earticle

영어

This study examined the mediating effects of couple communication on self-differentiation and marital satisfaction among married women. The ANOVA, correlation and the multiple regression analysis were used to figure out the relationships and the mediating effects of those variables. The results revealed that self- differentiation was significantly related to marital satisfaction. Also, couple communication was revealed to be a partial and full mediator between self-differentiation and marital satisfaction. The results were as follows. First, there were differences in couple communication and marital satisfaction. Marital satisfaction showed differences according to socio-economic variables such as educational level, occupation, family income, and the years of married life. Educational level and family income made differences in couple’s communication. However, socio-economic variables did not make any difference with regard to self-differentiation. Second, there was a significant correlation among all sub-factors for self- differentiation, whole self-differentiation, married couples’ communication, and marital satisfaction. Third, the result shows that the mediating effect of couple communication between self-differentiation and marital satisfaction. Couple communication completely mediated the relationship between cognitive vs. emotional function, family projection, emotional cutoff, and marital satisfaction. It also partially mediated the relationship between family regression and marital satisfaction. In addition, there was a tendency to partially mediate the relationship between general self-differentiation and marital satisfaction. The results suggested that self-differentiation and couples communication should be considered together when explaining marital satisfaction among married women. Also, the results implied the importance of the increased self-differentiation and the better couple communication in women’s marital satisfaction. Finally, this research suggested the necessity of counseling services to enhance the self-differentiation as well as couple communication programs for the marital satisfaction of women.