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

The relationship between level
of religious devotion and marital
satisfaction
Amanda Caddell
Kevin Utt
Introduction
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Marriage
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Social Norm
Marital Satisfaction
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A satisfying marriage consists of
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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
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Interfaith Marriage
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Lower levels of satisfaction (Call and Heaton,
1997)
Devotion in different religions causes marital
instability. (Call and Heaton, 1997)
Hypothesis
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Hypothesis
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Similar levels of religious devotion will be
positively correlated with marital satisfaction
Rationale
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Difference in religion is related to marital
satisfaction
Participants
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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
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2 high school
47 bachelor’s degree
14 post graduate degree
3 unspecified
Demographics cont.
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Nationality
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54 United States
10 other
1 unspecified
Race
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47 Caucasian
8 African-American
4 other
6 unspecified
Measures
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Marital Satisfaction
 Short Marital Adjustment Test (SMAT)
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Relational Interaction Satisfaction Scale
(RISS)
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Measured adjustment to marriage and its satisfaction
15 items
6-point Likert scale
Measured relationship satisfaction
8 items
6-point Likert scale
Combined scores
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α = .95
Measures
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Religious Devotion
 Religious Behaviors Scale (RBS)
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Religion and Me Survey (RAMS)
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Measured levels of devotion by evaluating their actions in
regard to their religion
10 items
6-point Likert scale
Measured religious devotion by measuring how often an
individual actively applied religion to their personal life
25 items
6-point Likert scale
Combined scores
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α = .88
Perception
Religious devotion questions adjusted to reflect
spouse’s perceived devotion
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Example
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I support the church financially
My spouse supports the church financially
Combined
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α =.91
Procedure
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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 e-mail.
Procedure
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Participants completed surveys
Couples matched by code
Submitting the data sent the participant to a
debriefing page
Results Summary
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Analyses emphasized comparison of
difference in devotion and perceived devotion
of spouse
New Variable: Difference in Devotion
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= Self reported devotion score – perceived
spouse devotion score
No significant relationships found in
correlations with demographics
Correlation
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Correlation between difference in religious
devotion and marital satisfaction
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r= -.79, p<.05
Comparative Devotion
Correlation of
Satisfaction with
Difference in
Devotion
Own Devotion >
Perception of
Partner Devotion
(n=39)
Own Devotion <
Perception of
Partner Devotion
(n=22)
r= -.62, p<.01
r= +.32 (n.s.)
Conclusion
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The greater the difference in devotion, the
lower the marital satisfaction
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Specifically true for those who reported
higher levels of religious devotion
Discussion
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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
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Future studies need to examine the actual
differences between the levels of devotion in
a couple
Why do couples perceive the marriage
differently
References
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Call, V. & Heaton, T. (1997). Religious influence on
marital stability. Journal for the Scientific Study of
Religion, 36, 382-393.
Hassebrauck, M. & Fehr, B. (2002). Dimensions of
relationship quality. Personal Relationships, 9, 253270.
Reis, H. (1990). The role of intimacy in interpersonal
relations. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology,
9, 15-30.
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.