Me, You, or Us? Dyadic Associations between Marital and Life Satisfaction

While many studies have examined the relationship between individual marital satisfaction and individual life satisfaction, how partners’ combined marital satisfaction ratings are associated with an individual’s life satisfaction remains largely unexplored. Considering marital satisfaction ratings of both partners in a couple, this study investigates whether an individual’s life satisfaction is primarily associated with their own marital satisfaction, their partner’s marital satisfaction, or the discrepancy between the two. Data from two studies were analyzed: 251 mixed-gender marital dyads in Korea and 4,531 mixed-gender couples from the German Family Panel study. Participants completed self-reported measures assessing marital and life satisfaction. The Actor–Partner Interdependence Model and Dyadic Response Surface Analysis were used to examine the effects of marital satisfaction on life satisfaction, focusing on actor, partner, and discrepancy effects. Findings from both studies consistently revealed that individuals’ own marital satisfaction was most strongly associated with their life satisfaction. Once actors’ evaluations were accounted for, partners’ marital satisfaction showed only weak or nonsignificant associations, explaining little additional variance in life satisfaction. Furthermore, discrepancies between partners’ levels of marital satisfaction were only minimally related to life satisfaction. These patterns were observed consistently across genders and cultural contexts. The results highlight the predominant actor effect of marital satisfaction on life satisfaction.