(PS5-A3) Sliding vs. Deciding: Parental Involvement in Marital Decision-making Predicts Marital Satisfaction in East Asians

The Sliding vs. Deciding theory posits that couples who make shared decisions about major relationship transitions (e.g., marriage) are more likely to experience satisfying relationships compared to couples who “slide” into relationship transitions due to external pressures (Stanley et al., 2006). However, research on couple decision-making and marital satisfaction have predominantly focused on Western populations, where cultural norms support self-driven decisions about marriage. By contrast, within East Asian societies, there is a long-standing precedent for parents to play a role in their children’s marital decisions, such as with spouse selection. As of 2020, an estimated 20 million Asians live in the United States, with 4.2 million immigrating from East Asian countries (U.S. Census Bureau, 2020). Given that East Asians are a growing population within the United States, it is important to understand how Western theories of relationship decision-making apply to this population in order to tailor culturally relevant interventions. The present study tests whether the Sliding vs. Deciding theory applies to an East Asian population by examining how parental involvement in marital decision-making predicts marital satisfaction. Participants from China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan recruited into the 2016 East Asian Social Survey (n = 4863) rated the degree to which their parents were involved in marital decision-making (1 = Very much, 4 = Not at all) and their current marital satisfaction (1 = Very satisfied, 5 = Very dissatisfied). A bivariate linear regression was conducted using SPSS v28.0.1.0. Results indicated that parental involvement in marital decision-making negatively predicted marital satisfaction [F(1, 4861) = 28.61, p < .001; R2 = 0.006]. Specifically, for every one point increase in parental involvement in marital decision-making, participants’ marital satisfaction decreased by 0.059 points (b = -.059, t = -5.35, p < .001). Overall, results corroborate the Sliding vs. Deciding literature, such that participants whose marital decisions were self-directed, as opposed to parent-directed, were more likely to report more satisfying marriages. Thus, the Sliding vs. Deciding theory seems to apply to an East Asian population, giving more generalizability to the theory and placing it within a novel cultural context. The present study highlights the importance of diversifying research on predictors of marital satisfaction among a broad range of couples in order to develop culturally-sensitive relational interventions that promote the benefits of couple agency in decision-making processes.