the relationship between motivational structure and marital satisfaction

the goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between motivational structure and marital satisfaction. participants (n = 122; 72% female) were recruited among married students of ferdowsi university of mashhad, who completed personal concerns inventory (pci) and marital satisfaction questionnaire (msq). principal component analysis (pca) was used to summarize the pci data. a summary score was then developed based on the factor loadings to represent adaptive motivation. to test the study hypothesis, hierarchical regression was used to regress adadptive motivation onto marital satisfaction and its components (i.e., attractiveness, rapport, attitude, investment). the results indicated that, after controlling for the participants' age, gender, length of marriage, number of children, and spouses' age and job, increases in adaptive motivational structure were associated with inceases in marital satisfaction total scores and its subscales. adaptive motivation can predict 6.8% of variance in marital satisfaction total score, 6.7% of variance in attractiveness, 3.1% of variance in rapport, 3.5% of variance in attitude and 6.8% of variance in investment. to conclude, it seems that people's general level of success in achiving their goals in various areas of their lives, which is related to their motivational structure, can effect their marital satisfaction. implication of the findings for motivational interventions to increase marital satisfaction has been discussed. keywords motivational structure, marital satisfaction, attract, rapport, attitude, investment