Methods
Considering the major aim of this descriptive-correlative research, 146 married couples were chosen as the population study (Mohammadi et al., 2016). The population was chosen among the employees of the Bandar Abbas Oil Refining (BAOR) company with the help of multistage random sampling. The average age of the participants varied between 30 and 40, with a few exceptions where they were either younger or older of the estimated period. The marriage duration aspect included participants who were married for less than five years (18), as well as the ones married for more than two decades (6), making the average duration of 5-10 years. To measure marital satisfaction, the researchers used the enrich marital satisfaction scale. Collins and Read’s Revised Adult Attachment Scale (RAAS) was used to define levels of attachment within a couple. To define the peculiarities of the lifestyle, the lifestyle questionnaire (LSQ) was used. The researchers referred to Pearson’s correlation factor and multivariable regression to analyze the collected empirical data.
Results
The most significant outcome of the following study justified the hypothesis that the relationship attachment styles and lifestyles might affect marital satisfaction. Among the existing attachment models, the following styles were estimated to hurt marital satisfaction:
- Insecure;
- Avoidant;
- Anxious-Ambivalent.
Despite the lack of empirical evidence in this particular research, it was estimated that secure attachment patterns had a positive impact on marital satisfaction for both partners. Another important finding of the research outlined that marital satisfaction as a notion should not be regarded from a single perspective like the attachment styles hypothesis. Instead, marriage and partners’ satisfaction is several variables (e.g., number of children, age, communication patterns, socioeconomic environment) that influence the way couples feel and to what extent they feel secure about their partners and relationship in general.
Reflection
Marriage is one of the most blissful yet sophisticated social institutions, as it implies an extremely high level of cooperativeness and compromise in terms of the partners’ behavioral patterns. Hence, the psychology behind this relationship kind has become one of the most widespread topics for research. One of the many possible reasons behind the decision to get married in one’s subconscious desire to share the responsibility and feel support in terms of making life-changing decisions. The very process of co-existing with other humans presupposes a kind of closeness and intimacy that serves as an attaching tool to the other parts of society.
Many scholars claim that patterns of communication with others, along with the extent to which people allow themselves to interact in a relationship with friends or partners are formed in childhood. John Bowlby defined attention theory, which implies that relationships with others are the results of one’s social environment and communication with caregivers in early childhood (Van Rosmalen et al., 2016). On a subconscious level, children pay extremely close attention to the ways their caregivers communicate with others, patterns of their care, and attentiveness to them, along with both positive and negative treatment models. Reflecting upon this theory in terms of the textbook chapter, I have realized that one of the major catalysts for the caregivers’ behavioral patterns is the way they interact with each other in the first place. Hence, marriage plays a crucial role when it comes to family planning and overall socioeconomic satisfaction. Just like children tend to imitate adults’ behavior, they mirror their behavioral patterns when creating a nuclear family with their partner without paying attention to the ways they feel attached to them. Psychologists identified the following major types that reflect one’s attachment styles:
- Secure – autonomous;
- Avoidant – dismissing;
- Anxious – preoccupied;
- Disorganized – unresolved (Levy, 2017).
As a result of a childhood environment that serves as a foundation for the attachment model formation, an individual later mirrors the observed behavior when creating a family and bringing up his or her children. It impacts the level of self-consciousness and its reflection on the dependence on one’s partner. The textbook suggests that people tend to exercise automatic cognitive perception of their surroundings, making it almost impossible to take full control over one’s feelings and thoughts on the relationships (Aronson et al., 2019). Moreover, this thinking pattern can work both ways in terms of subconscious attachment imitation. For example, when a person observes extremely close dependence patterns of relationship in the family, he or she might mirror this behavior, or, on the contrary, subconsciously escape from such commitment type, demonstrating quite detached behavioral patterns. The same applies to the ones who never felt any kind of healthy connection to the caregivers in early childhood, as they might try to subconsciously look for additional support from the partner when making life decisions. These relationship factors could be divided into three major segments:
- Closeness – to which extent is it appropriate for people to share their emotions and be intimate with their partner?
- Dependence/avoidance – to which extent is it appropriate for people to depend on their partners and acknowledge the fact that they are responsible for the partners as well?
- Anxiety – to which extent do people have a fear of being rejected or abandoned by their partner? (Fraley & Roisman, 2019)
Bearing the following psychological aspects in mind, it is also important to emphasize the notion of marriage in this context. It seems that a successful marriage is impossible to imagine without a credible amount of trust between the partners. However, when creating a family, each partner should take into account that the behavioral patterns of his or her loved one were formed before they met each other and, hence, the reflections upon attachment would not always be about the partner’s behavior. Hence, to secure marital satisfaction, it is important to dwell upon the fear and concerns of the partner when it comes to attachment and emotional commitment.
