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How to maintain a marriage: Maintenance behaviors, equity, and appreciation in understanding marital satisfaction+

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Abstract

This study investigated the role of self-reported and perceived partners’ use of maintenance behaviors (openness, sharing tasks, and positivity) on marital satisfaction through the indirect roles of relational equity and appreciation (felt and expressed). We used a sample of 602 married individuals living in Turkey to test two hypothesized models using Structural Equation Modeling. Our results from the first model indicated that the indirect associations between self-reported use of maintenance behaviors and marital satisfaction were explained by the individual mediator role of felt appreciation and serial indirect role of felt appreciation and relational equity. On the other hand, the results of the second model indicated that the indirect associations between partners’ use of maintenance behaviors and marital satisfaction were explained by the individual mediator roles of relational equity and expressed appreciation as well as the serial indirect role of relational equity and expressed appreciation. We discussed the implications for theory, research and practice, and recommendations for further studies.

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Notes

  1. More detailed information about the translation and adaptation processes and the results of Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses of RMBM, RES, and AIRS will be provided by authors upon request.

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  1. Department of Educational Sciences, Hasan Kalyoncu University, 27100, Gaziantep, Turkey

    Nazlı Büşra Akçabozan Kayabol

  2. Department of Educational Sciences, Middle East Technical University, 06800, Ankara, Turkey

    Zeynep Hatipoğlu Sümer

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  1. Nazlı Büşra Akçabozan Kayabol
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This study is part of the first author’s Ph.D dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Sciences, Middle East Technical University under the supervision of the second author

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Kayabol, N.B.A., Sümer, Z.H. How to maintain a marriage: Maintenance behaviors, equity, and appreciation in understanding marital satisfaction+. Curr Psychol 41, 5781–5794 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-00905-y

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