High rates of divorce seem related to low marital satisfaction levels; however, there is still a lack of a model that can help understand the couple’s resilience and fragility throughout the life cycle. This research explores the role of communication patterns, their own and partner’s motivation for conjugality, cohesion and flexibility within a couple, and several sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., stage of the family life cycle) that can explain marital satisfaction. A sample of 331 Portuguese in a marital relationship completed a sociodemographic questionnaire and marital satisfaction measures, communication and conflict management competencies, cohesion and flexibility, and motivation. Adequate statistical analysis was performed using descriptive statistics and structural equation modeling. Both measurement and structural model performed in the study presented a good fit, with five significant predictors of marital satisfaction (that accounted for 85% of the variability): intrinsic motivation ( β = .64), communication ( β = .31), families with young children ( β = −.08), families with teenagers ( β = −.07) and professional/academic status ( β = .06). By identifying a model for marital satisfaction, this research provides clues regarding which aspects might need to be considered in couples’ clinical work to promote healthier relationships.
Background:
The need to develop clinical and empirically-based tools for
assessing personality development in adolescence led to the proposal of the IPOP-A
(Ammaniti, Fontana, Kernberg, Clarkin, & Clarkin, 2011), a semi-structured interview for
adolescents that aims to differentiate personality organization processes from characteristics
that may reflect a personality disorder.
Objective and Methods:
This research aimed to evaluate the adaptation of the IPOP-A to the
Portuguese population, attending to its diagnostic properties and its discriminant validity by
comparing a clinical group with a nonclinical one. A total sample of 44 adolescents from 13
to 18 years old has taken part in this study, 22 of whom had a previous personality disorder
diagnosis. The content of the interviews was transcribed and codified according to the
coding manual.
Results:
Acceptable internal consistency values across the dimensions of the IPOP-A are
found and statistically significant differences are revealed between the clinical group and
nonclinical group, with the clinical group revealing values that suggest higher impairment in
the dimensions of the personality functioning in comparison with the nonclinical one.
Conclusion:
Our study supports that the Portuguese version of the IPOP-A can be
considered a valid instrument to identify adolescents with a personality disorder.
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