Determinants of Marital Quality in Dual-Career Couples

Abstract

This study identified themes differentiating high quality and low quality dualcareer marriages. Thirty-four professional dual-career couples completed the Personal Assessment of Intimacy in Relationships (PAIR) Inventory and the Careern Marital Stress of Women Inventory (CMSWI). Lewis and Spanier's (1979) model of marital quality was selected as the theoretical framework for a qualitative analysis. Themes related to socioeconomic adequacy, wife's satisfaction with her employment, degree of husband's approval of wife's employment, optimal household composition, community embeddedness, positive regard for spouse, emotional gratification, effectiveness of communication, role-fit, and amount of interaction emerged. Implications are discussed.