Academic stress and graduate student marital satisfaction: Preliminary testing of a conceptual model.

Abstract

This study tested a model relating academically related stress to marital satisfaction in married graduate students. A total of 217 participants, including 134 married and 83 unmarried graduate students, participated in the study. Married graduate students were found to be experiencing less overall stress, and have better emotional functioning than their unmarried counterparts. However, despite these differences the proposed model was not supported. Although a significant relationship between spousal support and marital satisfaction was found, no relationships among academic stress, emotional functioning, or marital satisfaction was found.