Marital satisfaction in couples with rheumatoid arthritis

Objective To understand correlates of marital satisfaction in persons withrheumatoid arthritis (RA) and their spouses. Methods In a cross‐sectional survey, 79 persons with RA and 78 spousescompleted the Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale, the revised Ways ofCoping Questionnaire scales, and the Health Assessment Questionnaire. Aseries of linear regression analyses were then performed to investigatecorrelates of marital satisfaction for patients and spouses. Results Seventy‐six percent of patients were women. Mean patient age was 56.5years (± 12.5 years), number of years married was 30.7 (± 13.5), andduration of RA was 14.2 years (± 9.0 years). Demographic features ofspouses resembled those of patients. Patients and spouses weregenerally satisfied with their marriages. Linear regression analysesshowed that lower marital satisfaction in patients was associated withhigher education level (P < 0.01), patient's greater use of escapeinto fantasy (P < 0.01), patient's greater use of finding blame (P <0.05), and spouse's higher use of escape into fantasy (P < 0.001).Spouses less satisfied with their marriages were more likely to usepassive acceptance (P < 0.05) and less likely to find blame(P < 0.05). Female spouses were less likely to be satisfied in theirmarriages (P < 0.01) than male spouses. Conclusions This study indicates that certain passive coping styles are associatedwith lower marital satisfaction in persons with RA and their spouses.More highly educated patients and female spouses are also lesssatisfied in their marriages. These cross‐sectional correlations shouldnot be regarded as causal and should be examined further inlongitudinal studies.