Personality and Marital Adjustment: The Mediating Role of Marital Quality and Impact of Counselling Intervention
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Abstract
Purpose: This study examined a structural model in which marital quality mediates the relationship between personality traits and marital adjustment, while accounting for counselling intervention effects. A sample of 412 married individuals participated, including a subgroup who completed a structured marital counselling program. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was conducted using maximum likelihood estimation, and mediation was tested using bias-corrected bootstrapping (5,000 resamples).
Personality significantly predicted marital quality (β = .38, p < .001), and marital quality strongly predicted marital adjustment (β = .52, p < .001). Counselling intervention showed modest but significant effects on marital quality (β = .29, p < .001) and marital adjustment (β = .21, p = .003). Mediation analysis indicated that marital quality fully mediated the relationship between personality and marital adjustment (indirect effect β = .20, 95% CI [.12, .30]). The model explained 46% of the variance in marital adjustment.
These findings highlight relational processes as the primary pathway through which personality influences marital functioning and underscore the role of counselling in strengthening marital outcomes.
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