Gender Role Attitudes and Co-parenting Behavior in Relation to Marital Satisfaction among Married Couples in Lebanon

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Date
2023
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Abstract
Marital satisfaction is a prevalent issue in relationships that has been associated with different factors that contribute to the overall mental health of the individual. Family system theorists have been interested in examining factors that could predict marital satisfaction such as gender role attitudes and co-parenting behavior. It was found that alignment in views among couples on gender role attitudes and co-parenting behavior could contribute to higher levels of marital satisfaction. Due to lack of findings regarding this issue in the Lebanese context, this study is one of the first to examine the relationship between these three variables among Lebanese married couples by focusing on the alignment in views and congruence in beliefs. By translating the scales into Arabic, the present study also aimed to contribute to the initial step of the adaptation of those scales to Lebanese culture. This is a quantitative survey design with a total of 122 participants who were recruited from different areas in Lebanon through snowball sampling. The Quality of Marriage index, Gender Role Attitude Scale (GRAS), and Co-parenting Scale were translated into Arabic through forward translation followed up by a committee approach. Prior to addressing the study hypotheses, all translated scales were examined for reliability and cultural sensitivity. Results have supported both hypotheses in showing that higher alignment in gender role attitudes and co-parenting behavior positively predicted higher scores on marital satisfaction among married couples. Clinical implications from findings assist in guiding mental health practitioners that work with couples and families to address marital conflict by examining similarities and differences in core beliefs among couples. The study’s limitations were the non-randomized sampling and use of two scales that are adapted in Westernized contexts. Future research should be directed towards in depth examination of the operational definitions of the constructs: gender role attitudes and marital satisfaction in the Lebanese or non-westernized contexts thus leading to the development of culturally appropriate measures.
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Ibrahim, R. H. (2023). Gender Role Attitudes and Co-parenting Behavior in Relation to Marital Satisfaction among Married Couples in Lebanon (SBS thesis, Haigazian University)