A Relational Approach to Religion and Spirituality in Marriage: The Role of Couples' Religious Communication in Marital Satisfaction

Using a relational model of religion and spirituality in marriage, the role of individual relationship with God, couple's joint religious communication, and forgiveness were examined as predictors of marital satisfaction. Data from 342 heterosexual married couples were analyzed using an actor partner interdependence model and path analyses. Results indicate that one's individual relationship with God is important to marital quality indirectly as it appears to manifest itself in religious communication between partners, which in turn is directly linked to martial quality. Also, one's own forgiveness and forgiveness of the spouse are both positively linked to marital quality, whereas one's tendency not to forgive and one's spouse's tendency not to forgive are both detrimental to marital quality. Finally, joint religious communication is more strongly associated with marital satisfaction among mixed-faith couples than same-faith couples.