Across the world, millions of couples get married each year. One of the strongest predictors of whether partners will remain in their relationship is their reported satisfaction. Marital satisfaction is commonly found to be a key predictor of both individual and relational well-being. Despite its importance in predicting relationship longevity, there are relatively few empirical research studies examining predictors of marital satisfaction outside of a Western context. To address this gap in the literature and complete the existing knowledge about global predictors of marital satisfaction, we used an open-access database of self-reported assessments of self-reported marital satisfaction with data from 7178 participants representing 33 different countries. The results showed that sex, age, religiosity, economic status, education, and cultural values were related, to various extents, to marital satisfaction across cultures. However, marriage duration, number of children, and gross domestic product (GDP) were not found to be predictors of marital satisfaction for countries represented in this sample. While 96% of the variance of marital satisfaction was attributed to individual factors, only 4% was associated with countries. Together, the results show that individual differences have a larger influence on marital satisfaction compared to the country of origin. Findings are discussed in terms of the advantages of conducting studies on large cross-cultural samples.
Wine tourism in rural territories, sometimes organised along wine routes, increasingly attracts visitors, tourism agents, wine producers and those responsible for developing rural territories. Wine tourism is located at the intersection of two distinct business sectors: the agribusiness-oriented wine production and the hedonic service/experience-oriented tourism activity. From the tourism perspective, the visitor experience is paramount and requires an understanding of its nature, conditioning factors and possible outcomes. This study analyses tourist experiences of the Bairrada wine route/Portugal, as reported by regional visitors on TripAdvisor. Results reveal not only the overall quite positive evaluation of these experiences, but also the importance of the aesthetic and educational experience dimensions, when applying Pine and Gilmore’s consumer experience framework. Diverse experience contexts contribute to a rich terroir experiencescape, where contents are far from limited to wine, wine cellars or wineries. These contexts seem to be connected distinctly to diverse experience dimensions, whose analysis should help regional developers understand the role of core resources and conditions for attracting, satisfying and delighting visitors. Additional understanding of the relationship between experience dimensions and outcomes, namely satisfaction and destination loyalty, should further help develop wine destinations more successfully.
1 March 2022 in Advances in Hospitality and Tourism Research (AHTR)
This paper addresses the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on wine route related rural tourism along two Portuguese wine routes, as perceived by agents of supply on those routes. Discourses from 47 interviews are subjected to content analysis, considering impact perception and crisis management approaches. The results highlight COVID-19’s impacts on wine tourism businesses, including financial losses, negative emotions and systemic effects, the latter illustrating the chain of adverse effects caused by COVID-19. Many uncoordinated strategies employed to cope with the pandemic are noted. The research suggests that perceived impacts of COVID-19 relate to business profiles, to the regional context, to the stage of the crisis and specific strategies adopted. The theoretical and practical implications for future tourism management, especially in the context of wine and rural tourism, as well as sustainable tourism, are discussed, including the need for social capital creation, partnership work and product development through innovation.
1 February 2022 in Journal of Environmental Psychology
Certain behaviors, especially when adopted by a majority, can help limit the magnitude of climate change. In this cross-sectional study, the stages of change from the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) are applied to environmentally-significant behavior. We develop and test a new scale – the Climate Change Stages of Change Questionnaire (CCSOCQ) – for measuring five discrete stages involved in changing behavior to address climate change (precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance). In total, 3,469 middle-school students (Mage = 13.4) and 347 schoolteachers completed the CCSOCQ and a measure of engagement with sustainable development. Analyses indicated the CCSOCQ captured the five stages outlined by the TTM and had adequate psychometric properties. Further supporting predictions of the TTM, engagement with sustainable development was lowest in the precontemplation stage and highest in the action stage. We conclude the TTM has potential for describing how and why people alter their behavior to address climate change. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2021.1998382 .