Although gender role attitude is a multidimensional phenomenon, only a limited number of studies has been directed at understanding its diversity stereoscopically in terms of family studies. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify patterns of gender role attitude among middle-aged Koreans and to investigate the differences on martial quality between patterns. For the analysis, the Third National Survey of Korean Families was utilized and married individuals aged 40 to 59 were analyzed (N=3,704). Using Mplus 7.3, a latent profile analysis (LPA) was adopted to identify latent profiles of gender role attitude. Then, using SPSS 23, the analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) with post-hoc tests was used to analyze the differences on both marital satisfaction and marital conflict between patterns. A latent profile analysis of self-reported gender role attitudes identified three such patterns: the most egalitarian (33%), the modest egalitarian (48%), and the least egalitarian (19%). The classes resulting from the LPA were significantly related to martial satisfaction but not to marital conflict; those individuals with the most egalitarian gender role attitude pattern reported higher levels of marital satisfaction than those individuals with the least egalitarian gender role attitude pattern. The results of this study imply that more egalitarian gender role attitude contributes to increasing marital satisfaction but not decreasing marital conflict and that, its findings may be useful in the field of marriage and family therapy to develop educational programs that seek to improve marital satisfaction in midlife.
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