The relationship between level of religious devotion and marital satisfaction Amanda Caddell Kevin Utt

Introduction Marriage  Social Norm  Marital Satisfaction A satisfying marriage consists of  Emotional Support (Reis, 1990)  Intimacy (Hassebrauck & Fehr, 2002)  Shared Values and Beliefs (Swann, De La Ronde, and Hixon, 1994)  Religion is an institution that directs and influences people’s values and beliefs

Introduction Interfaith Marriage  Lower levels of satisfaction (Call and Heaton, 1997)  Devotion in different religions causes marital instability. (Call and Heaton, 1997)

Hypothesis  Similar levels of religious devotion will be positively correlated with marital satisfaction Rationale  Difference in religion is related to marital satisfaction

Participants Obtained through internet site Demographics  50 females and 15 males  Ages 18 to 50(mean=32.12)  Married (mean=7.78 years)  Highest level of education 2 high school 47 bachelor’s degree 14 post graduate degree 3 unspecified

Demographics cont. Nationality  54 United States  10 other  1 unspecified Race  47 Caucasian  8 African-American  4 other  6 unspecified

Measures Marital Satisfaction  Short Marital Adjustment Test (SMAT) Measured adjustment to marriage and its satisfaction 15 items 6-point Likert scale  Relational Interaction Satisfaction Scale (RISS) Measured relationship satisfaction 8 items 6-point Likert scale  Combined scores α =.95

Measures Religious Devotion  Religious Behaviors Scale (RBS) Measured levels of devotion by evaluating their actions in regard to their religion 10 items 6-point Likert scale  Religion and Me Survey (RAMS) Measured religious devotion by measuring how often an individual actively applied religion to their personal life 25 items 6-point Likert scale  Combined scores α =.88

Perception Religious devotion questions adjusted to reflect spouse’s perceived devotion  Example I support the church financially My spouse supports the church financially  Combined α =.91

Procedure Study was posted on an Internet website. Contacted list owners/moderators on Yahoo groups to distribute the website to the list members. Churches were contacted via .

Procedure Participants completed surveys Couples matched by code Submitting the data sent the participant to a debriefing page

Results Summary Analyses emphasized comparison of difference in devotion and perceived devotion of spouse New Variable: Difference in Devotion  = Self reported devotion score – perceived spouse devotion score No significant relationships found in correlations with demographics

Correlation Correlation between difference in religious devotion and marital satisfaction  r= -.79, p<.05

Comparative Devotion Own Devotion > Perception of Partner Devotion (n=39) Own Devotion < Perception of Partner Devotion (n=22) Correlation of Satisfaction with Difference in Devotion r= -.62, p<.01r= +.32 (n.s.)

Conclusion The greater the difference in devotion, the lower the marital satisfaction Specifically true for those who reported higher levels of religious devotion

Discussion Spouses perceive marriage differently if they differ in devotion People who reported more devotion than spouse may be different types of people than those who reported lower levels of devotion.

Future Research Future studies need to examine the actual differences between the levels of devotion in a couple Why do couples perceive the marriage differently

References Call, V. & Heaton, T. (1997). Religious influence on marital stability. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 36, Hassebrauck, M. & Fehr, B. (2002). Dimensions of relationship quality. Personal Relationships, 9, Reis, H. (1990). The role of intimacy in interpersonal relations. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 9, Swann, W., De La Ronde, Chris, & Hixon, J. (1994). Authenticity and positivity strivings in marriage and courtship. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 5.