Adult Attachment Style and Marital Satisfaction – an exploratory study

ABSTRACT

Background: Marital satisfaction is an important element for successful family life and personal growth.Various factors have significant effects on the marital satisfaction, like financial management, personalityissues, equalitarian roles, religious orientation, sexual relationship etc. In recent times there has been a risein divorce rates, couples living separately, couples dissatisfied with their marriage, etc. This could possiblybe because of individuals having different attachment styles entering into a relationship. Basic propositionof attachment theory is that internal models of attachment (starting right from infancy) remain relativelystable across the life span.Methods: We interviewed 50 consecutive consenting clinically stable patients with schizophrenia (BPRSscore < 31) and depressive episode (HDRS score < 08) following up in psychiatry OPD. MontrealCognitive Assessment (MoCA) was used to assess cognition, Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale (SHAPS) foranhedonia and WHOQOL-BREF for the quality of life in participants.Results: This study examined links between adult attachment style and marriage satisfaction in Indianadults. 24 participants (13 females and 11 males) aged 25-45 years (Mean = 35.35, SD = 6.01117),completed the Revised Adult Attachment Style (RAAS) (Collins,1996) and ENRICH Marital SatisfactionScale (EMS) (Fowers & Olson, 1993). All the participants were heterosexual and marriedConclusion:Results indicated that participants having Secure attachment style were more satisfied withtheir marriage than participants having Insecure (Fearful, Preoccupied, Dismissive) attachment style