Religious Homogamy Affects the Connections of Personality and Marriage Qualities to Unforgiving Motives: Implications for Couple Therapy

Annabella Osei-Tutu; Everett L. Worthington; Zhuo Job Chen; Stacey McElroy-Heltzel; Don E. Davis; Melissa Washington-Nortey

doi:10.3390/rel12110917

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Religious Homogamy Affects the Connections of Personality and Marriage Qualities to Unforgiving Motives: Implications for Couple Therapy

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Religious Homogamy Affects the Connections of Personality and Marriage Qualities to Unforgiving Motives: Implications for Couple Therapy

Annabella Osei-Tutu, Everett L. Worthington, Zhuo Job Chen, Stacey McElroy-Heltzel, Don E. Davis and Melissa Washington-Nortey

Religions (Basel, Switzerland ), Vol.12(11), p.917

11/01/2021

DOI: 10.3390/rel12110917

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Abstract

In Ghana, collectivism holds people together in marital relationships, even if partners are religiously different. Married partners still hurt, betray, or offend each other and might develop avoidance or vengeful (i.e., unforgiving) motives. We investigated whether religious homogamy moderated connections of personality and marriage variables to unforgiving motives. Heterosexual married couples (N = 176 heterosexual married couples; N = 352 individuals; mean marriage duration 10.89 years) participated. Most identified as Christian (83.5% males; 82.3% females) or Muslim (11.9% males; 14.3% females). Couple religious homogamy was related directly to lower unforgiving motives. Religious homogamy did not moderate the connection between some personality variables (i.e., agreeableness and trait forgivingness) and unforgiving motives. Religiously unmatched couples tended to have greater unforgiveness at higher levels of neuroticism and lower forbearing, marital satisfaction, and marital commitment relative to religiously matched couples. One implication is that couple therapists need to assess partner neuroticism, marriage climate (i.e., satisfaction and commitment), and the general tendency to forbear when offended. Those can combine to produce unforgiving relationships, which might make progress in couple therapy improbable.

Arts & Humanities

Religion

Details

Title: Subtitle: Religious Homogamy Affects the Connections of Personality and Marriage Qualities to Unforgiving Motives: Implications for Couple Therapy
Creators: Annabella Osei-Tutu - University of Ghana
Everett L. Worthington - Virginia Commonwealth University
Zhuo Job Chen - Clemson University
Stacey McElroy-Heltzel - Univ Iowa, Dept Psychol & Quantitat Fdn, Iowa City, IA 52242 USA
Don E. Davis - Georgia State University
Melissa Washington-Nortey - Nashotah House Theological Seminary
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Religions (Basel, Switzerland ), Vol.12(11), p.917
DOI: 10.3390/rel12110917
eISSN: 2077-1444
Publisher: MDPI AG
Number of pages: 15
Grant note: Templeton World Charity Foundation
Language: English
Date published: 11/01/2021
Academic Unit: Psychological and Quantitative Foundations
Record Identifier: 9984371298902771

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