The relationship between emotional intelligence and marital satisfaction: 10-year outcome of partners from three different economic levels

Back ground: Emotional communication and economic factors play an important role in having a satisfying relationship and a more successful marriage. In this regard,we investigated the 10-year outcome of partners from three different economic levels regarding the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and marital satisfaction. Objective: The research was designed as a descriptive-correlative survey and data were analyzed using Pearson correlation test and stepwise regression. Methods and Material: Participants were 159 couples (N = 318) who were randomly selected through clustered sampling. The questionnaires included: Bar-on Emotional Intelligence (1997) and Enrich Marital satisfaction (1989). Results: The findings revealed that the average values of emotional intelligence (m = 333.1) and marital satisfaction (m = 300.77) were high in the under-rich region (p 0.05). Moreover,there was no significant relationship between interpersonal and marital satisfaction within the under-rich region. On average,emotional intelligence accounted for 40.8% of marital satisfaction within those three regions (p 0.01). Conclusion: The results of the regression analysis showed that general mood is the most effective factor changing marital satisfaction in the three studied regions (R2= 0.34),rich (R2= 0.42) and semi-rich (R2= 0.52) regions (p 0.01). The most influential factor changing marital satisfaction in the under-rich (R2= 0.28) region was found to be stress management (p 0.01).