Religious Beliefs, Practices, and Family Strengths: A Comparison of Husbands and Wives

Guided by a proposed religiosity and family strengths framework, presented here for the first time, the current study examined the associations between religious beliefs and religious practices and whether they facilitated the family strengths construct of family involvement as reported by both husbands and wives. Using data from the Flourishing Families Project (N = 333 couples), a common fate approach was used to examine both common and unique attributes of husbands and wives among religious beliefs, religious practices, and family involvement. Results suggest that the stronger a couple's religious beliefs and the higher the frequency of participation in religious practices, the more likely they were to spend time together in positive, meaningful activities such as helping their child with homework, reading books with their child, spending time together playing and having fun, enjoying family recreation, and participating in cultural traditions. Results also suggest that religious practices mediate the influence of religious beliefs on family involvement. Findings highlight within-couple religious processes as linked with family involvement outcomes.