Marital responsiveness and well-being among retired Arab couples: a dyadic response surface analysis

Abstract This study explores the relationships among perceived marital responsiveness, life satisfaction, and marital quality among retired Arab couples, a context that remains largely understudied in non-Western collectivist societies compared with Western societies. The participants were 108 retired heterosexual Arab couples in Israel (216 participants; husbands’ mean age = 70.31 years, wives’ mean age = 65.07 years, mean marital duration = 43.58 years) who completed a survey assessing perceived marital responsiveness, life satisfaction, and marital quality. Using dyadic response surface analysis (DRSA), this study examined both individual and dyadic associations of perceived responsiveness with life satisfaction and marital quality, providing a nuanced understanding of marital dynamics after retirement. The findings indicated that both individual and partner responsiveness were associated with life satisfaction and marital quality among husbands and wives. In contrast to prior research, dyadic similarity in perceived responsiveness was not significantly associated with either life satisfaction or marital quality. These findings highlight the importance of individual perceptions of responsiveness over dyadic similarity, particularly within the collectivist cultural framework of Arab society. Drawing on family systems theory, this study offers new insights into the interplay between emotional support and cultural expectations in shaping relationship quality after retirement.