What keeps us together? Exploring commitment and maintenance strategies in the marital relationship

Abstract

A review literature on commitment and maintenance strategies, as well as the main theoretical models developed for understanding. Due to the current need for studies on the stability and functionality of the couple, this investigation was conducted, which explores the notion of commitment and maintenance strategies from the Puerto Rican context. The study sample was composed of 101 married couples (41 men and 60 women) selected by availability. Participants were asked to answer a questionnaire designed for identifying the characteristics of commitment and maintenance strategies. Content analysis was utilized in order to study the responses obtained, providing for five categories of analysis: (1) the meaning of commitment, (2) maintenance strategies of the participant, (3) maintenance strategies of the partner, (4) importance of strategies to their marriages, and (5) level of marital satisfaction. Among the aspects that stand out from the findings is that both variables are significant for the stability of the relationship, that both contribute to marital satisfaction and that each one of them possesses their own characteristics. Future investigation is proposed on this topic.