The relationship between marital quality, attitudes towards gender roles and life satisfaction among the married individuals

Society imposes different roles on women and men in the family and the society, concerning their gender. "Gender Role Concept" is very important in terms of the fact that it is related all parts of life of individuals, behaviors, perceptions and attitudes of men and women (Celik, 2008). In this perspective, gender roles, which affect individuals' lives, cannot be isolated from the factors which affect marriage. In this context, the reflections of gender roles on marriage and also the effects of marriage, which is one of most important decisions of individuals, on quality of life were explored. For this purpose, the relationships between these three concepts were discussed. This research was a study of the relational model. The universe of this study included married individuals living in the province of Bayburt and Erzurum, and 639 individuals were participated to the research which was voluntary basis. The data were collected by using the "Marital Life Scale", "Gender Roles Attitudes Scale" and "Life Satisfaction Scale". These analyses were made on the data obtained from the study; t-test for independent groups, regression and correlation. According to study a positive and significant relationship was found between the marital quality, gender roles and the life satisfaction. There was found a significant differentiation; between the quality of the marriage and having children or family intervention; between the attitudes towards gender roles and gender, spouse's employment status or having children; between the life satisfaction and gender or spouse's employment status.