Year: 2009
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Problems occur in nearly all marriages at one time or another. Even individuals in \nhealthy marriages have suffered from some form of relationship offenses by their \nspouses. The literature has examined many facets of marital satisfaction and marital \nstability. Because of the numerous studies associating marital dissatisfaction with marital \ndissolution, the focus of the literature on marital problems has typically been on \ndistressed couples. This study’s focus is on problems experienced by married participants \nwho are not currently reporting thoughts of ending their marriages. It examined factors \nthat contribute to maintaining satisfaction in marriages that are not considered distressed, \nbut in which there has been some offense committed. Specifically, it examined the role of \ntrust and forgiveness as predictors of marital satisfaction in married participants. \nParticipants were asked to complete a series of measures that included the Trim-18 \n(which is a common instrument in the forgiveness literature to measure levels of \nforgiveness following specific relationship offenses), the Dissipation Rumination scale, \nthe Trust Scale, and the Relationship Assessment Scale. As done in previous forgiveness \nresearch, participants were asked to recall and list offenses committed by their spouses. \nThey then rated the amount of pain experienced by the most bothersome offense on a \nscale from 1-10. All measures were regressed on the Relationship Assessment Scale. \nResults of analyses indicated that trust, forgiveness, and amount of pain did significantly \npredict relationship satisfaction. Specifically, avoidance (from the forgiveness measure) \nand faith (from the trust measure) seemed to explain the most variance in the model. \nForgiveness explained slightly more variance than trust or pain, but all significantly \ncontributed. Trait forgiveness, as measured by the Dissipation Rumination scale did not \ncontribute to the overall model. The most notable finding of the current study was that \nforgiveness served as a mediator between trust and relationship satisfaction. Listed \noffenses were categorized into either an unfaithfulness category or other category. Of the \n153 participants, 10 participants listed spouse unfaithfulness as the offense. No \ndifferences were found between type of offense and relationship satisfaction, however \nparticipants who reported unfaithfulness did differ significantly on the amount of pain \nreported.
Author: Shana L. Markle
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W124970525