THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ADULT ATTACHMENT AND MARITAL SATISFACTION IN PAKISTAN

Abstract

Marriage is a social construct that has been studied to be influenced by contextual factors. As it has been identified to be the most fundamental of human relationships, it has been the focus of countless research, in particular consideration with Bowlby’s attachment perspective. However, as much of this research has been conducted on western populations, there is a gap in the literature regarding the association between marital satisfaction and attachment in an eastern culture. The current study henceforth investigates the association between attachment and marital satisfaction. The study observes how general styles of attachment as well as specific attachment patterns with different significant relations (such as spouse, mother, father, and mother-in-law) influence marital satisfaction. The differentiation in the specific attachment patterns across different relations was also studied with marital satisfaction. The data was collected from 270 married individuals in Pakistan. The results indicated that attachment with the spouse was the most significant predictor of marital satisfaction, followed by general patterns of attachment. After controlling the effects of these variables, anxious attachment with the mother-in-law significantly predicted marital satisfaction. Lastly, the differentiation of attachment across relations was found to still significantly predict marital satisfaction after controlling for the effects of general patterns of attachment. The implications of these findings are discussed, and the limitations are noted. Recommendations for future research are also mentioned