The Influence of Religiosity on Relationship Satisfaction and Therapeutic Outcome as Mediated by Commitment Level

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the common factor and client characteristic of religiosity in order to determine its effect on relationship satisfaction and therapy outcome, as well as to determine whether commitment level was a mediator of those associations within a clinical sample of couples who had experienced mild/moderate psychological, verbal, or physical abuse. Results indicated several trends. For males, a non-significant positive trend was found suggesting that their religiosity was positively associated with relationship satisfaction at the initiation of therapy. Another trend was for more religious females to be more committed to their relationships. Both females and males' commitment level was significantly correlated with their relationship satisfaction. A trend towards a negative association between religiosity and relationship satisfaction was found for females when commitment level was controlled for, and for males there was a trend towards a negative association between commitment level and therapy outcome.