Restrictive Emotionality and Marital Satisfaction

Abstract

The relationship between restrictive emotionality and marital satisfaction was examined in a sample of 112 married couples. Individuals were asked to rate their own and their spouses' restrictive emotionality, rate the extent to which they believed their spouses were a good fit for them in terms of emotional expression, and rate their own marital satisfaction. Analyses focused on the relationship of men's and women's restrictive emotionality to marital satisfaction, and the relationship between similarity among spouses to marital satisfaction. Results indicated that men's restrictive emotionality was related to both men's and women's marital satisfaction, but women's restrictive emotionality was not related to marital satisfaction. Only individuals' perceptions of similarity were related to satisfaction for both men and women.