How Religiosity Helps Couples Prevent, Resolve, and Overcome Marital Conflict* Nathaniel M. Lambert David C. Dollahite** Abstract: This study reports on in-depth interviews with 57 highly religious, middle-aged married couples representing the major Abrahamic faiths (Christianity, Judaism, Islam) residing in New England and Northern California. The study uses grounded theory methods to create themes and a model describing the ways that religiosity influences marital conflict. Couples reported that religiosity affects the conflict in their marriage at three phases of the conflict process: (a) problem prevention, (b) conflict resolution, and (c) relationship reconciliation. Practitioners may assist religious couples that are struggling with marital conflict by encouraging them to look to religious beliefs and practices. Key Words: conflict, marriage, prevention, reconciliation, religiosity, resolution. Conflict between people in meaningful human rela- tionships, such as marriage, is inevitable (Canary, Cupach, & Messman, 1995). Scholars have suggested that ‘‘religion offers couples theologically grounded guidelines for methods to handle marital conflict when it erupts’’ (Mahoney, Pargament, Murray-Swank, & Murray-Swank, 2003, p. 223). Indeed, research findings have generally concluded that there is a strong, positive relationship between religiosity and reduced marital conflict (e.g., Curtis & Ellison, 2002). The purpose of this study was to discover the ‘‘hows and whys’’ of this relationship (Dollahite & Marks, 2005). Hackney and Sanders (2003) noted that there exist several definitions of religiosity. For the purposes of this study, we define religiosity as a person’s spiritual beliefs, religious practices, and involvement with a faith community. Examples of spiritual beliefs include belief in the eternal nature of marriage; exam- ples of religious practices include prayer and study of scripture. Aspects of religious involvement include attendance at religious meetings, participation in other faith community activities, or making financial contributions to a faith community. The two research questions that directed this study were (a) Do highly religious couples perceive that their religious beliefs and practices influence conflict in their marriage? and (b) To what extent and, specifi- cally, how does religiosity affect marital conflict? Background and Significance The existing literature on marital conflict is enor- mous; yet, only a few studies have specifically mea- sured the impact of religion on marital conflict (Brody, Stoneman, Flor, & McCrary, 1994; Curtis & Ellison, 2002; Dudley & Kosinski, 1990). In addi- tion, extant research has tended to be limited in scope because it typically provides only a ‘‘distal’’ (i.e., more superficial) measure of religiosity and conflict (Mahoney et al., 1999) yielding limited insight regard- ing aspects involved in the process of the relationship between religiosity and marital conflict. Qualitative data, focusing specifically on religious couples, are needed to elucidate specific ways that religiosity may help couples effectively manage marital conflict. Thomas and Cornwall (1990) remarked that re- search examining religious practices and their specific *We express appreciation to the Family Studies Center, Religious Studies Center, and College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences at Brigham Young University for research support. **Nathaniel M. Lambert is a research assistant at Florida State University 1929 E. Sunny Glen Circle, Sandy, UT 84093 (natemlambert@gmail.com). David C. Dollahite is a Professor and Associate Director in the School of Family Life, Brigham Young University, 2054 Joseph F. Smith Building, Provo, UT 84602 (david_dollahite@byu.edu). Family Relations, 55 (October 2006), 439–449. Blackwell Publishing. Copyright 2006 by the National Council on Family Relations.