Marital Happiness among Newly Married Individuals in a Rural District in India

Abstract

Marriage is almost universal in India and associated with many conventional individual, familial and socio-cultural factors. It remains an important component in the study of population and endures many important events in human life. Therefore, the present study was conducted to assess the level of happiness and its associated factors in a rural population in India. Primary data was collected from a cross-sectional survey of newly married (for at least one year but not more than five years) individuals (N=256, male: 136 and female: 120) in rural Varanasi district in Uttar Pradesh. Multistage PPS sampling was applied to select the study subjects. The measurement of marital happiness was based on standard and widely verified marital happiness scale. In addition, marital happiness as perceived by the individuals was also assessed. Level of happiness was assessed descriptively and ordered logistic regression was applied to examine the factors. Important significantly associated factors contributing to the lack of happiness were social support (positively), wealth (poor happier), marital duration (negatively), age (23-26 age-group happier), family type (nuclear family happier) and sex (men happier). Social-support may play a key role in the formulation of policies. In addition, the findings may provide useful clues to the social workers and counsellors associated with marital well-being.