The role of shame in perceptions of marital equity, intimacy, and competency

Abstract

Abstract Shame is a basic emotion, essential to human development, and is both a personal and a relational experience. Shame emerges as one becomes aware of oneself in relationship to others. This study related individual experiences of shame, inferiority, alienation, self-esteem, and gender to perceptions of equity, intimacy, and competency in marital relations. The study involved a heterogeneous sample of 199 subjects. There were no significant gender-based differences in shame intensity. Intensity of shame was positively correlated with perceptions of complementary and symmetrical marital equity styles and negatively correlated with perceptions of parallel marital equity styles, intimacy, and competency. Alienation was a robust predictor and accounted for more variance than inferiority, self-esteem, or gender in perceptions of marital relationships. Findings suggest that shame is a different experience from low self-esteem and influential in perceptions of marital dynamics.