Religiosity, Optimism, Attributions, and Marital Satisfaction among Orthodox Jewish Couples

Yishai Barkhordari, Fordham University

Abstract

This research study aimed to examine Orthodox Jewish couples in context of attributions and marital attributions to address gaps in the literature regarding Orthodox Jews as a multicultural group in general, and their experiences of marriage in particular. A cross sectional design was utilized to consider the impact of both an individual's and his or her partner's cognitions on relationship satisfaction among marrieds. It was hypothesized that religiosity has a positive influence on optimism, marital attributions, and marital satisfaction, and that both actor and partner effects will be present for optimism and marital attributions. Specifically, marital satisfaction would be influenced positively by an individual's higher optimism scores and positive marital attributions as well as his or her partner's optimism and marital attributions, respectively. A total of 70 couples (N = 140) completed the survey and were included in analysis. Regression data indicated that religiosity was related to optimism, marital attributions, and marital satisfaction together, R2 = .081, F(3, 130) = 3.82, p = .012, but pathways did not indicate statistical significance for individual predictors. The data did not indicate a statistically significant actor or partner effects of optimism on marital satisfaction for husbands or wives. Actor effects for marital attributions on marital satisfaction were found for Orthodox Jewish husbands (β = –0.10, SE = 0.02, p < .01) and wives (β = –0.07, SE = 0.03, p < .01) but no partner effects were found, perhaps indicating a proximity effect.

Subject Area

Religion|Counseling Psychology|Psychology|Individual & family studies

Recommended Citation

Barkhordari, Yishai, "Religiosity, Optimism, Attributions, and Marital Satisfaction among Orthodox Jewish Couples" (2017). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI10603404.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI10603404

Share

COinS