Relationship satisfaction among Turkish and British adults

We tested three theories (adult attachment, autonomy/relatedness, and gender roles) to understand relationship satisfaction among 150 British and 170 Turkish adults, all involved in romantic relationships. Avoidance, relatedness, autonomy–relatedness, and masculinity mediated the relationship between culture and romantic relationship satisfaction. Additionally, as anticipated, Turkish participants scored lower on relationship satisfaction and autonomy whereas British participants scored lower on avoidance and relatedness. Contrary to expectation, gender role differences (differences between masculinity and femininity) in the United Kingdom were not significantly smaller than in Turkey. It is concluded that adult attachment provides a useful framework for understanding country-level differences.

Research highlights► We test three theories to examine relationship satisfaction among British and Turkish adults. ► Avoidance, autonomy–relatedness, and masculinity mediate the relationship between culture and relationship satisfaction. ► The strongest mediator is avoidant attachment. ► Cultural differences in avoidance, autonomy, relatedness, and relationship satisfaction are found.