The relationship among interpersonal empathy, spousal contempt, and marital satisfaction

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship among interpersonal empathy, spousal contempt, and marital satisfaction. A sample consisting of 140 married individual volunteers was recruited via the Internet. The participants completed self-report measures on-line, consisting of a demographic questionnaire, the Marital Adjustment Test (Locke & Wallace, 1959), the Perspective Taking (PT) and Empathic Concern (EC) scales of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI; Davis, 1983), the Contempt subscale of the Differential Emotions Scale - IV (DES-IV; Izard et al., 1993), and the Spousal Contempt Scale (SCS) designed by the Principal Investigator. Correlational analyses were used to assess relationships among predictor and criterion variables.; The findings of the present study indicate that men and women differ in their capacities for empathy as well as the manner in which empathy relates to contempt. As predicted, level of contempt significantly negatively correlated with marital satisfaction. The results imply a relationship between the capacity for empathy and marital satisfaction as mitigated by one's level of contemptuousness. The results of the present investigation hold important implications for future empirical investigations as well as for clinical practice.