Analysis of the Level of Marital Satisfaction - Assignment Example

? I interviewed two couples, married and with children. The first couple has one child and the other has two children. The first couple faces some challenges in their current relationship while the second couple is currently enjoying the time they spent together as husband and wife. Concerning this, I would like to dig deeper generally into the level of marital satisfaction that each of these couples experienced. As mentioned, the first couple has been facing challenges at present within their four-year old marriage. The level of intimacy that the husband and wife feel for each other has deliberately changed compared to that on the days of their courtship. They failed to sustain the three essential components of love based on Robert Sternberg’s triangular theory of love. Intimacy is now a bit fleeting, passion is growing cold as the air of love in their relationship grows thin, and their commitment for each other seems to surge in a downward spiral. The woman is spreading herself fat, adding twice as much to her maiden weight, which has become a challenge for her to remain physically attractive for her husband. Her husband on the other hand lacks the enthusiasm to think the best for his family, as financial stability challenged them in the midst of the situation of their current relationship. He usually would come home late at night and sometimes early in the morning just before the break of dawn. He is a perfect depiction of an irresponsible husband and a poor provider for his family. Their three-year old son is always sulking tantrums and can hardly follow some basic and simple instructions, as he shortly has turned into a stiff-necked and a strong-willed child. For now, the best way to describe the current situation of their family is no other word than ‘tragic’. The second couple on the other hand is a big contrast to the first. The husband and wife are enjoying their time together for almost six years now. They cherish what they have and maximise their time by enjoying each other’s company. Though there are remarkable changes to the woman’s physique, it turned out that she remains attractive for her husband. She is now a typical homemaker, allowing her to provide so much time for her husband and their children. Her husband on the other hand is a good provider. Their financial needs may not be that perfectly stable for now, but they are always contented with what they have so far. However, even if there is a high sense of contentment on the part of the husband, he still managed to provide a vivid plan for his family. He wanted to provide a good education for her children, a good health for their family, and eventually stability for every aspect life. In fact, the husband would deliberately explain his plan to his wife that after finishing his MBA degree at present, they would pursue establishing their own business that could help support them their needs and even send him to a costly medical school to earn a degree in medicine as his ultimate dream in life. On the other hand, their five-year old daughter is performing well at school and turned out obedient child, depicting the manifestation of a highly disciplined life. Their almost two-year old son is also a happy and playful child. The first couple depicts an inconsistent close personal relationship if we based it on what they started in the courtship days. The interpersonal attraction may have subsided at a certain level especially from the point of view of the husband. His inability to come home early or missing some time to be on bed with her wife at night is a manifestation that there is an on-going interference towards a good interpersonal attraction between them. On the other hand, just as the situation of the first couple is perfectly contrasting the second’s, we therefore have a good point to say that the same concern may also reflect on the issue of interpersonal attraction and close personal relationships. If we try to analyse the two given situations, three fundamental elements are necessary in order to ensure a good harmonious and marital satisfaction. It is clear that the need for constant or consistent intimacy, passion and commitment in order to sustain a marriage life with strong marital satisfaction are vital requirements between the working relationship of a husband and a wife. We could simply say that the attachment, caring and intimacy are therefore primary indicators of a married life with high sense of marital satisfaction. However, in the case of the second couple, we could identify that compassionate and passionate love are working together for the husband and wife as there is eventual good result that we could say would lead to marital satisfaction for the two of them. The husband is both compassionate and passionate because of his ability to be consistent with his sexual attraction for his wife even if there are some remarkable changes in her actual body figure, and a strong commitment or attachment for her family by planning for their future. Unconsciously, the wife may have increased her physical attraction for her husband because of his manly attribute as a good provider. She also engages with him as a partner because he is open to her of his plan for their future. All of these are some vital attributes of a satisfactory married life that we could say are not present in the first couple. Compassion, passion, intimacy and commitment are elemental components of a good working relationship, as they at some point could define us what love is all about (Baron, Branscombe and Byne, 2012). These authors try to explain to us that we therefore need to observe the actual output of relationship between the two individuals in order to define the presence of love of whatever commitment or feelings they might have among themselves. Love therefore is more than just a physical gesture, but it must something intrinsic of a person. As we noticed, the level of intimacy may change over time, but the second couple decided to be consistent with it. Not only that. The level of attachment and passion persisted; allowing us to conclude that the second couple has a perfect depiction of their love for each other especially that there is a manifestation of existing passion and compassion for the husband and wife for each other. If we based it on the idea of Sternberg of love, we could therefore say that marital satisfaction requires important elements that each couple should learn to strongly decide to live through together for life. Cited Source Baron, Robert A., Nyla R. Branscombe and D. Byrne. Social Psychology. 13th ed. Boston, MA: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon, 2012. Read More