Marital satisfaction and spousal cost-infliction

This research tested the hypothesis that marital satisfaction is a psycholo gical state regulated by evolved mechanisms that monitor spousal cost-infli ction and benefits. Three separate data sources were used to study a sample of married couples. First, 214 participants provided information on their personality and marital satisfaction. Second, participants provided informa tion on their spouse's personality, mate guarding and susceptibility to inf idelity. Third, couples were interviewed by two interviewers, who subsequen tly provided independent ratings of each participant's personality. Results indicate that costs associated with spouse's personality, mate guarding an d susceptibility to infidelity negatively correlate with participants' mari tal satisfaction. Discussion evaluates the utility of an evolutionary persp ective on marital satisfaction and spousal cost-infliction. (C) 2000 Elsevi er Science Ltd. All rights reserved.