Shlykova N.I., Polyanina O.I. Emotional Intelligence and Satisfaction with Marriage: the Differences, the Relationship and the Particular Structure of These Indicators for Both Men and Women

Abstract: The paper studies the relation of indicators of emotional intelligence and marital satisfaction demonstrated by men and women. The subject of the research is the relationship between emotional intelligence and the level of satisfaction with marriage for men and women. The object of the research is the emotional intelligence and satisfaction with marriage. The study is based on the definition of emotional intelligence offered by D.V. Lyusin that comes from the fact that the ability to understand emotions and to manage them is closely related to the general commitment of a person to the emotional sphere, i.e., with his interest for the inner world of people (including himself). To achieve this goal the authors conducted the research that involved a range of not only empirical but also mathematical and statistical methods. Psychological testing was carried out using the following methods: 1. The Emotional Intelligence Inventory (EnIn) created by D. Lyusin (2009); 2. The Marital Satisfactino Inventory by E.Y. Alyoshina, L.Y. Gozman and E.M. Dubovskaya (1987); 3. The Marital Satisfaction Questionnaire by V.V. Stolin, T.A. Romanova and G.P Butenko (1984). Analysis of the data was carried out using the following mathematical and statistical methods: 1. The methods of descriptive statistics; 2. Comparative analysis based on the Mann-Whitney U test; 3. Spearman's correlation analysis; 4. Two-factor analysis of variance; and 5. Factor analysis. The novelty of this study is defined by the fact that for the first time in the academic literature the authors have studied the emotional intelligence and marital satisfaction together. As a result of the study the following conclusions were made: 1) The level of emotional intelligence revealed significant differences between men and women. Thus, we can talk about gender predisposition to the formation and development of specific components of emotional intelligence. 2) there were no significant differences found between the levels of satisfaction with marriage demonstrated by men and women which may be due to the relative homogeneity of surveyed couples (same experience of married life, the lack of currently significant periods of crisis in the development of the family, etc.). 3) Women's average level of development of emotional intelligence has a positive effect on their satisfaction with marriage which is confirmed by the correlation and analysis of variance. The men demonstrated an inverse pattern - their satisfaction in marriage corresponds to the low level of emotional intelligence which is confirmed only by the data analysis of variance. 4)Men and women have a different structure of indicators of emotional intelligence and satisfaction with marriage. 

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