Communication, commitment, intimacy, and dyadic perception in lasting marriages: implications for social work assessment and couple therapy

Abstract

The main direction of much research on the clinical and theoretical applications of marital and family counselling focuses on pathology. The position of this inquiry is that clinicians need more knowledge regarding positive models of family and marital functioning as guidelines for assisting families and couples experiencing problems. This inquiry focuses on family strengths and marital satisfaction in lasting marriages. Data from 67 couples, who have been married for 15 years or more, is analyzed to describe those characteristics associated with family strengths and lasting marriages. Particular reference is made to those characteristics which exist in strong families/lasting marriages – communication, commitment, intimacy, and dyadic perceptions. The concepts were operationalized using the Marital Satisfaction Inventory (MSI) (Snyder, 1981) and a thirty-one item questionnaire devised by the researcher. Included in this study was the Family Strengths Scale (Olson, 1985), which was used to operationalize family strengths. The questionnaires were hand delivered or mailed to respondents who volunteered to participate in the study. Some of the data obtained supports a U-Shaped curvilinear trend in marital satisfaction throughout the life cycle. The data also supports the premise that the longer the lasting marriage, the stronger the family strengths and the higher the level of marital satisfaction. This study offers some suggestions for more expansive research which explores the characteristics of strong families and lasting marriages.