Marriage and Happiness

Posted: January 4th, 2023

Marriage and Happiness

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Marriage and Happiness

Marriage is the agreement between two individuals, a man, and a woman, to live together as husband and wife. The happiness is marriage, and marriage’s longevity is determined by marital satisfaction, couple maturation, and the partners’ educational level.

Introduction

Marital satisfaction is one of the basics of happiness in marriage. It is usually described as the joy and act of pride felt by each of the couples. According to family psychological research, good marital interactions prompt happiness in marriage (Sorokowski et al., 2019). Marital satisfaction components include; good mental cognition, stronger synchrony among the partner’s physiological systems, good social interactions among the partners, less or no violence among the spouses, spouse mate guarding, mate value, and mate value. Therefore, personal maturation in alignment with a romantic relationship supports the idea that marital satisfaction leads to a happy marriage. This is also illustrated by the couple respecting each other emotionally and psychologically (Alibeli et al., 2019). Therefore, each individual performs his or her role diligently, leading to a happy marriage. In addition, marital maturation includes maturity and forgiveness, the partners’ maturity, and effective communication. Maturity among the partners increases the trust in a marriage and consequently the intimate love. Higher education level among the partners involved also determines the maturity level and also marriage satisfaction (Sorokowski et al., 2019). This is because a higher educated individual has a higher level of thinking. Thus individuals can accommodate the various opposing challenges that each partner realizes of his or her counterpart as later in marriage compared to a couple involving the low educated individuals. Learned individuals have more effective problem-solving skills should problems arise therein as they think more critically and innovatively in tackling issues (Sorokowski et al., 2019). All the above mentioned is well illustrated below in detail.

Literature Review

Sexuality is one fundamental element that constitutes part of the life of an individual. Sexual satisfaction is a component of marital satisfaction and revolves around several factors. Sexual desires and the frequency of having sexual intercourse are believed to reduce with an increase in age (Alibeli et al., 2019). This is attributed to cultural beliefs, individual psychological change, and the relationship reputation. Penile-vaginal intercourse is the most common sexual practices observed today as opposed to oral sex. This is because penile-vaginal intercourse is perceived to offer more emotional and functional advantages than the latter. According to several studies brought on board, penile-vaginal sex has been suggested to increase erotic satisfaction and enjoyment as well as an increased probability of orgasm (Alibeli et al., 2019). However, there has been a contradiction where some literature argues that women who either receive or give oral sex experience improved health (Alibeli et al., 2019). In the recent past, oral sex has been suggested for improving men’s mood. To participate in oral sex, the two parties must agree with each other. This avoids the women feeling more despised by men as the latter sometimes was unwilling to give oral sex whenever the women wanted. Therefore, leading to unsatisfactory sex, which resulted in a less happy marriage. Men give oral sex based on the relationship’s quality rather than based on their partner’s sexual satisfaction (Alibeli et al., 2019). Women, on the other hand, give and receive oral sex unconditionally. Men than women more ignite oral sex. Therefore, men giving oral sex are considered masculine, where they view it as a significant achievement and prove their power to pleasure the female partner.

Better physical health is usually associated with a happy marriage. According to recent studies, there has been a transition in marriage’s specific attitudes, contributing to happy union experiences. Since the 20th century United Arab Emirates, these changes have been taking place due to education advancement by men and women. Social and psychological education has dramatically influenced the marriage roles on the partners’ health from women’s oppression, which was happening in the past (Lambert et al., 2020). Intra-couple interactions have resulted in a positive change in physical attributes like weight and height. This is explained in the literature that the couple share lifestyle, leading to almost the same weight change among both parties in the marriage. This is well exemplified among the retired couples. Education is usually associated with better health behavior and improved lifestyle. Higher education increases favorable psychological and socioeconomic status as advanced social networks, higher self-esteem, and considerable higher-income translate to better health (Liu et al., 2019). Therefore, the education level translates to the psychological and physical associations among the partners, which determines the partners’ health status. The level of education also determines whether the men will get married with higher education level attributing to higher chances of getting married due to even the financial security to cater to the large family. The education level previously challenged interethnic marriage as the couples could not appreciate each other’s culture, and the language challenged communication among the parties. The highly educated couples also can appreciate their differences more quickly than those less educated (Lambert et al., 2020).

