Marital satisfaction in the lives of physicians

Marital satisfaction data from a large sample of physicians and their spouses and dentists and their spouses suggest that about 85% of professionals and spouses are satisfied with their marriages. High levels of marital satisfaction are associated with high work satisfaction, low work stress, and fewer psychiatric symptoms. These findings do not support the widely held belief that physicians' marriages are more apt to be dysfunctional than those of other persons. The authors discuss this difference from two perspectives: (1) sampling differences and (2) differences between marital assessments from inside and outside the marriage.