Homogamia de Valores e Felicidade Marital no Brasil

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between homogamy of values and marital happiness in Brazil. The first goal is to deeply analyze the concept of homogamy of values, either in terms of structure and in its dimensionality. The second goal is to investigate the association between homogamy of values and marital happiness, since the literature points out that couples similar preferences and shared values create a potential of conflict reduction, which may lead to a maximization of marital happiness. The third and final goal is to identify, based on available data, which are the main determinants of marital happiness in Brazil. The data used were from the World Values Survey (WVS) for the year 1991. This database is the only one which was compatible with the proposal of this dissertation. Among the key findings, it is worth highlighting that there is a strong positive association between homogamy of values and marital happiness, beyond the fact that the homogamy of values is a valid concept and can be used as another marital selectivity attribute. Among the determinants of marital happiness in Brazil, the results showed that the older, the men, those with any religion, those less educated and those which are married have higher levels of marital happiness