Comparison of Marital Satisfaction and Adjustment in Diabetic and Healthy Women

Diabetes should be considered as a family problem that affects all the members similar to other chronic diseases. Therefore, adjustment and marital satisfaction can be influenced by the disease. The aim of this study was to compare marital satisfaction and adjustment in diabetic and healthy women. This causal-comparative study was conducted on diabetic (n=70) and healthy (n=70) women selected based on convenience sampling method in Tehran in 2017. For data collection, Enrich Marital Satisfaction Scale (1989) and Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment test (1959) were used in this study. The data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance and independent t-test in SPSS software (version 24). The obtained results of this study indicated that there was a significant difference between marital adjustment in diabetic and healthy women. Moreover, no significant difference was observed between marital satisfaction in diabetic and healthy women. Among the components of marital satisfaction, there was a significant difference only between personality issues in diabetic and healthy women. The healthy women had higher levels of personality issues and marital adjustment, compared to their diabetic counterparts. In women with diabetes, the illness cannot cause less marital satisfaction than in healthy women. Furthermore, the difference in marital adjustment between diabetic and healthy women can be ascribed to the fact that chronic diseases are considered as disastrous events in life that can affect the family interaction patterns