Fundamental Factors in Marital Satisfaction: An Assessment of Brazilian Couples

Abstract

In this research we aimed to study how couples perceive their marital relationships. More specifically, our goal was to ascertain the way middle class couples, living in Brazil, evaluate the quality of their current marital relationships. 100 cohabiting couples were asked to fulfill the Marriage and Relationship Questionnaire (MARQ), and we found that 86% lived together for 12.62 years on average and declared to be satisfied with their relationship. Jealousy, partnership and love were found to be the most relevant factors for marital satisfaction, thereby reaffirming the Evolutionary Psychology hypotheses about the omnipresence of love and jealousy as elements of cohesion in humans. Selection for those factors may have occurred from early mankind on, particularly with regard to the establishment and maintenance of affective partnerships.