According to sociological factors which are operative in the selection of a mate, it is argued that homogamy theory should be observed in order for a relationship or couples to experience marital satisfaction. Homogamy has been used to refer to the things which individuals consider should be present on their potential mates. Thus homogamy theory claims that people tend to be attracted to people that they seem to share similar features like religion, age and social class. This paper examines factors that will increase or decrease marital satisfaction.
Race is a factor which affects marital satisfaction. According to the book “Choices in Relationships”, it is argued that besides the homogamy factors, race is also important as there will always be some racist comments which will be made by one of the partners. It is therefore important for couples to marry from the same race to increase chances of marital satisfaction.
Secondly, the marital status of your to be partner is also crucial when it comes to marital satisfaction. It is established that people who are divorced tend to look for other divorced persons to become their mates and this also applies to those who are widowed.
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Thirdly, attachment is also a factor which determines the level of satisfaction in relationships. People that do have related needs of attachment have marital satisfaction. This is said to be the most predictable variable of a relationship (Knox & Schacht, 2009).
Economic values in relation to how a person manages his or her finances and the debt tendencies also influence marital satisfaction. Many individuals argue that they would rather not be in a relationship with a person who does not know how to manage their finances. People in a relationship who know how to manage their finances tend to have marital satisfaction.
Personality also influences the level of marital satisfaction and it is mainly based on the type of personality by both couples in a marriage. It is argued that couples with the same personality tend to enjoy high marital satisfaction as they have same personality.
Religion also affects marital satisfaction. This tends to increase marital satisfaction in relationships where the couples have same religious beliefs as it builds the confidence of emotional involvement between the couples (Knox & Schacht, 2009).
The open-mindedness of the couples will tend to increase marital satisfaction in relation to their homogamy. On the other hand couples who are close minded in relation to homogamy will also have marital satisfaction. This reduces chances of disagreeableness.
Physical appearance plays a small role when it comes to marital satisfaction but it has been established that it matters more to men than women. Some men will tend to have marital satisfaction when they are in a relationship with a woman they consider good looking.
Social class affects marital satisfaction a big deal. It has been established that many people will feel secure when in a relationship with a person from the same social class as they are. This means that a person who comes from a high social class will definitely not have marital satisfaction with a person from a lower social class due to security reasons attached.
Age influences marital satisfaction from the view point that men tend to marry women who are younger than them by at least three to four years. This results to what is known as the marriage squeeze as women lack men to marry them. This makes women to not focus so much on the age when they have advanced in age and do not have marriage partners.
In conclusion, we have established that for marital satisfaction to occur, some factors need to be taken into consideration. These factors might consist of endogamy or homogamy. The homogamy factors also known as the social factors are the ones which tend to influence marital satisfaction greatly as they are individual based. Such factors that we have looked at include the age, marital status, religious beliefs, social class, open-mindedness, the race of the couples, economic factors and attachment levels of both partners. Most of these factors if not in homogamy, they tend to cause marital dissatisfaction.