The Relationship of Marital Intimacy and Aloofness To Social Environment: a Hologeistic Study

Abstract

This study explores the correlates of marital intimacy and aloofness across cultures. Tests of the theories of other investigators concerning the causes and consequences of marital aloofness, using indirect measures of husband-wife aloofness, fail to find support in the present study, when a more direct measure of marital aloofness is introduced. An alternative explanation of intimacy and aloofness in marriage is tested and supported, leading to the conclusion that marital intimacy is likely to occur in societies where individuals have no social support systems outside of marriage. The study concludes with a test of a set of related hypotheses that are found in the developmental literature, suggesting that adult relationships are affected by early experience with attachment figures; these hypotheses are not supported in the present study.