A Marriage Between Two Perceptions: How Spirituality and Perceived Similarity Between Husbands and Wives Impacts Marital Satisfaction

This study explored the incremental validity of spirituality in predicting marital satisfaction in heterosexual couples in the United States over and above FFM personality. Specifically, the current study investigated the incremental validity of similarity and the perception of similarity between spouses on spirituality measures in predicting marital satisfaction over and above personality. In addition, this quantitative study examined the strength of the relationship between spirituality (religious commitment and faith maturity) and marital satisfaction, as well as explored the difference between husbands and wives on marital satisfaction, faith maturity and religious commitment partialling out the influence of personality. Marital satisfaction was measured using the ENRICH three couple scales of Satisfaction, Communication, and Conflict Resolution. Spirituality was measured using the Faith Maturity Scale and the Religious Commitment Inventory-10. Personality was measured using the Mini-International Personality Item Pool. The study sample included 362 married heterosexual couples for a total of 724 participants, ranging in age from 20 to 78 with an average length in marriage of 13.40 years. Participants represented over three dozen religious affiliations. Analysis indicated that similarity on spirituality measures showed incremental significance in predicting marital satisfaction even when controlling for personality, although the contribution was greater for perceived similarity (8%) than for reported similarity (2%) on spirituality. The results also indicated that there is a positive correlational relationship between spirituality and marital satisfaction. The study did find that the statistically significant difference between men and women for marital satisfaction, faith maturity, and religious commitment was found non-significant when personality was controlled for.