Marital Quality from a Rural Indian Context in Comparative Perspective

Abstract

This article describes the conception of marital quality held by respondents living in one Indian village, as identified through an analysis of semistructured interviews (n=46). The respondents’ conception of marital quality is summed up in the overarching ideal of the life partner and characterized by the dimensions of love, peace, understanding, communication, trust, and balance. This conception is then compared to the conception of marital quality found in the literature, which was developed in reference to Western contexts. The comparison suggests that the respondents’ conception of marital quality intersects in many ways with that found in the literature, but there are also important differences. These results point to the importance of greater examination of marital quality in non-Western contexts without unthinkingly applying Western measures.