Thesis Type: Postgraduate
Institution Of The Thesis: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of Psychology, Turkey
Approval Date: 2006
Student: AYÇA ÖZEN
Supervisor: NURAY SAKALLI UĞURLU
Abstract:The aim of this present study was to investigate the predictive power of value similarity of wives and husbands and conflict resolution of spouses on marital adjustment of wives, husbands, and couples. Data is collected by means of questionnaires (“Schwartz’s Value Survey”, “Dyadic Adjustment Scale”, and “Conflict Resolution Styles Scale”), from a sample of one hundred and forty (140 women, 140 men) Turkish married couples. The results of the study indicated that after eliminating the effects of demographic variables, tradition, hedonism, stimulation value type similarities of spouses, and power value type dissimilarities of spouses have positively predicted marital adjustment of wives and couples. However, value similarities of spouses did not have significant effect on marital adjustment of husbands. Although, conflict resolution styles of husbands had a significant effect on marital adjustment of wives, conflict resolution styles of wives did not have significant contribution in predicting marital adjustment of husbands after eliminating the effects of demographic variables and value similarity of spouses. The usage of negative conflict resolution styles by husbands had negative effects on marital adjustment of wives. When the marital adjustment of couples was considered, it was found that conflict resolution styles of wives and husbands have significant contribution in predicting marital adjustment of couples. The results further indicated that negative conflict resolution styles of wives and husbands negatively predicted marital adjustment of couples. Furthermore, it was found that spouses high in positive conflict resolution style and low in negative conflict resolution style have higher scores on marital adjustment than spouses low in positive conflict resolution style and high in negative conflict resolution style. The findings of the present study were discussed in the light of the related literature. Additionally, limitations of the study and suggestions for future researches were investigated.