 The world has become dynamic, with the modern society calling for a consensus opposed to the ancient beliefs where the community prioritized the men’s roles over the women’s (Sorokowski et al., 2019). This is well illustrated in the latter’s norm, where the women were supposed to be more submissive to their counterparts in marriage. Personal maturity is believed to be the fundamental fueling factor in a marriage where the two parties learn to appreciate each other’s negativities, which could be silent during courtship. As couples appreciate the differences, marital maturity slowly nurtures in the relationship. The maturity manifests itself in how one handles various responsibilities like men who are supposed to provide for the family needs and be able to do so diligently. In addition, the women are also to nurture the man by supporting either emotionally as well as financially if stable as the couple establishes their roots to achieve the freedom from depending on both their peers and parents (Alibeli et al., 2019). The attention to the family should balance with the provision of the resources whereby more attention to children and the wife by man as it has been in the past is believed to increase the happiness in marriage as children feel they are also part of the family (Sorokowski et al.,2019). Marital maturity is also influenced by various aspects such as honesty, which brings out trust among the couples and also reduces sexual unfaithfulness among the partners. As the couple also mature, they develop a suitable communication mechanism where each partner knows the other’s weakness and finds the best approach to relaying information on a timely basis. The couples also forgive each other and selflessly strive to make the family happy.

Purpose of Research

The purpose of the research was to investigate the positive-fueling factors in a marriage, which results in a happy marriage. The dilemma of whether the educational level and marital satisfaction lead to a comfortable marriage form the basis of our research. This is attributed to the low incidences of the marriage reported cases and divorces among the learned individuals where both parties in the marriage are perceived to perform each of their roles effectively as opposed to the families where the parties have got a low level of education.

Objective of the study

The main objective of the study was to investigate if higher education among partner’s and marital satisfaction contributes to happiness and stability in marriage.

Research Questions

1. Does higher education among couples increase happiness in marriage?
2. Does marital satisfaction lead to happiness and stability in marriage?

Methodology and Questionnaire

The qualitative based study was the technique used to achieve the objectives of the study. This is because the survey invoked understanding and describing the various human experiences within society. A population size of minimum one hundred respondents was targeted in this study. Questionnaires in the case study were employed and sought a wide range of information on marriage happiness, the contributing factors to marriage, and the marriage partners’ employment status. The questionnaires were semi-structured and were distributed randomly and separately to both male and female volunteer respondents who were above eighteen years of age. Some of the questions in the questionnaire include:

1) Kindly describe your marriage life briefly.

2) What factors have contributed to your happiness in marriage?

3) In which areas need improvement to achieve marital satisfaction?

4) How old are you?

5) What is the highest level of education?

The data obtained from the research were analyzed using the content analysis method and Actor–Partner Interdependence Model. In the content analysis method, the data were categorized in the compressed semantic unit manner. The classified data was then sorted based on the similarities and disparities. The final data theme was then generated as an internal text concept. Actor–Partner Interdependence Model was used in analyzing dyadic data that involved the data testing how one partner’s character and behavior influenced the other marriage partner.

Discussion

Sexual satisfaction is the foremost priority when engaging in sexual intercourse and determines marriage status, whether happy or not (Liu et al., 2019). It is usually a consensus between the couples on which type of sex to engage in. oral sex is generally considered fun and very arousing. The senior team views oral sex as a method to achieve sexual satisfaction. This is due to the majority of the aging population suffering from erectile dysfunction, which prevents sexual pleasure through penile-vaginal intercourse (Tavakol at al., 2018). This, therefore, keeps the marriage of the aging population happy. Oral sex is usually considered a bold act that increases the level of intimacy in a relationship. Men are willing to give oral sex to their female partners, especially if there is less strain within the relationship (Liu et al., 2019). The fact that men have more power in the relationship than women explains why women are unlikely to bow down into giving oral to a straining relationship. However, the female partners in a relationship tend to provide oral sex to soothe their male partners and increase intimacy (Liu et al., 2019). They even go to the extent of giving oral sex even if annoyed by the partner. Also, oral sex during the fore-play increases the orgasm and sexual satisfaction hence overall happiness in the relationship.

According to Liu, Shen, and Hsieh (2019), a higher education level for the marriage partners almost always implicates a joyous and happy marriage life. Educated partners tend to have higher self-esteem as opposed to spouses with relatively lower education. In addition, educated individuals have a higher IQ and think critically hence contributing to psychological harmony. Higher-income increases the family financial strain’s financial stability, and educated individuals behave more decently than their counterparts (Tavakol at al., 2018). Married educated women are emotionally and physically supported by their vast social network, which boosts their happiness. The men only focus on conjugal relations expecting support from their wives. Higher education of men increases the contentment within the family as it translates to higher financial security.

