Religiosity and the Decreased Likelihood to Divorce among Married Christians in the United States

This dissertation research, titled Religiosity and the Decreased Likelihood to Divorce among Married Christians in the United States, was conducted by Norma Sylvia Shearin (2016) as the partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctorate of Psychology at Grand Canyon University. With divorce rates increasing among Christian marriages, it is important to identify the significant factors of this phenomenon. Shearin (2016) saw the need to explore the impact of religiosity in Christian marriages on the likelihood to divorce. This correlational study was to determine whether and to what degree there is a relationship between the level of religiosity of married Christians in the United States and those couples’ likelihood to divorce.

In the literature review, the author provided interesting facts about divorce. only one in one thousand Americans was divorced by 1910. The divorce rates had doubled by 1940 and steadily increased by 1945. In 2009, a historic event took place when the rates of single, never married American individuals between the ages of 25 and 34 surpassed the number of married people. The author asserted that “the situation wherein the idea of what used to be an ideal woman (a loving mother, loyal wife, and skilled homemaker) had changed, resulting in broken homes, broken families, and therefore a broken nation” (Shearin, 2016).

This study addressed two research questions. The first question is, “Is there a negative correlation between level of religiosity and likelihood to divorce among married Christians in the U.S.?” and the corresponding null hypothesis is, “There is no significant negative correlation relationship between level of religiosity and likelihood to divorce among married Christians in the U.S.” The second question is, “Does the level of religiosity predict likelihood to divorce among married Christians in the U.S.?” and the corresponding null hypothesis is, “The level of religiosity is not a statistically significant predictor of likelihood to divorce among married Christians in the U.S.”

The theoretical foundation of the study was the concept of religiosity as a cognitive dimension. Plante and Boccaccini (1997) of the Psychology Department of Santa Clara University developed the religiosity theoretical model and survey instrument, the Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire (SCSORF). The SCSORF was based on psychometric theory and used concepts of intrinsic religiousness, religious life, and extrinsic religiousness.

This research used two survey inventories. The predictor data were collected from the Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire (SCSORF) which is a brief ten-item quantitative instrument for measuring the religiosity of the respondents. The criterion data for the likelihood to divorce were collected from the the Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment Test (LWMAT). Both SCSORF and LWMAT were validated instruments that had been used in research for more than 20 years. The study sample was comprised of 100 Christian individuals from the United States. The data analysis involved bivariate correlations and simple linear regression.

In data analysis, the the Pearson product moment correlation (bivariate correlation analysis) was used to assess the extent to which the two variables of interest in this study correlated. The linear regression was conducted to assess the strength of religiosity as a predictor of the likelihood to divorce. The level of statistical significance was 0.05 for both correlational and regression analysis.

The results showed a significant negative correlation between the level of religiosity and the likelihood to divorce of married Christians in the United States, r = -0.26, p = 0.004. The level of religiosity was a significant negative predictor of the likelihood to divorce, F (1, 98) = 7.16, p = 0.01, R2 = 0.07. The findings of this study may be used in premarital and marital counseling to facilitate marital adjustment and decrease the likelihood to divorce. The findings of this study also provided additional empirical support showing the importance of improving one’s spiritual life to improve interpersonal relationships, particularly with one’s spouse.

Reference

Shearin, N. S. (2016). Religiosity and the Decreased Likelihood to Divorce among Married Christians in the United States. Dissertation for Doctorate of Psychology. Grand Canyon University, Phoenix, AZ.