Happily Married in the Absence of a Child: Marital Satisfaction of Voluntary and Involuntary Childless Individuals

Mutiara Roesad, Pingkan Rumondor

2021

Abstract

The absence of a child due to involuntary reasons can create tension between wife and husband. In contrast, the decision to be voluntary childless might not cause tension but could burden couples with social expectations. In line with the vulnerability-stress-adaptation model, both processes can cause stress that hinders marital satisfaction. This research aims to test the differences in marital satisfaction between involuntary and voluntary childless groups. Using quantitative data collected via an online survey from 108 involuntary childless and 112 voluntary childless participants, mean differences for both groups were tested with the Mann-Whitney method. The result obtained from the marital distress cut-off score based on the Couple Satisfaction Index (CSI) showed that the marital satisfaction for both involuntary and voluntary childless was relatively high, and there were no differences between the two groups. This research suggested that participants in both groups (voluntary and involuntary childless) experienced relatively high marital satisfaction despite the stress that they experienced. Further study regarding the adaptive process or dyadic coping in childless couples is needed to understand how couples buffer the negative impact of stress on marital satisfaction.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Roesad M. and Rumondor P. (2021). Happily Married in the Absence of a Child: Marital Satisfaction of Voluntary and Involuntary Childless Individuals. In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Emerging Issues in Humanity Studies and Social Sciences - Volume 1: ICE-HUMS, ISBN 978-989-758-604-0, pages 438-447. DOI: 10.5220/0010753400003112

in Bibtex Style

@conference{ice-hums21,
author={Mutiara Roesad and Pingkan Rumondor},
title={Happily Married in the Absence of a Child: Marital Satisfaction of Voluntary and Involuntary Childless Individuals},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Emerging Issues in Humanity Studies and Social Sciences - Volume 1: ICE-HUMS,},
year={2021},
pages={438-447},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0010753400003112},
isbn={978-989-758-604-0},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Emerging Issues in Humanity Studies and Social Sciences - Volume 1: ICE-HUMS,
TI - Happily Married in the Absence of a Child: Marital Satisfaction of Voluntary and Involuntary Childless Individuals
SN - 978-989-758-604-0
AU - Roesad M.
AU - Rumondor P.
PY - 2021
SP - 438
EP - 447
DO - 10.5220/0010753400003112