The Relationship Between Mental Health, Physical Health, Physical Appearance and Marital Dissatisfaction

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between mental health, physical health and physical appearance and marital dissatisfaction for women interviewed in the 1992 and 2002 rounds of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979. Ordered logistic regression analysis was applied to data from NLSY79's 1992 and 2002 rounds and the change from 1992 to 2002. This study found that health is an important factor in marital dissatisfaction. The results indicated that high levels of depression were related to high marital dissatisfaction, while high body weight and changes in physical health were related to low marital dissatisfaction. Social norms theory was found to be a consistent predictor of the relationship between poor mental health and marital dissatisfaction. Marital exchange theory's predictions were also supported by the data for the physical appearance and the physical health variables.