Factors Associated with Marital Conflict for Baby Boomers in South Korea

Using data from the 2010 National Survey of Korean Families (NSKF), we investigated factors associated with marital conflict for baby boomers in South Korea. Korean baby boomers are those born during the post-Korean War period from 1955 to 1963. OLS regression examined the marital conflict of these couples. Baby boomer couples reported that they experienced occasional marital conflict; subsequently individual and family level variables explained 15% of baby boomers’ marital conflict. The key findings were that satisfaction in spousal communication was negatively associated with conflict for baby boomer couples. However, the existence of unmarried adult children was positively associated with baby boomers’ marital conflict. Work and family balance was also negatively associated with marital conflict. We found that the more satisfied with communication with the spouse, the fewer unmarried adult children, and the more work and family balance the couple maintained, the less marital conflict these baby boomers experienced.

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