Another important notion that is worth mentioning in terms of the subject, is the proper definition of counterfactual reasoning in the contest of close human relationships (Aronson et al., 2019). One of the distinct features of the human brain is the ability to think critically, i.e., analyze the condition from various angles to obtain a better perspective. In such a way, people tend to observe their behavior in certain social settings, trying to define the relevance of their actions. However, when it comes to one’s attachment styles, especially in marriage, people are incapable of paying attention to their behavior, as it is so deeply integrated into their temper that it becomes barely visible. In my opinion, it is the exact reason why so many scholars decided to dedicate their investigations to the influence of attachment styles on the social institution of marriage.
Moreover, this kind of scholarly research implies the possibility of people’s acknowledgment of the generic significance of their interpersonal communication model. It is noted in the textbook that people who observe others’ behavior can come up with one’s psychological model and even predict their behavior in certain social settings. However, the ability to observe one’s behavior could be performed by the absolute minority of the population. Hence, when investigating the correlation between attachment styles and marriage satisfaction, people might be able either to reflect upon their childhood environment themselves or ask for help from psychologists who would look at the issue from a reasonable perspective. Both of the options are extremely beneficial in terms of relationship management, as it implies that the issues with marriage satisfaction do not only concern interpersonal conflicts but inner contradictions within an individual as well.
The primary goal of the following study was to provide empirical research on the ways attachment styles might influence the satisfaction of married people with their union. Such an idea should be considered quite successful due to its relevance in today’s social context. Much attention is paid today to the peculiarities of individuals’ mental health and its acceptance and respect within social units. Marriage, in its turn, is one of the strongest emotional bondings people make throughout their lifetime, making both partners quite vulnerable in terms of their attachment and dependence on each other (Chapman & Guven, 2016). The following study, hence, brings up the issue of an individual’s vulnerability in terms of attachment so that married couples would be more aware of their partners’ feelings about their relationship.
Another beneficial aspect of the research concerns the choice of the study population. First, the scope of the study was impressive, as 292 participants overall were engaged in the investigation, putting researchers at an advantage due to the population’s diversity. Drastically different socioeconomic environments both within and outside the family help outline the factors that define marital satisfaction for each of the representatives and social groups. Second, each of the participants was carefully examined by the researchers on a variety of matters, including exercise, spiritual, and social health. Such an explicit examination was beneficial in terms of implementing the attachment styles and marital satisfaction in the paradigm of variables that contribute to the overall happiness in marriage.
The results of the methodology implemented during the research were then classified concerning the existing attachment styles. The classification was, by all means, exhaustive, as it outlined some of the major calculations of the phenomena correlation. However, despite the impressive scope of the research conducted, the outcome of the studies was rather predictive at the very beginning of the study. As it was mentioned in the main body of the following scholarly article, people who relate themselves to the avoidant or anxious attachment style often have a fear of loneliness, so they are subconsciously preparing themselves to be abandoned (Mohammadi et al., 2016). However, such a behavioral pattern is natural for single people who do not communicate with others on such a deep level. On the contrary, people who are not self-conscious, feel more open in terms of trust and intimacy with their partners and with other people.
Hence, the most significant insight of the study is, in my opinion, correlated more with the fact that marital satisfaction is a complex matter than with the establishment of the correlation with the phenomenon of attachment styles. Marital happiness is a completely separate dimension affected by a variety of minor factors. That is, a single study of the level of emotional attachment to the partner is not capable of defining the roots of marital satisfaction. Hence, the following study is an invaluable tool for future researches in the field when used in collaboration with other phenomena investigations. The future implications of the study might also concern the comparative analysis of the role attachment styles play in marital satisfaction in different cultures and environments.
Taking everything into consideration, it might be concluded that the relationship between individuals is an extremely complex matter that should be examined from a variety of perspectives. One of the major aims of the research article analyzed was to reflect upon one of the emotionally strongest social institutions – marriage – through the prism of human attachment models. The overall study is a beneficial instrument in terms of sociological investigation. However, the overall practical implementation of the study could only be possible when examined, along with other marital satisfaction mental peculiarities.
References
Aronson, E., Wilson, T. D., & Sommers, S. L. (2019). Social psychology (10th ed.). Pearson.
Chapman, B., & Guven, C. (2016). Revisiting the relationship between marriage and wellbeing: Does marriage quality matter? Journal of Happiness Studies, 17(2), 533-551.
Fraley, R. C., & Roisman, G. I. (2019). The development of adult attachment styles: four lessons. Current opinion in psychology, 25, 26-30.
Levy, T. (2017).Four styles of adult attachment. Web.
Mohammadi, K., Samavi, A., & Ghazavi, Z. (2016). The relationship between attachment styles and lifestyle with marital satisfaction. Iranian Red Crescent Medical Journal, 18(4).
Van Rosmalen, L., Van Der Horst, F. C., & Van der Veer, R. (2016). From secure dependency to attachment: Mary Ainsworth’s integration of Blatz’s security theory into Bowlby’s attachment theory. History of Psychology, 19(1), 22.