The Effect of Congruent Religious Orientations and Problem Solving Styles on Marital Satisfaction in Religious Couples

This study explores the effect of congruent religious orientations, religious problem-solving styles, and marital stress on the marital satisfaction of religious couples. Based on social exchange theory, couples who were congruent in their religious orientation were expected to evince higher marital satisfaction when compared with couples who endorsed incongruent religious orientations. Moreover, this congruent orientation was expected to mediate marital stress. Congruent styles of religious problem-solving were also predicted to mediate marital stress. More specifically, couples who employed a collaborative approach to religious problemsolving were expected to demonstrate higher marital satisfaction than couples who employed other styles of religious problem-solving. Results confirmed that marital stress was inversely related to marital satisfaction. Intrinsic religious orientation and religious problem solving styles also predicted marital satisfaction for husbands and wives, even after controlling for social desirability. The results provided some support for the hypotheses