Perceived congruency of goals as predictors of marital satisfaction and adjustment in retirement

Current literature does not adequately address how marital dynamics are related to retirement adjustment. Instead of looking only at how marital status is associated with retirement adjustment, it would be more informative to examine specific marital dynamics such as the congruence and agreement on retirement goals. This study is an effort to examine the importance of the perception of goal congruity between spouses in retirement and how incongruence affects marital satisfaction and retirement adjustment. A convenience sample of 46 participants, including 16 couples and 14 individuals, were interviewed. All had been married for at least 25 years, and retired between 6 months and 5 years. Data from 30 unrelated persons were used the 14 individuals (7 males and 7 females) and a member from each couple was randomly drawn to obtain equal numbers of males and females (N=30, men=15, women=15). Results suggest that goal congruency is a significant factor in determining retirement adjustment and the level of marital disputes, but does not seem to have a direct relationship with marital satisfaction as expected. The relationship between the perception of goal congruency and marital satisfaction may be mediated by level of marital disputes.