| Abstract: | ABSTRACT The significance of religion in marriage has been studied in different ways. The research on which this paper is based used in-depth interviews to explore the significance of religion to a culturally diverse sample of husbands and wives who had been married to each other for over 20 years (M = 35.25, SD = 8.25). We asked individual spouses to discuss the importance to unimportance of religion in their marriages and the role that it may have played in their relationships. Both quantitative and qualitative procedures were used. An analysis of demographic and relational factors that may have shaped the importance of religion in recent years is presented. A second level of analysis was then employed to identify themes about the significance of religion in these marriages from the perspectives of each spouse. Three themes were identified: mixed to no significance of religion on marriage, religion as supportive and emerging spirituality. |
