This study aimed to demonstrate the effects of married individuals' accurate and biased estimates of each other's personality traits (actual similarity, assumed similarity, and directional bias) on marital satisfaction. In addition, the mediating roles of partners' tolerance levels in the relationship between personality traits and marital satisfaction were examined. The study used Truth and Bias (T&B) model, which is a direct application of the Actor-Partner Interdependence-Mediation Model (APIMeM), one of the dyadic analysis approaches that allows simultaneous assessment of tracking accuracy and mean-level bias with dyadic data. The sample consisted of 476 heterosexual married couples (N= 952 individuals). The Adjective Based Personality Scale (ABPT), the Married Life Satisfaction Scale, and the Tolerance Tendency Scale were used to collect the data. The path analysis showed that the female tolerance played a mediating role between the female biased estimates of the personality traits and the female marital satisfaction. Male partner tolerance played a mediating role between male partners' biased estimates of their wives' personality traits and female and male marital satisfaction. In addition, the female tolerance level was found to play a mediator role in the effect of the male assumed similarity of their wife’s personality traits on the female marital satisfaction.
Accuracy, bias, marital satisfaction, tolerance, actor–partner interdependence mediation model.