| Doctoral students are faced with numerous stressors, including academics, marriage, career, raising children, and other physical and psychological health factors. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of perceived social support and perceived stress on marital satisfaction in doctoral students. The sample consisted of 507 married doctoral students. The questionnaire consisted of demographic variables, including age, number of years married, gender, number and age of children, and questions from the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, Perceived Stress Scale, and Index of Marital Satisfaction. Using Sidney Cobb's theory of social support, it was hypothesized that marital satisfaction would have a positive relationship with perceived social support and an inverse relationship with perceived stress. It was additionally hypothesized that females would report higher levels of perceived stress, lowered levels of perceived social support, and lower levels of marital satisfaction than males. Bivariate correlation analysis and multiple regression were utilized to analyze the data to determine significant correlations and to examine the effect of independent variables. Results supported the hypotheses, although no significant gender differences were found with perceived social support. An inverse relationship between perceived social support and perceived stress was found, providing evidence for the positive effects of perceived social support. The addition of support groups within the university setting may facilitate social change by allowing students an additional outlet for coping with stress that may, in turn, positively affect their perceived social support and consequently improve marital relationships. |
