Abstract

Based upon data from "Taiwan Social Change Survey", the "family group" questionnaire data of the second time in the fifth period in 2006, conducted by Academia Sinica , Republic of China, the purpose of this study is to explore gender differences on family decision-making and marital satisfaction. The research samples are married people over 18 years old in Taiwan. The quantitative methods with descriptive statistics and linear regression are used in the paper. Of which, family decision-makings are divided by three parts, namely, parenting, household expenditure allocation and expensive household items purchasing.

The results show that the marital satisfactions of both men and women are found as high as 80% and more, and the male marital satisfaction is higher than that of female. The factors affecting marital satisfaction for married men include “class”, “family economy difference between the two sides”, “family decision-making”. The men who feel to belong to “upper class” and dominate to purchase high-value household decision-making, their marital satisfaction are higher. While the men whose family economic situations are better than woman side and leading parenting decisions show lower marital satisfaction. On the other hand, the factors affecting women's marital satisfaction are “age” and “family decision-making”, the younger the women, their marital satisfaction are higher. When the wives are the key decision makers for their children education, their marital satisfactions are lower.

The regression analysis shows that “family decision-making”, especially in child upbringing aspect, is an important factor of marital satisfaction. While buying high-priced household goods only influences male’s marital satisfaction, household expenditure allocation does not significantly influence the marital satisfaction.