor in Marital Happiness

Marital satisfaction, job satisfaction and psychological health of secondary school teachers

“…The positively worded items were 1, 3,5,8,9,11,13,16,17,19,20,21,23. The questionnaire adopts a Likert scoring scale which ranges from rarely or none of the time (1) A little or none of the time (2) Sometimes (3) A good part of the time (4) and Most of the time (5).…”

“…A number of determinants seem to be associated with marital satisfaction amongst which are compatibility of personality, educational homogamy, religious homogamy, income level, level of education, age at marriage, age of marriage [1][2][3][4]. Hampton [5] in a phenomenal study of African American couples and their perceptions of marital longetivity found that couples who had remained married for 25 years or more claimed that marital longetivity was based on several themes, which include: God is the foundation of marriage, joint religious rituals and activities to promote intimacy, companionship/friendship, common goals and values, example for others, commitment to marriage, trust in the other person, impact of family history, satisfaction in the marriage, etc.…”

Couple complementarity and similarity: A review of the literature

“…Pickford et al (1966) found their unhappy couples significantly dissimilar in emotional stability and objectivity, i.e., one mate "hypersensitive," the other "thick-skinned." Cattell and Nesselroade's (1967) unstable group showed significantly negative correlations on warm-heartedness, surgency (sober vs. happy-go-lucky), and susThe American Journal of Family Therapy Vol.…”

“…Five such studies known to the authors, of traits in couples varying in level of marital adjustment, are reviewed here. Pickford, Signori and Rempel (1966) administered the Guilford-Zimmerman Temperament Survey to three groups of 35 couples each: one happily married, one having trouble but planning to stay together, and one on the verge of separation. Happy-couple mates were significantly similar in general activity, restraint, friendliness and personal relations.…”

Happiness as Surplus or Freely Available Energy

“…The effort of caring for one with a disability likewise predicts reduced happiness Eriksson, Tham, & Fugl-Meyer, 2005;Marinic & Brkljacic, 2008). Demanding marriages reduce happiness relative to those that do not Orden & Bradburn, 1969;Pina & Bengston, 1993;Rabin & Shapira-Berman, 1997;Ward, 1993), as do difficult social relationships relative to easier ones (e.g., such as through the conflict of worldviews, Burleson, 1994;Ortega, Whitt, & Williams, 1988;Pickford, Signori, & Rempel, 1966;Suitor, 1987;Welsch, 2008).…”