SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING AND MARITAL COMMITMENT AMONG HUSBANDS AND WIVES IN GAPAN CITY, NUEVA ECIJA Mark Allan C. Mananggit 1 NixonV. Agaser 2 1 Former Undergraduate Thesis , Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, Central Luzon State University, Science City of Munoz, Nueva Ecija, Philippines 2 Thesis Adviser, Faculty of the Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, Central Luzon State University, Science City of Munoz, Nueva Ecija, Philippines ABSTRACT Subjective well-being (SWB) is the scientific name for how people evaluate their lives. Marital commitment (MC) is the desire not only to remain in the relationship, but also to care and to take responsibility for it. SWB, marital commitment and perceived marital commitment (PMC) among husbands and wives in Gapan City, Nueva Ecija were determined in this study. By means of quantitative method of research, the study concludes that husbands and wives have high level of SWB (which is exemplify by high levels of positive affect, marital satisfaction, family satisfaction and life satisfaction and low level of negative affect), high level of MC as well as PMC. Marital commitment, perceived marital commitment and some components of SWB were also found to be significant correlates of the respondents' age, monthly income, length of marriage and highest educational attainment. Also, MC and PMC were also found to have a significant relationship to all components of SWB. Moreover, gender differences on the level of SWB, MC and PMC were not found. Keywords: Subjective Well-Being, Marital Commitment, Husbands and Wives INTRODUCTION Subjective well-being (SWB) is the scientific name for how people evaluate their lives (Diener, 1997). According to Kesebir and Diener (2008), people can evaluate their lives in terms of global judgments such as life satisfaction or feelings of fulfillment, in terms of evaluating the domain in their lives such as marriage or work, or in terms of their on going emotional feelings of what is happening to them which is the feeling pleasant emotion and levels of unpleasant feelings. Among couples, the roles of both husbands and wives have something to do with their subjective well-being. In investigating SWB, evaluation in domain satisfaction is one of the needs. Marriage is considered a domain of one’s life. According to Fower (2006), marriage is a sharing of vision of the good life, building a partnership to achieve important life goals and working to develop the personal virtues that will sustain the partnership of both individuals. In addition, marriage is the source of satisfaction in the life of both individuals who engaged with it (Swenson, 2005). The status of marital relationship can only truly be determined by strength of one’s commitment and dedication (Fower, 2006). Commitment is the state of being bound emotionally or intellectually to a course of action or to another person or persons (Smith, 2004). Focusing on commitment on marriage or marital commitment. Stanley and Markman (1992) view marital commitment as encompassing two related constructs: personal dedication and constraint commitment. Personal dedication refers to the desire of an individual to maintain or improve the quality of his or her relationship for the joint benefit of each other. Constraint commitment refers to forces that constrain individuals to maintain relationships regardless of their personal dedication to them. In this paper, the focus is to know the relation between marital commitment and subjective well-being of husbands and wives in Gapan City, Nueva Ecija. Moreover, the study aims to know the level of marital commitment and perceived marital commitment of these husbands and wives. Furthermore, it will investigate the relationship on the husbands and wives’ socio -