Religious Faith and Transformational Processes in Marriage (original) (raw)
The Role of Religiosity in Intimate Relationships
European Journal of Mental Health
In this study, we aimed to review the literature on the relationship between religiosity and intimate relationship functioning. Since religious approaches put the relationship and the life of the couple in a broader perspective and give it a special character, religiosity may have a significant influence on the relationship of religious couples. Scientific research in recent years has widely confirmed the long-standing observation that religiosity is manifested in the relationship of religious couples, and this is reflected in both positive and negative aspects. In a positive context, religiosity plays a supportive role in relationships and has a positive effect on the stability and quality of the relationship as well as on the physical and psychological well-being of the couple and other family members. We present three theoretical frameworks which, in the past few years, have greatly contributed to understanding the effects of religiosity on relationships and facilitated the clarification of the diverse context of the topic. These are 1) the role of sanctification 2) marital relationship as a way of being religious and 3) marriage and religiosity as attachment-based phenomena. As a conclusion, we evaluate the major strengths and biases of the existing research, and theorize and suggest future domains for investigation.
Spouse's Religious Commitment and Marital Quality: Clarifying the Role of Gender
Objective. Research on religion and marriage consistently finds a positive association between spousal religious commitment and more positive marital outcomes. But findings regarding the moderating influence of gender on this relationship have been mixed. This article clarifies whether returns to marital quality from having a devout spouse are greater for married women or men. Method. Drawing on data from the nationally representative 2006 Portraits of American Life Study, and utilizing 12 different measures of marital quality, I estimate ordinary least squares (OLS) and logistic regression models to test my hypotheses. Results. In analyses of the full sample, spouse's religious commitment generally predicts positive marital outcomes, net of controls for respondents' gender as well as their religious and sociodemographic characteristics. However, when models are estimated for women and men separately, the returns to marital quality from having a religiously committed spouse are much stronger and more consistent for women than for men. Conclusions. Findings suggest that, ceteris paribus, having a spouse who is more religious predicts positive marriage outcomes, but women benefit from having a religiously committed spouse more than men do. Possible explanations are discussed.
Religion mediated by commit and inequality on marital quality
A growing body of evidence documents positive contribution of religious and spiritual involvement (religiousness) to marital quality (MQ). Yet, historically religion produces inequality via traditionalism in household labor that limits the wife’s access to economic, educational, and social resources thus supposedly negatively affects MQ. To that end using the relational spirituality framework the purpose of this study was to examine a model assessing the effects of spouses’ religiousness on MQ as mediated by the intervening variables of commitment (as positive) and equality (as negative). Several small to medium sizes direct, indirect, and total effects were found to explain the relationships under investigation. Seven hypothesis testing results revealed that effects of religiousness on MQ are mediated by commitment positively for both seses, it did not have a meaningful mediation effect by equality neither for men or women, suggesting that not equality, but other processes explain variability in individual levels of MQ. Therapists, social workers, and clergy working with couples may benefit from educating their clients about how effects of religious participation may influence marital relationship quality.
Religious commitment, adult attachment, and marital adjustment in newly married couples
Journal of Family Psychology, 2011
Existing literature on the role of religiosity in marital functioning is often difficult to interpret due to the frequent use of convenience samples, statistical approaches inadequate for interdependent dyadic data, and the lack of a theoretical framework. The current study examined the effects of religious commitment and insecure attachment on marital adjustment. Newly married couples who did not have children (N = 92 couples, 184 individuals) completed measures of religious commitment, adult attachment, and marital functioning. There was a small positive association between religious commitment and marital adjustment. Religious commitment buffered the negative association between attachment avoidance and marital adjustment, but exacerbated the negative association between attachment anxiety and marital adjustment.
Studies examining the persistent link between religion and martial quality have focused exclusively on religion's within-marriage influence on spousal attitudes and behaviors. The current study shifts the focus to examine how religion's influence on premarital choices holds potential returns to marital quality, and under what conditions of spousal religiosity. Utilizing data from the 2006 Portraits of American Life Study, I examine how several key measures of marriage quality are affected by religious influences on the marriage decision; the religious commitment of one's spouse; and interactions between these two factors. Multivariate analyses reveal that religion's influence on the marriage decision does not directly predict respondents' relationship-satisfaction or their spouse's loving or hurtful behaviors, while the importance of religion to one's spouse is strongly associated with all these marital outcomes. Interaction effects reveal that spouse's religiosity does not greatly influence marital quality among persons whose marriage decision was uninfluenced by religion. However, among persons for whom religion figured prominently in their marriage decision, those with less-religious spouses experienced negative marital outcomes, while those with more-religious spouses reported positive marital outcomes. Pre-marriage religious influences thus predict higher marital quality under the conditions that persons for whom religion greatly influenced their marriagedecision are able to marry religiously-committed spouses.
