Personality Traits and Marital Adjustment: Interaction between Intra and Interpersonal Aspects

Abstract Personality characteristics have been evaluated due to the reflexes that they provoke in the conjugal satisfaction and adjustment. The objective of this study was to evaluate the actor-partner effects of personality traits on the conjugal adjustment of heterosexual couples. The study, quantitative and explanatory, evaluated 231 couples from different cities of Rio Grande do Sul. Respondents completed the Socio-demographic questionnaire, the Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale and the Personality Adjectives Marker scale. The data was analyzed using the Latent Traits Model. The results indicate that socialization, neuroticism and achievement factors have an effect on the marital adjustment of husbands and wives. There is a partner effect on the wives’ neuroticism factor and on the husbands’ achievement factor. The extroversion and openness factors do not provoke actor-partner effects on the adjustment of the couples. The results are discussed in the light of other studies and research agendas are suggested.