The Relationship between Personality Traits, Marital Stability, and Equality Perception

Marriage instability is detrimental to the family unit and society; therefore, the importance of identifying the factors that promote marital stability is critical. Although there is substantial literature on the interpersonal predictors for divorce and relationship stability, several important gaps exist in the field. First, previous research has extensively focused on the impact of negative factors and disregarded sufficient attention to the role of positive interpersonal processes in marriage dissolution, like equality perception. Marital quality has been theorized to be based on pathways through which equality perception correlated with marital stability. Equality perception is a determinant of coupleschr('39') relationship stability. Equality perception may be influenced by other variables, like personality traits. The present study aimed to determine the relationship between personality traits and marital stability by considering the mediating role of equality perception.

This was a descriptive and correlational study. The study population consisted of married males and females living in the 12 districts of Karaj City in the autumn and winter of 2017. Of them, a sample of 350 men and women were selected from recreational, cultural, and educational centers by convenience sampling technique. The study tools were the HEXACO Personality Inventory (Ashton & Lee, 2004), Perceived Equity Measure (Perry, 2004), and Marital Instability Index. To analyze the collected data, structural equation modeling, AMOS, maximum odds ratio, and the significant level of 0.05 were implemented. 

In the present study, the indirect pathway coefficients between agreeableness (p=0.003, β=-0.069), conscientiousness (p=0.001, β=-0.125), and extraversion (p=0.017, β=-0.042) were negative and significant with marital stability.

Agreeableness and honesty-humility, responsibility in conscientious couples, and decisiveness in extraterrestrial couples have led to considering the relationship to be interactive by the wives. To resolve the issue in the event of a conflict, considering the interests of both parties and acting fairly is important; eventually, such measures provide consent and stability to marital life.