Patterns of marital conflict among middle‐aged couples and their effects on family satisfaction: A latent class analysis

• Published date: 01 October 2023
• Author: Eun Jin Lee,Sangyoon Han
• Date: 01 October 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12827

RESEARCH

Patterns of marital conflict among middle-aged

couples and their effects on family satisfaction:

A latent class analysis

Eun Jin Lee|Sangyoon Han

Graduate School of Social Welfare, Yonsei

University, Seoul, South Korea

Correspondence Sangyoon Han, Graduate

School of Social Welfare, Yonsei University,

50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 03722,

South Korea.

Email: hsangyoon@yonsei.ac.kr

Abstract

Objective: Through this study, we aimed to categorize

marital conflict in middle adulthood and examine its effect

on family satisfaction.

Background: Marital conflict is detrimental to family satis-

faction in the middle age. Despite the increasing dissolution

of marriage and the intensification of marital conflict among

middle-aged couples, little research has examined this issue.

Method: This study used data from the 2018 Korean

Retirement and Income Study (KreIS). A total of 1,581

marriedpeopleagedbetween40and65 years wereana-

lyzed. We conducted latent class analysis (LCA) to catego-

rize the sample and performed multiple regression analysis

to verify the effect of various marital conflict types on fam-

ily satisfaction.

Results: Three latent classes of marital conflict were identi-

fied using the LCA: the lifestyle conflict (LC), the infre-

quent conflict (IC), and the financial conflict (FC) group.

Examining family satisfaction by group revealed that there

was no significant difference between IC and FC, whereas

LC experienced significantly lower family satisfaction.

Conclusions: This study suggested the need for a new

approach to resolving marital conflict for middle-aged

couples, especially according to the conflict aspect.

KEYWORDS

family satisfaction, latent class analysis, marital conflict, middle-aged

couple

INTRODUCTION

The spousal relationship is the most central interpersonal relationship of an adult’s life, affect-

ing a spouse’s well-being throughout life (Schmitt et al., 2007). Recently, the importance of the

Received: 9 April 2022Revised: 28 August 2022Accepted: 15 November 2022

DOI: 10.1111/fare.12827

© 2023 National Council on Family Relations.

1942 Family Relations. 2023;72:1942–1954.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fare