The Effect of Married Couple Communication on the Satisfaction of Marriage : Focusing on the Mediating Effect of Marital Intimacy

This study explored how communication between married men and women is related to marital satisfaction, and verified the relationship through the medium effect of marital intimacy. A total number of 365 married men and women in their 30s-50s were surveyed. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 18.0 for technical statistics, frequency analysis, and regression analysis, and parametric analysis was performed using the method by Baron and Kenny(1986). The results of the study are as follows. First, as a result of the verification of differences in key variables according to the demographic characteristics, there were significant differences in the age group, education period and household income. Second, the analysis of the relationship through regression analysis shows that the demographic factors such as age, age of the youngest child, and more importantly couple communication, and marital intimacy are influential in marital satisfaction. Third, verification of the mediation analysis revealed that marital intimacy had partial mediation with communication and marital satisfaction. Through these research results, we verified that marital communication and marital intimacy are vital in order to improve marriage satisfaction for married men and women.