The Relationship between Mental Well-Being and Marital Satisfaction among Married Women over the Course of Life in Modern and Traditionnal Cities

This study explores the relationships between the mental well-being and the marital satisfaction among women at various stages of married life in Najafabad and Fuladshahr in Iran. The statistical population under consideration consists of 757 married women (381 respondents in Najafabad and 376 in Fuladshahr) for at least 3 years, who answered both itemized questions about their mental well-being and marital satisfaction. Marital satisfaction was found to be positively correlated with the mental well-being, so that higher mental well-being was associated with a greater satisfaction. Another finding was that the level of marital satisfaction and duration of the marriage were negatively correlated for women. The present study sheds light on several notions of person-environment interaction theory. It is also the first to indicate a relationship between the potential vulnerability of the women and the characteristics of the environment among the Iranian participants in different cities. Like other findings on the relationship between marital satisfaction and well-being, however, these findings are cohort-specific as the relationship depends on the context in which the marriage takes place.