Date of Award:

5-1962

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Human Development and Family Studies

Department name when degree awarded

Family, Consumer, and Human Development

Committee Chair(s)

C. Jay Skidmore

Committee

C. Jay Skidmore

Committee

Therel R. Black

Committee

Terrance E. Hatch

Committee

Dorothy Dyer

Abstract

This thesis is a study dealing with active and inactive L.D.S. couples and their comparative Marital adjustment. The couples were selected from the geographic areas of Enterprise and Logan, Utah, and Preston, Idaho. Respondents consisted of couples who had at least one child, but no children beyond high school age. Their religiosity was determined by the bishop of the L.D.S. Ward of which they were a member. The bishop considered such factors as attendance at regularly scheduled church meetings and contributions made in the form of tithes in determining whether a couple was considered active or inactive. The sample consisted of 40 active couples and 20 inactive couples.

Hypotheses tested in this study were (1) L.D.S. couples who are active in church activities have a higher degree of marital adjustment than those couples who are inactive. (2) L.D.S. couples who are active will rate their marriages as happier on the continuum scale of happiness than will couples who are inactive. (3) Church activity of the part of both husband and wife contributes to the rapport and marital success of the couple. (4) Couples who are least active will be less likely to participate in the study; therefore their marriage adjustment may not be discovered.

In testing the hypotheses subjects were given a modified marital adjustment inventory used by Locke, plus questions pertaining to church activity and a set of background questions. The questionnaires were given directly to the subjects by the investigator or were sent by mail to subjects with a letter of instructions.

Findings of this study appeared to indicate that active couples had a better marital adjustment. Adjustment scores for active couples ranged from a low of 71 to a high of 123 with an arithmetic mean of 107.80. Adjustment scores for inactive couples ranged from a low of 60 to a high of 121 with an arithmetic mean of 99.15. A "t" ratio of 3.86 was obtained, which is significant at the level of .01 level of significance.

It is to be noted that when adjustment scores of active husbands were compared with inactive, the difference was not so significant. It only approached significance at the .05 level of significance; still active husbands had somewhat higher adjustment scores the arithmetic mean of active husbands was 108.45 compared with 100.95 which was the arithmetic mean for inactive husbands.

The difference between active and inactive wives was more significant. Active wives had an arithmetic mean of 107.15 as compared with 97.35 for the inactive. This difference approached significance at the .01 level of significance.

A conclusion of the study is, church activity appears to be a factor contributing to the happiness of the couples and to the adjustments of their marriages.

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