Spousal Religiosity is Positively Associated with the Partner's Meaning in Life
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion
Published online on September 07, 2020
Abstract
["Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Volume 59, Issue 3, Page 509-525, September 2020. ", "\nAbstract\nPast research has established that personal religiosity is positively associated with a sense of meaning in life. However, it has largely overlooked how religious others influence one's own life meaning. Given that a marital partner may be the most influential other in a person's everyday life, this study aims to examine how the religiosity of one's spouse is associated with the sense of meaning in life of the self, regardless of the religiosity of the self. Moreover, this study assesses whether this association differs by gender. Analysis of data from the 2006 Portraits of American Life Study reveals that spousal religiosity is positively associated with the partner's meaning in life, net of the partner's own religious commitment. However, these observed patterns do not vary by gender. Overall, these observations highlight the importance of social contexts in which others’ religious attributes are related to one's own meaning in life.\n"]