Spiritual Well-Being and Marital Adjustment

Abstract

This pilot study investigated the relationship of spiritual well-being (defined here as a well-integrated internal religious orientation) to marital adjustment. The subscale dimensions of satisfaction, cohesion, consensus, and affectual expression were used as indicators of adjustment as measured by Spanier's (1976) Dyadic Adjustment Scale. These scale scores were correlated with the religious, existential, and spiritual well-being scores from Paloutzian & Ellison's (1982) Spiritual Well-Being Scale. Subjects were 147 married individuals from churches in Southern California. Responses indicated that spiritual well-being correlated significantly to marital adjustment, with significant differences for years married: Those married 10–40 years showed a higher correlation than those married over 40 years. Existential well-being scores correlated highly with marital adjustment scores at most marital stages. This provides some support for the hypothesis that lived-out spirituality is an important factor in perception of marital happiness.

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