Psychologie a její kontexty, Vol.7, No.1

Súvislosti vzťahovej väzby a manželskej spokojnosti u zosobášených párov

Relationships between attachment and marital satisfaction in married couples

Patrícia Gallerová, Peter Halama

Štúdia skúmala súvislosti medzi vzťahovou väzbou a spokojnosťou v manželstve. Cieľom bolo priblížiť vzťah medzi vzťahovou väzbou a manželskou spokojnosťou daného jednotlivca a jeho manžela/ky, ako aj súvislosti medzi vzťahovou väzbou v detstve a spokojnosťou v manželstve. Výskumu sa zúčastnilo 78 manželských párov, teda 156 osôb. Vzťahová väzba s matkou a otcom v detstve bola zisťovaná pomocou metódy nazvanej História vzťahovej väzby (Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2004), vzťahová väzba v dospelosti bola meraná Dotazníkom skúsenosti v blízkych vzťahoch (Brennan, Clark, & Shaver, 1998) a na zistenie miery spokojnosti v manželstve bola použitá Kansaská škála manželskej spokojnosti (Schumm, Bollman, & Jurich, 1997) a Index hodnotenia manželskej kvality (Norton, 1983). Výsledky nášho výskumu naznačujú, že bezpečná vzťahová väzba súvisí s vyššou manželskou spokojnosťou. Naopak, vyhýbavý štýl vzťahovej väzby súvisí s nižšou mierou manželskej spokojnosti. Vzťah medzi manželskou spokojnosťou a vzťahovou väzbou v detstve sa nepreukázal.

Klíčová slova:
manželská spokojnosť, vzťahová väzba v detstve, vzťahová väzba v dospelosti

Theory of attachment strongly influences exploring of close relationships in childhood and in adulthood as well. According Bowlby attachment is "lasting relationship bond characterized by need of seeking and maintaining proximity with a person in stressful situations especially (Bowbly, 2010). Hazan a Shaver (1987) applied theory of early attachment in romantic relationships of adults. Behavior of adult human in relationships is more or less predictable by style of attachment in childhood (Feeney, 1999). Brennan, Clark a Shaver (1998) created four-dimensional model of attachment which was based on Ainsworth´s theory as well. The model was formed of two dimensions - anxiety and avoidance. The authors identified four types of attachment: secure, fearful, dismissive and preoccupied style of attachment (Brennan, Clark, & Shaver, 1998). Satisfaction in romantic relationship can be explained as a degree in which is relationship for a human enojyable. Attachment influences satisfaction in relationship in terms of meeting need of proximity and safety (Mikulincer, Florian, Cowan, & Cowan, 2002). Several researches show that safe attachment is associated with higher satisfaction in marriage and on the other hand people with insecure style of attachment show lower degree of satisfaction in relationship (Alexandrov, Cowan, & Cowan, 2005; Treboux, Crowell, & Waters, 2004). At the same time style of attachment of the partner also influences individual a lot, satisfaction does not depend only on his own style of attachment but also on attachment of his partner (Farinelli, & McEwan, 2009). The study examined relations between the relationship attachment and marital satisfaction. The goal was to explain the relationship between the adult attachment and marital satisfaction of the individual and her/his husband/wife. The research examined relationship between adult attachment and marital satisfaction as well. Quantitative questionnaire survey: The battery consisted of four selfrepot questionnaires. The childhood attachment was measured by Attachment History Paragraphs (Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2004), adult attachment was measured by The Experiences in Close Relationships Questionnaire (Brennan, Clark, & Shaver, 1998) and satisfaction in marriage was measuredby two measures: Quality Marriage Index (Norton, 1983) and Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale (Schumm, Bollman, & Jurich, 1997).The research sample consisted of 78 heterosexual married couple, together 156 people. The average length of marriages is 20.76 years. Participants were instructed to complete the questionnaires independently. The relations between variables were examined by correlation analysis and cluster analysis. People with a secure attachment style and their partners were most satisfied with their marriages. Our study showed relation between dismissive attachment style and low level of marital satisfaction for the individual, and for the partner of the examined one. The results of our study did not suggest any relationship between childhood attachment and marital satisfaction. The results indicate that secure attachment style is related to higher level of relationship satisfaction, in spite of stressful situation or demanding changes which are occurring in marriage. People with insecure attachment style devote a lot of effort to reinforce marital and couple relationship stability during difficult situations in relationship. Connection between marital satisfaction and childhood attachment has not been proven. The reason may be that childhood attachment is not always totally stable and it can be changed by life experience or personal characteristics of the individual. Our research confirmed that attachment is related to satisfaction in marriage. Research of relationship between attachment and factors affecting marriage is very beneficial, because new finding in this topic can help in clinical practice.

Keywords:
marital satisfaction, childhood attachment, adult attachment