Marriage maintenance in the context of the Theory of Planned Behavior and its consequences

Maintaining marriages is a difficult but an important process. Desire to continue marriage causes the person to displaysome behaviors to maintain the existing relationship and to repair it. Studies show that satisfying, rewarding, low-cost marriages are sustained, as well as the social environment and the person's self-construal are effective in continuing marriages. It is also seen that a satisfied, happy marriage affects health of both women and men positively. Maintaining the marriage is influenced by many variables including the persons' desire to maintain it. Within the scope of this study, this study aimed at addressing the intention to continue marriage and the behaviors in this direction within the context of "The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)". For this purpose, a questionnaire was prepared for intention to continue marriage and a pilot study was carried out to prepare questions, to test its' validity and reliability. After the pilot study, how marital satisfaction, perceived rewards and costs, self-construals and TPB variables such as beliefs, attitude towards marriage, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control affect the intention to continue the marriage and behaviors displayed in this direction were examined. In addition, it is aimed to examine the role of relational maintenance behaviors in the relationship between couples' intention to maintain marriage, marital satisfaction and mental health at levels of individual and dyads. For dyadic analysis, 168 married couples and for path analysis, 361 married people, 183 women and 178 men, were included in the study. The Relationship Maintenance Strategies Scale, Marital Life Scale, Perceived Rewards-Costs Scale, General Health Questionnaire-12, Relational-Interdependent Self Construal Scale and demographic information form and the Intention to Continue Marriage Scale were administered. Results of the path analysis revealed that the dimensions of behavioral beliefs, normative beliefs and control beliefs in TPB were positively associated with attitudes towards behavior, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control; however, the model drawn on beliefs was not statistically significant. In addition, the model with the main variables of TPB was found to be significant: Higher scores on behavioral attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control had a positive effect on the intention to continue the marriage; as a result, intention to continue marriage led to relational maintenance mechanisms. While higher levels of relational self-construal were related to more positive attitudes towards marriage and higher subjective norms; the relationship between higher level of relational self-construal scale scores and perceived behavioral control was not significant. The relationship between marital satisfaction and relational maintenance mechanisms was not statistically significant but perceived rewards and costs found to have a significant and moderate effect on maintenance mechanisms. According to the results of the Actor-Partner Interdependence Mediation Model analysis, the mediating role of husbands' use of maintenance mechanisms and partners' use of maintenance mechanisms between husbands' intention to continue marriage and their mental health was found to be significant. In the relationship between marital satisfaction and mental health, partners' use of maintenance mechanism was found to be significant only for husbands. In the model that examined the effect of using the maintenance mechanisms in the relationship between intention to continue marriage and marital satisfaction, it was seen that both wives' and husbands'' intention to continue marriage significantly predicted their marital satisfaction through their use of maintenance mechanisms.The mediating role of wives' maintenance mechanisms between husbands' intention to maintain marriage and wives' marital satisfaction was found to be significant. The findings were discussed in the light of the literature, limitations on the study were addressed and suggestions for future studies and implementation were presented.