Religious Motivation and Relationships

The American Journal of Family Therapy, 35:235–249, 2007 Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 0192-6187 print / 1521-0383 online DOI: 10.1080/01926180600814684

Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Religious Motivation and the Marital Relationship
ANDREW S. BRIMHALL
Counseling and Family Therapy Department, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA

MARK H. BUTLER
School of Family Life, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, USA

Research suggests a strong positive relationship between religiosity and marital satisfaction. Neglected, however, are differences in satisfaction based on nominal religious motivation. The influence of religiosity on marital satisfaction was examined for 74 couples. Results indicate the higher the husband’s intrinsic religiosity, the higher the satisfaction for both partners. Wives’ satisfaction increased as they became more extrinsically motivated. Differences in religiosity significantly decreased satisfaction for husbands. Findings are discussed from the perspective of gender-based interaction patterns, gender demographics of religious devotion and activity, and power dynamics. We recommend therapists understand these findings and integrate them into the clinical dialogue.

INTRODUCTION
Traditionally, research in the domain of religiosity focused on the effects of a person’s religiosity on their marital satisfaction (Call & Heaton, 1997; Mahoney et al., 1999). Neglected, however, has been the study of potential differences depending on nominal religious motivation—i.e., intrinsic versus extrinsic religiosity (Robinson, 1994; Robinson & Blanton, 1993), a construct shown to have significant predictive utility.

This research was supported by a grant from the Religious Studies Center at Brigham Young University to Andrew S. Brimhall, Brandt C. Gardner, and Mark H. Butler. Address correspondence to Andrew S. Brimhall, Counseling and Family Therapy Department, Saint Louis University, 3750 Lindell Blvd, McGannon 113, St. Louis,

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