Spouses’ personalities and marital satisfaction in Chinese families
IntroductionConsidering the traditional Confucian values prevalent in Chinese society, we study the effects of the spouses’ personalities and household sociodemographic circumstances on the marital satisfaction of marriage partners.MethodsWe evaluate the factors that contribute to marital satisfacti...
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1480570/full |
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| author | Li Jia Li Jia Gerrit Antonides Zhuomin Liu |
| author_facet | Li Jia Li Jia Gerrit Antonides Zhuomin Liu |
| author_sort | Li Jia |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | IntroductionConsidering the traditional Confucian values prevalent in Chinese society, we study the effects of the spouses’ personalities and household sociodemographic circumstances on the marital satisfaction of marriage partners.MethodsWe evaluate the factors that contribute to marital satisfaction, using the 2018 wave of the Chinese Family Panel Survey, including 6,603 households. We use information on both spouses’ Big-Five personality traits, and marital satisfaction. In addition, the effects of the household’s sociodemographic factors on the spouses’ marital satisfaction are estimated. We employ the Actor–Partner Interdependence Model to estimate the effects, using simultaneous equation modeling.ResultsWe find significant actor effects of personality, i.e., agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and extroversion, but few partner effects on marital satisfaction. In addition to other socioeconomic effects, we find strong actor effects of subjective social status on marital satisfaction for both spouses. The wife’s level of education had a negative effect on her marital satisfaction.DiscussionThe effects of the spouses’ personalities and sociodemographic circumstances on their marital satisfaction fit the Confucian values fostered in China. The wife’s double burden of having a job and taking care of household duties, negatively affecting her marital satisfaction, may be alleviated by proper government policies. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-7901a3fd5ed04d018f23639ce9b30cf3 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj-art-7901a3fd5ed04d018f23639ce9b30cf32025-02-05T07:32:49ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782025-02-011610.3389/fpsyg.2025.14805701480570Spouses’ personalities and marital satisfaction in Chinese familiesLi Jia0Li Jia1Gerrit Antonides2Zhuomin Liu3School of Economics, Sichuan University, Chengdu, ChinaDepartment of Social Sciences, Wageningen University, Wageningen, NetherlandsDepartment of Social Sciences, Wageningen University, Wageningen, NetherlandsSchool of Economics, Sichuan University, Chengdu, ChinaIntroductionConsidering the traditional Confucian values prevalent in Chinese society, we study the effects of the spouses’ personalities and household sociodemographic circumstances on the marital satisfaction of marriage partners.MethodsWe evaluate the factors that contribute to marital satisfaction, using the 2018 wave of the Chinese Family Panel Survey, including 6,603 households. We use information on both spouses’ Big-Five personality traits, and marital satisfaction. In addition, the effects of the household’s sociodemographic factors on the spouses’ marital satisfaction are estimated. We employ the Actor–Partner Interdependence Model to estimate the effects, using simultaneous equation modeling.ResultsWe find significant actor effects of personality, i.e., agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and extroversion, but few partner effects on marital satisfaction. In addition to other socioeconomic effects, we find strong actor effects of subjective social status on marital satisfaction for both spouses. The wife’s level of education had a negative effect on her marital satisfaction.DiscussionThe effects of the spouses’ personalities and sociodemographic circumstances on their marital satisfaction fit the Confucian values fostered in China. The wife’s double burden of having a job and taking care of household duties, negatively affecting her marital satisfaction, may be alleviated by proper government policies.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1480570/fullmarital satisfactionhappinesspersonalityactor effectspartner effects |
| spellingShingle | Li Jia Li Jia Gerrit Antonides Zhuomin Liu Spouses’ personalities and marital satisfaction in Chinese families Frontiers in Psychology marital satisfaction happiness personality actor effects partner effects |
| title | Spouses’ personalities and marital satisfaction in Chinese families |
| title_full | Spouses’ personalities and marital satisfaction in Chinese families |
| title_fullStr | Spouses’ personalities and marital satisfaction in Chinese families |
| title_full_unstemmed | Spouses’ personalities and marital satisfaction in Chinese families |
| title_short | Spouses’ personalities and marital satisfaction in Chinese families |
| title_sort | spouses personalities and marital satisfaction in chinese families |
| topic | marital satisfaction happiness personality actor effects partner effects |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1480570/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT lijia spousespersonalitiesandmaritalsatisfactioninchinesefamilies AT lijia spousespersonalitiesandmaritalsatisfactioninchinesefamilies AT gerritantonides spousespersonalitiesandmaritalsatisfactioninchinesefamilies AT zhuominliu spousespersonalitiesandmaritalsatisfactioninchinesefamilies |