Emotional Unavailability and Marital Satisfaction: Alexithymia Among Married Men

Abstract

The present study aimed to examine the impact of alexithymia among married onto their own marital satisfaction. The sample of the present study comprised of 98 married men selected via purposive sampling. The participants were aged between 25-45 years (M=33.61, SD=4.02). The measures followed after filling demographic form are: ENRICH Marital Satisfaction Scale (EMS; Fowers & Olson, 1993) and Toronto Alexithymia scale (TAS-20; Bagby et al., 1994). Linear regression analysis was utilized to test the hypothesis of the present study. The results predicted significant association and contribution of married men’s alexithymia onto their marital satisfaction i.e. alexithymia caused 12.7% variance (R2 = .127, F (1, 98) = 13.996, p<.001) in the scores of marital satisfaction. The results will have important clinical implications and will serve as foundation for future studies, given that it is the pioneering investigation of alexithymia and marital satisfaction among married men in Pakistan.