Determination of Effective Factor on Marital Satisfaction in the Satisfied Couples: A Grounded Theory Study

Since marital satisfaction affects mental and physical health, life satisfaction, job success, and social communication, it seems necessary to recognize the Effective Factor on the couple's marital satisfaction.

The current study aims to identify effective factors for marital satisfaction.

The study method is based on grounded theory. The study population was satisfied couples in Mashhad in 2019. This grounded theory study was qualitative, so the population number is equal to the participations in this study. Based on the theoretical saturation criterion, 10 couples (20 women and men married together) were selected by purposeful sampling. A semi-structured interview and marital satisfaction questionnaire (Oliya, Fatehizadeh, & Bahram, 2008) were used for data collection. The axial coding method was used to analyze the data collected from the interviews (Strauss & Corbin, 2011). Based on the result of the interviews, the model of satisfied couples was developed and Its validity was reviewed and confirmed by ten professionals in the field of family counseling.

The results indicate that the contextual factors in satisfying couples include two factors: the health of the family of origin and efficient individual characteristics; while causal factors include informed choice as well as informed marriage, and intervention factors include the development of economic assets and economic bankruptcy. There were four categories of strategies including an individual strategy for personal development, strategies for strengthening couples' relationships, strategies for strengthening the relationship with the family of origin, and strategies carried out by families for strengthening couples' relationships.

According to the findings of this grounded theory study psycho-educational manual can be prepared and used to improve marital satisfaction.