Patterns of Marital Happiness in a Sample from Hawaii

Abstract

A considerable amount of unhappiness occurs in many marriages, although not all unhappiness ends in separation, desertion, or divorce (Bossard and Boll, 1955). Children born to a married couple were once thought to symbolize the permanence of marriage (Levy and Munroe, 1938). Nowadays the declining birthrate, increased use of contraceptives, and legalized abortion reflect the idea that children are not as welcome in a marriage as they once were. Other variables such as chared interests, recreation, and philosophy of life have been shown to be related to marital happiness. The purpose of this study is to obtain descriptive results concerning the degree of marital happiness and its relationship to various aspects of marriage by studying a sample from the local population who will be administered a marital happiness questionnaire.