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Generosity and the Maintenance of Marital Quality
Author(s) -
Dew Jeffrey,
Bradford Wilcox W.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of marriage and family
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.578
H-Index - 159
eISSN - 1741-3737
pISSN - 0022-2445
DOI - 10.1111/jomf.12066
Subject(s) - generosity , kindness , spouse , psychology , affection , social psychology , forgiveness , quality (philosophy) , survey data collection , marital status , sociology , demography , political science , population , philosophy , statistics , mathematics , law , epistemology , anthropology
This study examined whether generosity in marriage was associated with marital quality. The authors conceptualized generosity as a type of relationship maintenance behavior and used data from the new Survey of Marital Generosity (a national survey of married couples, N = 1,365 couples and 2,730 total participants). They found that generosity—defined here as small acts of kindness, displays of respect and affection, and a willingness to forgive one's spouse his or her faults and failings—was positively associated with marital satisfaction and negatively associated with marital conflict and perceived divorce likelihood .