Religion and Marital Sex: How One Impacts the Other

With all the factors that influence marital intimacy and satisfaction, one of the areas with very little research is that of religiosity and its influence on the marriage relationship. The sample used in this study consisted of 123 individuals that had been married at least five years and regularly attended a fundamental church. It was hypothesized that religiosity would show no statistically significant relationship with marital satisfaction and sexual imtimacy. Data was analyzed using a one-way ANOVA and a two-way ANOVA to look for relationships among all the variables. When using only the scores on the religiosity scale and the scores on the intimacy scale and satisfaction scale, no statistically significant relationship was discovered. When gender was added to the analysis, a statistically significant relationship was discovered on the 'Sexual Intimacy' subscale. It can be concluded that higher religiosity for men is positively correlated with sexual intimacy, while for women higher religiosity resulted in lower levels of sexual intimacy. Corey D. Allan, Ph.D. Director Marriage Fully Alive Coaching and Counseling, LLC www.marriagefullyalive.com Dr. Corey Allan is a writer, speaker, counselor, and relationship coach. He lives in Dallas, TX with his wife and 2 children.