Abstract
Individuals begin their married lives with much optimism hoping that they will stay together for the rest of their lives. Yet, almost half of married couples eventually divorce. One key factor in preventing marriage dissolution is the overall upkeep of marital satisfaction. Consistent with a positive psychology perspective, characteristics such as positive traits, emotions, behaviors, and cognitions can enhance and maintain relationship happiness. Resilience, defined as the ability to recover from stressful life experiences and uphold a stable mental state in the face of stress has been found to be positively related to marital satisfaction and play a key role. However, the exact mechanism through which resilience may impact satisfaction has not been studied adequately. This study explored several factors that may impact the relationship between resilience and satisfaction: relationship maintenance behaviors, positive behaviors (showing generosity and gratitude), and self-expansion behaviors. Through an online survey, a total of 165 married individuals participated in our study. The final participants (n = 165) were aged 26-78 and were married to their partners for at least 7 years. The results showed that relationship maintenance behaviors, generosity, gratitude, and self-expansion were all significant mediators between resilience and satisfaction. These findings indicate that not only is resilience important in the satisfaction of a romantic relationship, but it can also influence satisfaction through the factors of generosity, gratitude, self-expansion, and relationship maintenance behaviors. Keywords: Resilience, generosity, gratitude, self-expansion, relationship maintenance behaviors, relationship satisfaction.