Marriage satisfaction is developed from romantic associations among the partners and personality maturity. Personality maturity entails nurturing feelings, while the romantic aspect entails three principles: harmonious environment, conjoint support, and jubilant dependence. As described above, the two principles promote individuals to undergo maturation hence resulting in shunning away from the element of reliance on parents to achieve personal independence (Al-Darmaki et al., 2016). As the couple mature, they learn through the marital life that they do not have to compromise each other hence not satisfied with their experience. They have to toil and strive for a better tomorrow. Al-Darmaki, Hassane, Ahammed, Abdullah, Yaaqeib, and Dodeen (2016) argue that forgiving culture, overlooking personal desires, and solving disputes arising from the family and friends contribute to marital satisfaction and hence happiness within the family. Marital maturity comes along with loyalty and commitment to the relationship. Attention to the family and the children that come along in marriage has positively contributed to increased marital satisfaction and, consequently, love (Tavakol at al., 2018). Trust is the bottom line, as evident from the study. If the trust is reduced within marriage, then the marriage is strained, and the family’s survival and relationship hang in the balance.

Strengths

The study had some strengths in some of the results obtained from the study. This was inculcated by using dyadic data to investigate the dynamics in the couple’s sexuality and well-being over time.

Limitations

There were some limitations experienced in the course of the research, which includes;

Inability to make a thorough follow-up of the individual’s change due to the data collected cross-sectional nature; hence, the data could be biased.

The study results also implicated that the model employed in the study had a better model fit as opposed to the alternative models. This limitation was also due to the respondents’ unwillingness to participate in the second wave of data collection, especially those who were depressed, low, and less sexually active. 

Gender differences among the respondents led to biasness on the gendered findings.

The majority of the respondents indicated the various social problems in either one or both partners in a marriage.

Future Research

Which areas should be amended to achieve marital satisfaction with the current world dynamics like increased education levels and technology advancement regarding marital satisfaction?

Assessment of the possibility of using vast data sets in comparing couples with variant levels of sexual complications.

Investigation of the contributors to life satisfaction among the respondents within the study area using more research models other than psychological well-being, reflecting on the underlying dimensions of emotional stress and depression and, consequently, mood.

Conclusion

Ultimately, marital satisfaction leads to a better marriage experience, which translates to happiness in marriage and consequently aiding in the longer-lasting marriage. Marital satisfaction cooperates with the sexual pleasure and maturity of the couple. Higher education has translated to better and healthy marriage as partners understand each other and increase financial income, which translates to better physical health. 

References

Fu, R., & Noguchi, H. (2016). Does marriage make us healthier? Inter-country comparative evidence from China, Japan, and Korea. PLoS One, 11(2), e0148990.

Tavakol, Z., Moghadam, Z. B., Nasrabadi, A. N., Iesazadeh, N., & Esmaeili, M. (2016). Marital satisfaction through the lens of Iranian women: a qualitative study. The Pan African Medical Journal, 25.

Al-Darmaki, F. R., Hassane, S. H., Ahammed, S., Abdullah, A. S., Yaaqeib, S. I., & Dodeen, H. (2016). Marital satisfaction in the United Arab Emirates: Development and validation of a culturally relevant scale. Journal of Family Issues, 37(12), 1703-1729. https//doiorg/10.1177/0192513

Alibeli, M. A., Na’amneh, M. M., & Nair, S. (2019). Marital Happiness in Time of Change: the Case of United Arab Emirates (UAE). Perspectives on Global Development and Technology, 18(3), 229-248.

Liu, H., Shen, S., & Hsieh, N. (2019). A national dyadic study of oral sex, relationship quality, and well-being among older couples. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 74(2), 298-308. https//diorg/74/2/298/5066439

Sorokowski, P., Kowal, M., & Sorokowska, A. (2019). Religious affiliation and marital satisfaction: commonalities among Christians, Muslims, and atheists. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 2798. https//diorg 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02798

Lambert, L., Karabchuk, T., & Joshanloo, M. (2020). Predictors of life satisfaction in the United Arab Emirates: Results based on Gallup data. Current Psychology, 1-15.