Sex differences in marital and social adjustment

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Sociology
• Human Development

Background:

• Understanding the interplay between personal relationships and broader societal functioning is crucial for mental well-being.
• Previous research has explored marital and social adjustment separately, but their interconnectedness requires further investigation, particularly across different cultural contexts.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between marital adjustment and social adjustment in a sample of married Japanese adults.
• To examine gender differences in how marital adjustment dimensions (dyadic consensus, satisfaction) correlate with various aspects of social adjustment.

Main Methods:

• Interviewed 67 married Japanese men and 79 married Japanese women aged 25-85.
• Utilized the Short Marital Adjustment Test (SMAT) to assess marital adjustment.
• Employed the Social Adjustment Scale-II (SAS-II) to measure social adjustment across multiple domains.

Main Results:

• Overall marital adjustment scores (SMAT) significantly correlated with five social adjustment subcategories (SAS-II) for the entire sample.
• These correlations were observed for women across most social adjustment domains, but for men, only social leisure and general adjustment showed significant links.
• Dyadic consensus scores from the SMAT showed stronger correlations with social adjustment for men, whereas marital satisfaction scores were more strongly correlated for women.

Conclusions:

• Marital adjustment appears to be an integral component of overall social adjustment for women.
• For men, marital adjustment and social adjustment may represent more distinct constructs, with specific facets showing weaker associations.
• Findings highlight potential gender-specific pathways in the integration of marital and social well-being within Japanese culture.