Marital Well-Being in Young Couples: A Comparative Study of Husbands’ and Wives’ Perspectives

Abstract

The present study, entitled “Marital Well-being in Young Couples: A Comparative Study of Husbands’ and Wives’ Perspectives”, aimed to assess and compare couple satisfaction, dyadic adjustment, resilience and perceived partner responsiveness among young married couples aged 22–32 years in Hisar, Haryana. A total of 38 couples (N=76) participated in the study. Standardized tools, including the Couple Satisfaction Index, Dyadic Adjustment Scale, Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, and Perceived Partner Responsiveness Scale, were employed to gather quantitative data. The findings revealed that young husbands consistently reported significantly higher levels of couple satisfaction, dyadic adjustment, and resilience compared to young wives, with all results being statistically significant at the 1% level. However, while young wives reported higher levels of perceived partner responsiveness than their husbands, the difference was not statistically significant. These gender-based differences point to a discrepancy in marital perceptions among young couples, with wives reporting lower well-being on most dimensions. The results highlighted the need for early marital counselling interventions focusing on emotional communication, shared expectations, and individual resilience. The study underscores the importance of addressing gender-specific concerns in young marriages to promote long-term relational health and suggests strategies to support young couples at risk of marital dissatisfaction.