Intact and harmonious marital relationships are required not only for the mental health of the individual but also for children and thus, for the society in the broader sense. But unsatisfying and stressful marital relations lead to increased emotional disturbances and marital disruption. This study aimed to assess the role of socio-demographic, sexual relationship, marital stability, marital communication and marital conflict resolution in marital satisfaction among married individuals.

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... : The target population for this study was all heterosexual married individuals, legally bound by the state of marriage as husband and wife. Quantitative research design and a systematic sampling technique along with a simple random sampling technique were employed to select 326 households. Frequency and percentages, means, standard deviations, Pearson correlation, independent sample T-test, one-way ANOVA and hierarchical multiple linear regressions were all used to compute sample statistic. Results: In the hierarchical multiple linear regression analysis, from the socio-demographic variables, only age and occupation type predicted significantly married individuals' marital satisfaction, b= -.13, = -.08 and b= 7.37, = .09, respectively, p < .05. The result implies that age has a negative impact whereas occupation type has a positive impact on the marital satisfaction of married individuals. Sexual relationships, marital stability, marital conflict resolution, and marital communication were significant predictors of marital satisfaction, with other variables held constant, at p <.001. The most important predictors of marital satisfaction as the results of the study disclosed were sexual relationships followed by marital stability (b=.51, =.28, and b=1.04, =.27, respectively, p < .001). Together all the significant independent variables in the model accounted for 74% of the variance in married individuals' marital satisfaction and the model was significant, F (10,297) =45.83, p<.001. Conclusion: This study adds a sound, contextual and specific knowledge to the existing marriage counseling practices and theories as well so as to enhance or reduce risk factors for married individuals' marital satisfaction. 8 Adjustment Scale developed in reference to an American sample poses the frequency of kissing as an aspect of marital satisfaction, but Shek and Cheung [4] reported that kissing is not a sign of marital satisfaction in China. Similarly, Lee and Ono [5] suggest that a good marriage in Japan is commonly understood as one in which the husband works and the wife does not, while the husband's ability to support his wife is not as important in the conception of a good marriage in the United States. These contextual differences raise the challenge of developing measures of marital satisfaction that are relevant to a particular context, while also allowing for comparison across contexts. Studies have shown that marital satisfaction is not so easily achieved [6] due to a wide range of both psychosocial and socio-demographic factors that could affect husband's and wife's behavior, thinking, feelings, communication and other interpersonal interactions in marriage needed to be taken into account when assessing satisfaction in marriage. The scholars found different variables such as age, length of marriage, education, employment status, number of marriages [7]; gender [e.g. 7,8,9], absence/number of children [e.g.7,10], relationship status [e.g. 11,12], personality traits [e.g.13,14,15], attachment [e.g.16,17] and psychological problems [e.g. 18,19] to be associated with relationship satisfaction Researches on marital satisfaction report significant dissimilarity between genders. In one study using a large sample from 1980 to 2000 concluded that wives reported a lower level of marital happiness than husbands [20] . Similarly, Basat [21] and Jose and Alfons [7] demonstrated that women report more marital problems than men, meaning that women tend to report lower relationship satisfaction than men. Additionally, Guo and Huang [22] showed men's level of relationship satisfaction to be higher than women's relationship satisfaction among married people. On the other hand, Renaud, Byers, & Pan [8] stated that men and women do not differ in their relationship satisfaction. In a similar way, Christensen et al. [23] also showed that gender is not a significant predictor for relationship satisfaction. Some researchers, such as Jose and Alfons [7] found that age has a negative impact on relationship satisfaction. The authors indicated that older individuals gain less satisfaction from their relationships. On the other hand, some researchers, such as Argyle and Furnham [24] have asserted that older individuals tend to report greater satisfaction from their relationships. However, Hill [25] indicated that there is no relationship between age and relationship satisfaction. Like other socio-demographic variables, the association between relationship duration and satisfaction has been investigated by researchers. The study conducted by Moore, McCabe, and Brink [26] among dating, cohabiting and married individuals indicated that the longer individuals had been in their relationships, the higher the level of relationship satisfaction they experienced. On the contrary, Jose and Alfons [7] demonstrated that the length of marriage was negatively associated with relationship satisfaction. Similarly, the study conducted by Kurdek [27] showed that individuals reported a reduction in their relationship satisfaction over time. In addition to the socio-demographic variables, psychosocial variables like sexual satisfaction, marital communication, marital conflict resolution, and marital stability have also affected married individuals' marital satisfaction. A longitudinal study that has been administered with 283 married couples and assessed the relationship between sexual satisfaction, relationship quality, and relationship instability [28] . The authors demonstrated that higher sexual satisfaction resulted in the improvement of relationship quality in terms of happiness and satisfaction. Other researches have also revealed that there was a positive relationship between marital satisfaction and marital stability [29] . Couples' communication is a very important and fundamental factor in understanding the couple's satisfying relationship [30] , and which determines couples' conflict resolution abilities. Different studies reveal that in marital relationship hostile or demanding communication behavior leads towards conflict and then to relationship dissatisfaction [31]. The essential to success in marriage is how couples handle their conflicts and differences. Kurdek [32] has found that each spouse's marital satisfaction is positively associated with the frequency with which each spouse uses constructive strategies to resolve conflicts, such as agreement, compromise, and humor. Like in most of the continents and countries of the world marital breakdown is also growing in Ethiopia and in Addis Ababa in particular. Data obtained from Addis Ababa City Administration Vital Events and Residents Service indicates that the relationship between couples is becoming fragile, and marriage breakdown is alarmingly increasing. If contributing factors to making or breaking the couple's relationships are not investigated and reported to stakeholders, the subsequent effect of marriage breakdown will continue hampering families and communities in general and younger children of the divorced parents in particular. To this end, this paper contributes to the expansion of research on marital satisfaction into non-Western contexts by exploring the determinants of marital satisfaction in Ethiopia. The expansion of research into non-Western contexts provides the following new opportunities. First, it presents an opportunity to examine how aspects of marital relationship variables that are not common in Western contexts influence marital satisfaction. For example, a study from Cameroon examines how polygamy shapes marital satisfaction [33] . Similarly, studies from China examine how participation in the choice of one's spouse and parent's approval of spouses shapes the experience of marital satisfaction [34, 35] . Second, the expansion into non-Western contexts provides the opportunity to examine how universal determinants of marital satisfaction play out differently or similarly in other contexts. Therefore, based