Journal of Family Issues, 2012
This article explores the relationship between religiosity, denominational homogamy, religiosity homogamy, and marital adjustment. Using a statewide sample of spouses in first marriages (N = 1,394) and remarriages (N = 601), the authors find that within-group differences in religiosity, denominational homogamy, and religiosity homogamy are not as prevalent for spouses in remarriages. Overall, husbands and wives in first marriages who are very religious have significantly higher marital adjustment scores than spouses who are less religious. Similarly, husbands and wives in first marriages who share the same religious denomination report higher marital adjustment scores than spouses who report different denominations. For spouses in both first marriages and remarriages, those who report that they are "both religious" have higher marital adjustment scores than spouses where both partners are not religious, or where only the wife is religious. Possible reasons for Downloaded from Schramm et al.
Marital Commitment and Religiosity in a Sample of Adults in Utah
2005
This study examined the relationship of three types of martial commitment and religiosity factors in a random sample of I ,316 Utah adults. Participants were surveyed to assess attitudes of marriage, divorce, and marriage education. A lack of commitment was cited by 83% of divorced adults as a major factor for their divorce. The level of commitment to spouse, commitment to marriage, and constraint commitment was determined by extrapolating items from the 2003 Utah Marriage Movement Statewide Baseline Survey. Religiosity included measures of the frequency of church attendance, church affiliation, and religious values. Regression analyses that included socio-demographics showed the strongest and most consistent predictor of commitment to spouse and commitment to marriage was religious values. This study confirms the distinct difference but strong interplay between the three types of marital commitment. There was a negative relationship between both commitment to spouse and commitment ...
Marriage as a Spiritual Discipline: Principles and Benefits
2014
Christians use spiritual disciplines such as prayer, fasting, and journaling as methods to enhance their relationship with God. However, Christian rates of divorce are not different than the United States average where more than one in three first marriages ends in divorce. This is despite a Christian belief that marriage is a special relationship. The rate of divorce among Christians should be reduced. Marriage can be practiced as a spiritual discipline that will benefit the relationship as well as yielding sought after spirituality. Marriage as a spiritual discipline would help couples increase marital satisfaction, thus driving down the divorce rate. A survey on marriage attitudes and needs given to random adults will expose areas of marital agreement and discord. Principles of practicing marriage as a spiritual practice can be shown through survey, case studies, and analysis of existing data.
The Influence of Religiosity on Marital Satisfaction
Journal of Social Sciences, 2008
The following research sought to examine the relationship between a married individual's religiosity level and its impact upon his or her level of marital satisfaction. Findings in this connection can help strengthen families 660 heterosexually heterosexually couples from Tehran were studied multistage using cluster sampling. Information regarding religiosity and marital satisfaction was collected using the researcher's prepared questionnaire and ENRICH marital satisfaction scale. The results showed that heterosexually heterosexually couples who observe religious beliefs have higher rate of marital satisfaction. Thus, there is a significant correlation between religiosity and marital satisfaction. Considering the relation between religiosity and nine subscales of marital satisfaction, Communication Parenting and religious orientation account for the highest rate of religiosity and sexual relationship accounts for the lowest rate of religiosity. Thus, with the increase in religiosity, marital satisfaction rate will increase and vice versa. It can be concluded that religiosity develops the grounds for marital commitment.
This study was focused on revealing the effects of religiousness on marital satisfaction, and also to test the mediator role of perceived marital problem solving between religiousness and marital satisfaction relationship in a Turkish sample. Subjects were 92 married couples, or a total of 184 participants. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that after controlling for the variance accounted for by the control variables, namely duration of marriage, marital style, educational level, hopelessness, and submissive acts; religiousness had a major effect on marital satisfaction, but a mediator role of problem solving was not observed.