Cultural influences on the determinants of marital satisfaction

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Rainer Banse
• Subject Area: Social Psychology, Industrial and Organisational Psychology
• Term: from 2014 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 251047296

Many predictors of marital satisfaction have been identified. However, there are still three major problems in current research that we try to solve by the present project: 1) in most studies only one or two predictors of marital satisfaction are examined simultaneously, very little is known about interactions and the relative importance of the predictors. 2) Most studies used students as participants and it is not clear whether results generalize to committed, married couples. 3) Almost all studies are conducted in Western industrial countries. Little is known about predictors of marital satisfaction in marriages that are not based on romantic ideals. In this project cultural determinants on predictors of marital satisfaction will be analyzed using an integrative model of marital functioning. . Data collection in 14 countries is already completed. Twenty more countries are selected to maximize the variance on the dimensions human development, individualism, power distance and masculinity (Hofstede, 2001). The goal of this project is to offer a systematic intercultural comparison of the predictors of marital functioning according to established dimensions of cultural differences.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Co-Investigator: Privatdozentin Dr. Ina Grau