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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/22766
Description
Title
Marital status and well-being
Author(s)
Scott, Christy K.
Issue Date
1992
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Diener, Edward F.
Department of Study
Psychology
Discipline
Psychology
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Psychology, Clinical
Psychology, Personality
Language
eng
Abstract
In an attempt to disentangle the causal relationship between marital status and psychological well-being, two general hypotheses were tested. The first hypothesis follows from a model of well-being in which changes in major life events are presumed to cause changes in well-being. Accordingly, transitions into marriage and remarriage will produce increases in well-being, whereas divorce will produce decreases in well-being. The second hypothesis, one known as the selection theory, was also tested. According to the selection theory, marital status is a consequence of selectivity, in that preexisting variables such as well-being predispose people to certain marital statuses. Accordingly, people who report high levels of well-being will be more likely to marry and stay married than people who report low levels of well-being. Understanding the relationship between marital status and well-being involves more than the issue of causality; it is equally important to identify variables that mediate such a relationship. Therefore, variables including gender, personality, and the presence of a companion were considered.
Data from a national probability sample were used in the present study to observe the interplay among the aforementioned variables over a 10 year period. It is clear from this study that transitions into marriage, including both first marriages and remarriages, fail to produce long-term increases in well-being. Moreover, divorce did not decrease well-being. In contrast, preexisting variables including well-being, extraversion, and Type A predisposed people to certain marital statuses. Individuals who reported higher levels of well-being were more likely to marry and stay married than individuals who reported low levels of well-being. Extraverts were more likely to to marry than introverts, and individuals who reported high levels of Type A were more likely to divorce. Based on this pattern of results, it is an error to automatically assume that differences in the levels of well-being reported by individuals in different marital status groups are causally attributable to marital status. Personality drives our selection of events and may ultimately impact our experience of these events.
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