TYPE-A BEHAVIOR AND MARITAL SATISFACTION - DIFFERENTIAL-EFFECTS OF ACHIEVEMENT STRIVING AND IMPATIENCE IRRITABILITY

Two hundred couples participated in a study of how two dimensions of Type A behavior exert different effects on the marital relationship. Path analyses, using LISREL VI, estimated that men's Impatience/Irritability exerted detrimental effects on their own and their wives' marital adjustment, but men's Achievement Striving did not. Specifically, men's negative interactions were directly linked to Impatience/Irritability, and indirectly linked via depression. Impatience/Irritability was also indirectly related to men's sexual behavior via depression. Men's negative interactions and sexual behavior in tum directly predicted their wives' marital satisfaction, which predicted their wives' divorce propensity. The model showing the influence of men's Impatience/Irritability on wives' marital functioning was replicated in an analysis of wives' Impatience/Irritability on men's marital functioning. The findings are consistent with a growing body of literature showing that Type A behavior should be divided into at least two components, and that it is the Impatience/Irritability dimension rather than the achievement-oriented or job-involved dimension that exerts detrimental effects on various aspects of marital functioning.