Marital compatibility in sensation seeking trait as a factor in marital adjustment

Abstract

Thirty couples seeking therapy for marital problems were matched with 30 control couples and compared on the Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS) and the Marriage Adjustment Questionnaire (MAQ). The therapy subjects scored lower on the MAQ than the controls. The correlation between spouses on the SSS total score was higher in the control than in the therapy group. Males were generally higher than their spouses in the control group, but in almost half of the couples in the therapy group the females' scores equalled or exceeded those of their spouses. These differences in the therapy group were associated with certain features of the cases.