The relationship between personality traits, religiosity orientation and locus of control and marital satisfaction of elder women

Introduction and Elderly should be supported in some particular aspects of this stage because aging make the eldelry vulnerable and decrease their abilities. This study aime to investigate the relationship between personality traits, religious orientation as well as locus of control and marital satisfaction of older women. This descriptive-analytical study conducted among elder women at the City of Pishva in 2013. Cluster sampling method were used to recruit 130 elderly. Data were collected using several questionnaires including NEO Personality Inventory (NEO P), Religious Orientation Scale (ROS), Rotter's Locus of Control Scale and Marital Satisfaction Scale. Data were analyzed by Pearson correlation and stepwise regression using SPSS-19. Our findings showed a positive and significant relationship between extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, intrinsic religious orientation and internal locus of control and marital satisfaction. Additionaly, we found a negative and significant relationship between neuroticism and marital satisfaction of elders women. The results of stepwise regression showed that conscientiousness, intrinsic religious orientation and neuroticism significantly predicte marital satisfaction. This model shows that 39 percent of the variance in mairtal staisfaction can be explained by conscientiousness, intrinsic religious orientation and neuroticism. Conscientiousness was shown to be the strongest predictor of matital satisfaction in elder women. According to the results of this study, conscientiousness, intrinsic religious orientation and neuroticism were the most important predictors of marital satisfaction among elder women. Therefore, policymakers, therapists and counselors should pay more attention to symptoms of the mentioned variables and accordingly develop interventional programs to promote marital satisfaction of eldelr women.