Spirituality and Common Dyadic Coping

Abstract

This study examined whether spirituality and dyadic coping protected partners from becoming psychologically aggressive toward each other using secondary, cross-sectional data from a sample of 104 Latino couples living in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The model tested was based on Bodenmann’s Systemic Transactional model and incorporated an Actor–Partner Interdependence Model approach. Structural equation modeling results indicated that each partner’s spirituality had a direct negative effect on their own psychological aggression and a direct positive effect on their own supportive dyadic coping and the couple’s common dyadic coping. Each partner’s spirituality also had an indirect effect on both partners’ psychological aggression through increases in the couple’s common dyadic coping. Supportive dyadic coping was not found to mediate the relation between spirituality and psychological aggression. Limitations of the study as well as clinical, programmatic, and research implications are discussed.