Marital compatibility and their relationship to personality among arranged marriage couples and love marriage couples-a pilot study

Abstract

The aim of the study is to assess the marital compatibility and their relationship to personality among arranged marriage and love marriage couples. A cross sectional, ex-post-facto research design was adopted for this study. Samples were collected by using convenience sampling. The sample comprised of 70 arranged marriage couples and 70 love marriage couples aged between 20 to 35 years with the married duration of 1 to 9 years. Marital compatibility was measured by using The ABC marital relationship scale (Nappinnai 2006) and personality was measured by NEO Personality inventory scale (Costa and McCrae 1985). Karl Pearson's product moment correlation and Independent sample t-test were used to assess the significant relationship and differences among the variables. The results of this study revealed that Love marriage couples scored higher on personality dimension of Neuroticism, Extraversion and Conscientiousness. Arranged marriage couples scored higher on personality dimension of Openness and Agreeableness. Love marriage couples scored higher on adjustment component of marital compatibility. Arranged marriage couples scored higher on harmony component of marital compatibility. There was no significant relationship between arranged marriage couples and love marriage couples on marital compatibility in the aspects of harmony, satisfaction and adjustment.