Journal of Family Relations (한국가족관계학회지)

Korean Association of Family Relations (한국가족관계학회)
권호 표지

The mediating role of marital relationship in the association between differentiation of self and happiness: Focusing on actor effects and partner effects

자기분화가 행복감에 미치는 영향에 대한 부부관계의 매개효과: 자기효과와 상대방효과를 중심으로

  • Received : 2015.07.30
  • Accepted : 2015.10.16
  • Published : 2015.10.31
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Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to examine whether differentiation of self affects the levels of happiness via the degree of marital relationship among middle-aged marital couples. Method: The data was collected as a dyad unit consisting of 349 married couples (N=698 individuals). The mean age of husbands and wives was 54.63 (SD=6.91) and 52.08 (SD=6.61), respectively. The participants were recruited through Healthy Family Support Centers in Gyeonggi-do who visited there in order to participate in couple intervention programs, and the survey was completed before the programs started. The mediation analysis was based on path analysis followed by bootstrapping with the use of Mplus 7.0. Results: The results showed that the actor effects were significant in the same way between husbands and wives, yet the partner effects were different by gender. Several indirect paths between the differentiation of self and happiness via marital relationship were found, in particular. That is, perceived differentiation of self had an indirect actor effect on happiness via marital relationship for both husbands and wives, respectively. Furthermore, the wives' differentiation of self had two indirect partner effects on their husbands happiness via marital relationship among wives and among husbands. Conclusions: These results suggest the importance of enhancing both differentiation of self and marital intimacy or marital communication in order to improve the levels of happiness in middle-aged marital relationships.

Keywords

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