Hint of the Month and News Update - October, 2004
Past Hints
 
Spiritual Beliefs and Marriage – A Recent US Study

A new study by Peter Larson and David Olson (“Spiritual beliefs and marriage: A National survey based on Enrich” published in The Family Psychologist, 2004, 20, 4-8) clearly demonstrates the powerful impact of spiritual beliefs on marriage satisfaction.

From a sample of 24,671 couples who took ENRICH in the USA, two groups were identified and compared. One group included 6, 557 couples whose Positive Couple Agreement (PCA) scores were 70% or above on the Spiritual Beliefs Category of ENRICH, suggesting that these couples shared similar spiritual beliefs, practices, and ideas. This was called the High Spiritual Agreement (HSA) group. The Low Spiritual Agreement (LSA) group consisted of 6,562 couples whose PCA scores were 30% or less on the Spiritual Beliefs category.

The results were clear and dramatic. Higher couple agreement on spiritual beliefs was associated with significantly higher couple agreement scores on every other category, with the strongest associations emerging between marital satisfaction and spiritual beliefs, and couple closeness and spiritual beliefs.

When the two groups, HSA and LSA, were compared on the 5 ENRICH couple types, powerful patterns emerged.  The table below summarizes these finding.  Perhaps the most dramatic difference appeared in the frequency of Devitalized couples, with 62% of LSA couples scoring in the Devitalized range, compared with only 9% of the HSA couples.

    Couple Types          High Spiritual PCA          Low Spiritual PCA
    Vitalized                            36%                                  5%
    Harmonious                       11%                                10%
    Traditional                          21%                                  4%
    Conflicted                           23%                                19%
    Devitalized                            9%                                62%
    Total                                 100%                              100%
The authors comment that an implication of the findings is that “spiritual beliefs can be a source of strength or a stumbling block for a couple, based on their spiritual compatibility.  It is not enough to know that one or both members of the couple are spiritual; their consensus on spiritual issues must be assessed.  Certainly there will be couples who embrace divergent spiritual views and still experience a good marriage with high marital satisfaction but these are the exceptional few who can tolerate differences in such a powerful area of life”.
 

Past Hints  Last Month : What works and what does not. 

News Update:  

    END-OF-YEAR CLOSING 
    The last processing day will be Wednesday 15th December 2004 and the office will re-open on January 4th 2005. 

    The June 2004 issue of the Newsletter, the Prepare Diary, is available on this web site, just click on this link: Newsletter - June 2004 

    A new Australian resource booklet has been written by Dr. Alan Craddock that explores the impact that experiences of family of origin have, especially on conlicted couples.  The booklet, written especially for Prepare-Enrich administrators, aims to identify and explore the main differences between highly satisfied (vitalised) and more troubled (conflicted) premarital couples. This study explores the connection between negative experiences within family of origin in the past (separateness, rigidity and exposure to abuse) and present difficulties in couple relationship. The study represents the drawing together of trends and patterns identified in the data from 520 Australian couples participating in the Prepare program. Many practical suggestions for working with conflicted couples, especially on family of origin issues and using the couple and family map, are offered in this study. 

    To order Origins: Family Experiences of Premarital Couples (Hillfort Resources) simply call the Prepare-Enrich National Office on 02 9545 4566 or email us at info@prepare-enrich.com.au 
    The cost is only $12 (includes postage and GST). 

    Skills development training seminars are listed at: Skills Development Opportunities 

    The cost of processing has not been increased and remains at $38.50 (including GST).