Marital Satisfaction, Coping, and Social Support in Female Medical Staff Members in Tehran University Hospitals

Abstract

Stress significantly influences marital satisfaction. Women tend to be more emotionally involved in problems than men. Furthermore, employed women encounter more stressors especially when their job is stressful which it is often the case in medical professionals. In the present cross-sectional study, relationships were analyzed between marital satisfaction (ENRICH Marital Satisfaction Inventory), ways of coping (Ways of Coping questionnaire) with marital stress and social support (Social Support Questionnaire) in 100 female medical staff members in Tehran university hospitals. The results revealed a significant negative relationship between subscales of marital satisfaction and using “seeking social support”, “confrontive coping”, “escape avoidance”, “distancing”, and “self-controlling” as ways of coping related to marriage related problems. Furthermore, the analyses showed that job satisfaction, social support, and ways of coping explain between 24% and 38% of the variance in subscales of marital satisfaction. Therefore focusing on these factors could be an effective approach to promote marital satisfaction in female medical staff members.

Keywords

• marital satisfaction
• ways of coping
• social support
• women
• medical staff members
• Iran