Marital adjustment: the role of perfectionism, the ways of coping with stress and gender

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the concept of marital adjustment and its relation with perfectionism (self-oriented, otheroriented and socially-prescribed perfectionism), the ways of coping (problem-focused coping, emotion-focused coping and seeking social support) and gender variables. The research was carried out with 290 married individuals (188 females and 102 males). Participants were administered a questionnaire to ascertain their socio-demographic characteristics along with several assessment scales including Dyadic Adjustment Scale, Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, The Ways of Coping Inventory, Brief Symptom Inventory. A series of analyses of Covariance (ANCOVA) was conducted to evaluate the effects of personal level of perfectionism (self-oriented, other-oriented and socially-prescribed perfectionism), the ways of coping (problem-oriented coping, emotion-oriented coping and seeking social support) and gender on marital adjustment, after controlling for psychopathological symptom levels. The results demonstrated that individuals who had self-oriented perfectionism and individuals, those who applied problem-oriented coping strategies more often, reported greater level of marital adjustment. Specifically, socially-prescribed perfectionism in males and self-oriented perfectionism in females were found to be the determinant figure on the issue of marital adjustment. Another finding revealed an interaction effect between self-oriented perfectionism and seeking social support. The findings were discussed in the light of relevant literature regarding the structure of Turkish society. Keywords: Marital adjustment; perfectionism; coping with stress; gender;