Investigation of the Effect of Religious Coping Strategies on Conflict Resolution Skills in Marriage

Abstract

Marriage is an institution formed by men and women coming together for purposes such as living together and raising children. Marriage is a cultural institution that is as much a cultural institution as it is legal, supported by beliefs and traditions. In marriage, the fact that people come from different family histories and have different life practices makes conflicts inevitable. Marital conflict is a process that begins with the perception that the other party is blocking or about to prevent their wishes in the relationship between spouses and includes the perceptions, feelings and behaviors of both parties. This study, it is aimed to investigate the effect of religious coping skills on conflict resolution skills in marriage. A conflict resolution styles scale was used in the research. The sub-headings of the scale addressed four different conflict resolution styles. These; positive conflict resolution style, negative conflict resolution style, submission and withdrawal. There is a relationship between marriage and religion as old as human history. Religions have teachings and practices that regulate and influence marriage and family relationships. For the transmission of religion also, the family environment in which the teachings and practices will be taught is important. This reciprocal relationship affects the resolution skills that couples use in the conflicts they experience in their marital relationships. Another area where the influence of religion is seen is the religious coping strategies in which individuals benefit from religion in the process of coping with situations that stresses the individual. The study discussed religious coping strategies in two dimensions: positive and negative. In dealing with positive religious coping, there is a secure relationship with God, prayer, worship, charity, and trust are from strategies for positive coping. On the other hand, negative religious coping involves strategies such as thinking that the person is being punished by God in coping with stressful situations. When the literature is examined, there is no study that deals with conflict resolution skills and religious coping strategies in marriage together. From this point of view, it is thought that the study will contribute to the literature. This study used a religious coping scale, conflict resolution styles scale, and demographic information form. In the study with 135 female and 115 male participants in Ankara, it was seen that there was a relationship between positive religious coping style and age, education, and gender variables, female participants used positive religious coping style more than male participants, and positive religious coping style was used as age and education level increased. There is no found that economic status is related to religious coping style. As a result of the research, a positive relationship was found between a positive religious coping style and a positive conflict resolution style. It was seen that Female participants used the negative conflict resolution style more than male participants, while the withdrawal and submission styles were used more by male participants, as the education level and age is increasing, positive conflict resolution is used. While there was no relationship between negative religious coping style and submission and withdrawal conflict resolution style, a positive relationship was found between negative religious coping style and negative conflict resolution style.