Date

12-19-2022

Department

School of Behavioral Sciences

Degree

Doctor of Education in Community Care and Counseling (EdD)

Chair

Dwight Rice

Keywords

marital satisfaction, attachment styles, emotional intelligence, religious commitment, attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance

Disciplines

Psychology | Social and Behavioral Sciences

Abstract

Most couples enter marriage hoping to experience happiness and satisfaction. This study acknowledges that spouses bring their worldviews, personalities, behaviors, and emotions to the marriage relationship, and for this reason, this study investigates the connection between marital satisfaction and attachment style as mediated by emotional intelligence and religious commitment in a sample of heterosexual married Christian individuals living in the United States. This quantitative, non-experimental, survey-based research analyzes data collected through Amazon Mechanical Turk from 530 married individuals to understand the relationship between variables affecting marital satisfaction. Results from Pearson’s correlation analyses show a significant relationship between attachment style subscales (avoidance and anxiety) and marital satisfaction (p < .05). Additionally, a comprehensive mediation analysis shows that the attachment style subscales of avoidance and anxiety in the mother and father relationship have an indirect effect on marital satisfaction through both emotional intelligence and religious commitment. Thus, future studies need to consider marriage relationship dynamics, spouses’ management of emotions, and the protective role of religion in the marriage relationship.

Included in

Psychology Commons

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