The study of marital satisfaction in older woman-younger man marriages

Background: Marital satisfaction is one of the most important factors in the stability of the family. In recent years, by changing the pattern of marriage we can see the increase of marriages in which the women are older than men. The aim of this study was assessing the marital satisfaction in older woman-younger man marriages. Methods: In this descriptive-analytic study, 52 couples from Najaf-Abad, Isfahan, Iran were considered. Data were collected using the Enrich Marital Satisfaction Questionnaire and analyzed using the chi-squaare and t- test. Results: The results showed that there were no significant differences in marital satisfaction based on the personality issues, communication, conflict resolution, financial management, leisure activities, sexual relationship, children and marriage, family and friends, religious orientation and total marriage satisfaction. Conclusion: Based on the results, older-woman younger-man marriage is not a significant factor on the marital satisfaction. So, there is no prohibition of marriage for the couples which have the same characteristics (for women who are 2.5 yrs older than man). However, due to the culture of the Iranian community, the couples must act knowingly to perform such marriages.