Social Capital and Marital Satisfaction Identifying the Relationship

Marital life satisfaction reduces the effects of the possible conflicts within the family thus providing an environment conducive to nurturing of the child. Being aware of factors affecting marital satisfaction is therefore of importance. This sociological research probes the relationship between social capital and marital satisfaction among married couples in the city of Kerman. The significance of social capital is derived from the fact that it provides the spouse satisfaction through emotional and mental support. The purpose of this study is to identify the relationship between these two variables. This is a survey-method research. In order to put to test the hypotheses of the study, 382 women and men aged between 18-45 years, were selected by clustered random sampling. The ENRICH questionnaire was used in order to measure participants’ satisfaction. As to social capital, we utilized a combined version of Lin and Coleman’s theories measuring social capital via a constructed questionnaire in 6 dimensions: structural bonding, bridging, linking capital and cognitional bonding, bridging and linking capital. The statistical methods of Pearson correlation, T and F tests were also used for testing the hypotheses. The regression analysis was employed to measure the research method. The results indicates a meaningful relationship between marital satisfaction and cognitional bonding, bridging, linking capital, individual’s esteem within the family power relations, sense of life satisfaction, age, and the individual’s income. Moreover, there was found a meaningful difference between women and men in marital satisfaction and social capital. The results of multiple regressions also showed that cognitional bonding capital, bridging capital, and the individual’s esteem in the family are the most important indicants in married men’s and women’s mental health. Considering the findings what can be highlighted is the fact indicating that if the individuals enjoy high level of social capital it means that they access valuable resources. The main resources can be listed as mutual trust, social, mental and financial support, existence of kinship networks, and the like. Given the above resources, the spouses will have a higher chance of enjoying an enhanced marital satisfaction.