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Relative Income and Marital Happiness Among Urban Chinese Women: The Moderating Role of Personal Commitment

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  • Huiping Zhang
  • Sandra Tsang

Abstract

Compared with the rich knowledge in the West, studies of the impact of wives’ relative income on marital quality during the fast socioeconomic change period in urban China have surprisingly fallen far behind. This study attempted to examine the impact of relative income on marital happiness among urban Chinese women. Using an urban Beijing sample of 763 married women, this study found that a woman married to a husband with lower income tended to be less happy with her marriage, but this effect will be countered if there is more love in the sense of a genuine concern about the well-being of the partner and a willing to make sacrifice for him. The results were interpreted from theoretical verification and possible mechanisms linking personal commitment and marital happiness. Copyright The Author(s) 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Huiping Zhang & Sandra Tsang, 2013. "Relative Income and Marital Happiness Among Urban Chinese Women: The Moderating Role of Personal Commitment," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 14(5), pages 1575-1584, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:14:y:2013:i:5:p:1575-1584
    DOI: 10.1007/s10902-012-9396-5
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Gary S. Becker, 1981. "A Treatise on the Family," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number beck81-1, March.
    2. Matthijs Kalmijn & Anneke Loeve & Dorien Manting, 2007. "Income dynamics in couples and the dissolution of marriage and cohabitation," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 44(1), pages 159-179, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Aistė Dirzytė & Ona Gražina Rakauskienė & Vaida Servetkienė, 2016. "Household income and satisfaction with life: cognitive – emotional impact paradox," Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, VsI Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center, vol. 4(2), pages 198-210, December.
    2. Shaojie Zhou & Xiaohua Yu, 2017. "Regional Heterogeneity of Life Satisfaction in Urban China: Evidence from Hierarchical Ordered Logit Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 132(1), pages 25-45, May.
    3. Hania Fei Wu, 2021. "Relative Income Status Within Marriage and Subjective Well-Being in China: Evidence from Observational and Quasi-Experimental Data," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 447-466, January.
    4. Zhongwu Li, 2023. "Does intrahousehold bargaining power enhance women's marital satisfaction? A perspective from two competing forces in China," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 476-498, February.

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