Personality profiles, life satisfaction and gender-role ideology among couples in late adulthood: The Israeli case

The study examined personality profiles (self-esteem, anxiety, and tolerance for ambiguity) among Israeli spouses in late adulthood (128 Israeli husbands and 128 wives). Three dyadic profiles were found: homogeneous-adaptive (high self-esteem, low anxiety, and high tolerance for ambiguity for both spouses); homogeneous-maladaptive (low self-esteem, high anxiety, and low tolerance for ambiguity for both spouses); and heterogeneous-complementary (high self-esteem, low anxiety, and high tolerance for ambiguity for husbands; opposite rankings for wives). Most of the couples were found to have similar individual personality profiles. Moreover, the three dyadic profiles were validated as distinguishing between life satisfaction and gender-role ideology. Homogeneous-adaptive participants were characterized by greater life satisfaction than the other two groups, whereas the homogeneous-maladaptive participants were characterized by more traditional gender-role attitudes. Additionally, we found that the husbands were more satisfied with life than the wives, whereas the wives espoused a more egalitarian gender-role ideology than did their husbands.