Intimacy and marital satisfaction in spouses

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between intimacy and marital satisfaction of couples in different stages of the family life cycle. The Personal Assessment of Intimacy in Relationships (PAIR) question naire (Schaefer & Olson, 1981) and a subscale of the Enriching and Nurturin g Relationship Issues, Communication and Happiness (ENRICH) questionnaire ( Olson, Fournier, & Druckman, 1982) were administered to 57 couples. Signifi cant differences between men and women were found on two of the five aspect s of experienced intimacy (sexual and recreational) as well as for social a nd sexual discrepancy scores (difference between experienced and desired in timacy). With the exception of social intimacy as experienced by women, a p ositive correlation was found for both sexes between all the components of experienced intimacy and marital satisfaction. No difference were found for experienced intimacy or marital satisfaction according to family developme ntal stages.