The relationships of religious homogamy and practices and marital satisfaction and stability: A case study of the Seventh -day Adventist church

Few attempts have been made empirically to explore marriage in Adventist circles. The basic question for this research was to find out to what extent independent variables---religious homogamy and practices---affected dependent variables---marital satisfaction and stability---and how the theoretical framework of race, class, and gender further determined the variances in these interactions. The population for this study was of African American and White Adventists in greater Washington, D.C., married and living with their respective spouses. The quantitative sample consisted of 120 Blacks and 225 Whites, testing hypotheses by employing regression analyses on data collected through a survey questionnaire. The qualitative sample was made up of 13 Blacks and 17 Whites interviewed face-to-face, collecting real life experiences, and generating richer descriptions along with survey data to enhance the validity of the study. There was a robust relationship in the quantitative sample between independent and dependent variables. Whites were more likely to have higher levels of marital satisfaction and stability than their African American peers; men more likely to have higher levels of marital satisfaction than women; working class Adventists more likely to report higher levels of marital satisfaction than middle/upper class Adventists. Because of the disproportionate number of middle/upper class African Americans in the interview sample, more Blacks than Whites claimed satisfaction with their marriages. In addition, more men than women reported stability in their marriages; and more middle/upper class Adventists than their working class peers testified they had marital stability. The intersections of race, class, and gender, aided this study in doing analyses from a multifaceted rather than a singular perspective. Studies with a national sample of Adventists of all races will have to be conducted in order to generalize the findings to Adventists nation-wide, and more easily be applied to the general population. The church will also need to invest in resources for additional scientific investigation, so that future interventions are more evidenced-based from within the population.