Can Religion and Spirituality Enhance Prevention Programs for Couples?

An estimated 4.54 to 5.92 billion people (68.08 % to 88.74 % of the world’s population) profess some religious faith (List of religious populations, 2010). Belief in God and prayer are also commonplace; in the USA, for instance, 92 % of people believe in God (U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, 2008), and approximately 90 % pray at least occasionally (McCullough & Larson, 1999). Notwithstanding these facts, social scientists have tended to keep “their distance from religion and spirituality ” (Hill & Pargament, 2003, p. 65) and this is especially true regarding the role of religious and spiritual resources in the prevention of couple and family problems or best practices for the promotion of couple and family strengths (Ladd & Spilka, vol 1; Mahoney, 2010). The present chapter addresses this omission by examining how spirituality/religion influences marital relationships. We focus in particular on colloquial, petitionary prayer to illustrate how specific religious and spiritual practices may be helpful in the prevention of marital distress and in strengthening marital relationships. Conceptual hygiene In turning to our task, we need to be clear about the overarching constructs of religion and spirituality and the more specific construct of prayer. As reflected throughout this handbook, it has become increasingly common to distinguish religion from spirituality (for more complete discussion, see Volume 1, Chapter 1). Specifically, religion is often used to refer to a more formalized set of ideological commitments associated with a group (i.e., an organized system of beliefs, rituals, and cumulative traditions within a faith community), whereas spirituality is often used to refer to the personal and more subjective side of religious experienc