Dimensions of marital relationships as perceived by Turkish husbands and wives

In this study, the basic underlying dimensions and interrelationships of Turkish urban marriages were explored. Both husbands and wives from 456 marriages of different types, lengths, and socioeconomic status (SES) groups completed the extensive Turkish Marriage Questionnaire (Russell, Wells, & Imamoğlu, 1989). First-order factor analysis yielded 9 factors that were then reduced to 4 second-order factors: Extent of Socioeconomic Development, Marital Satisfaction, Harmonious Relations With the Extended Family, and Desire for Sexual Possessiveness. The frequency of self-selected marriages increased with higher SES and decreased with length of marriage, implying a trend toward modernism. Within this context, husbands' marital satisfaction and wives' desire for sexual possessiveness, extent of socioeconomic development, and relations with the extended family were significant predictors of wives' marital satisfaction; husbands' marital satisfaction was predicted by wives' satisfaction and husbands' relations with the extended family.