RELIGIOUS COMMITMENT AND FINANCIAL STRAIN AS PREDICTORS OF LIFE SATISFACTION AMONG MARRIED COUPLES

Abstract

This study investigated influence of religious commitment and financial strain as predictors of life satisfaction among married couples. A total of 104 married participants comprising of 44 males and 60 females were selected using purposive sampling for the study. The participants’ age ranged between 20-60 years (mean age of 39 and standard deviation of 1.56). The participants were drawn from the population of Saint Louis Catholic Church, Jos Plateau State, Nigeria. Survey design was used and the statistics used was multiple regression. Instruments used was religious commitment scale which is a 10-item scale measuring of the salience of religion in a person’s life, financial strain s scale which is a 12-item scale to measure how families cope with lack and financial difficulties and inadequacies and life satisfaction scale to measure global cognitive judgments of one’s life satisfaction. The results showed that religious commitment significantly predicted negatively life satisfaction, and religious commitment (M= 39.51; SD= 5.86; r = -.34, p<.05). It was also found that a significant negative prediction of financial strain on life satisfaction (M = 27.09, SD=10.01, r= -.52, p<.05). The result also showed a significant positive relationship between religious commitment and financial strain (r = .28, p<.05). Results were discussed and recommendations made. Keywords: Life satisfaction, Marriage, Marital satisfaction, Poverty, Religion,