2005 Volume 19 Issue 2 Pages 116-127
In this study, the mutuality and gender differences between Japanese husbands and wives regarding the level of marital satisfaction were described, and then the foundation for relationship maintenance was discussed. Questionnaires were administered to 760 married couples ranging in age from their 20's to 60's in order to examine the level of marital satisfaction perceived by the respondents, the “level of satisfaction of their spouse” that the respondents predicted as their partners' response, and the level of importance of the spouse as perceived by respondents. The result indicated that: (1) the cross effect between husbands and wives was stronger in the direction from husbands to wives, and even though wives' satisfaction was low, husbands' satisfaction was never as low as that of their wives; (2) when wives showed a high level of satisfaction, husbands also showed high satisfaction, and both husbands and wives evaluated their spouses as "highly important" in both “role-based” and “individual-based” relationships; and (3) when wives showed a low level of satisfaction, they tended to perceive their spouses as being important only in their “role-based” relationship, and they underestimated when they predicted the level of satisfaction perceived by their husbands such. that the predicted level of satisfaction was close to their own level of satisfaction. These findings implied that Japanese husband-and wife relationships were maintained based on their “role-based” relationship, level of satisfaction was determined by the quality of “individual-based” relationship, and wives showing a low level of satisfaction tried to keep a cognitive balance in order to maintain the relationship.
