Levels of Religious Devotion and Impacts on Marital Satisfaction

ABSTRACT

Despite recent trends toward religious non-affiliation, having a religious identity despite varying levels of religious activity, is still the norm in America. The increased prevalence of interfaith marriages within this changing cultural landscape leads to questions about any contribution this phenomena may have toward marital dissatisfaction and escalating American divorce rates. This study examined the role of religiosity in spouses’ marital satisfaction and affect. The associations between spousal religiosity and behavior and marital satisfaction were examined in a sample of 142 married couples in Southeast Texas along with demographic information. In this cross-sectional study, self-reported individual relationship data obtained through use of the ENRICH survey and Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiosity/Spirituality was analyzed to determine the relationship between the variants to identify any existent religious trends within clustered samples determined by Fowers and Olsen’s 5 couple types (1993). Religious identification (denominational) difference appeared as a secondary factor to dissimilar levels of religious devotion in correlation with lower levels of marital satisfaction. The results revealed a significant negative relationship between subscales of marital satisfaction in devitalized and conflicted couples and both religious behavioral expectations of partners and religious activity. Devitalized couples, having the highest occurrence of divorce, can be effectively approached in intervention and counseling efforts by addressing religiosity as a factor holistically with conflict containment strategies, decision making, intimacy, and communication subcategories.