Mitigating External Stressors Through Religious and Spiritual Well-Being

What is the issue?

Interracial relationships, specifically Black-White romantic relationships are seen more in more in today’s world. However, the success of these relationships is often determined by how parents manage and cope with external stressors like discrimination and stigma. If not managed effectively these external stressors can negatively impact partners emotionally and their overall well-being which ultimately can put strain on a relationship.

What is the purpose of this investigation?

Therefore, it is important to find ways to mitigate external stressors for individuals in interracial romantic relationships. In this study, Vazquez et al. used the vulnerability-stress-adaptation (VSA) model to investigate how religious/spiritual well-being can be used as an adaptive process for Black-White couples. Below is an example of this model. We can see usually relationship stigma affects couple satisfaction however, adding in religious/spiritual well-being as an element in the relationship can change the way relationship stigma is perceived in the relationship and hopefully increase Black-White couple satisfaction. 

What were the results?

Firstly, when looking at the two bottom squares of the VSA model, relationship stigma and couple satisfaction, Vazquez et al found that when relationship stigma is present, Black-White couple satisfaction is negatively affected. Shifting to the relationship between religious/spiritual well-being and relationship stigma, the authors found that when Black-White interracial couples frequently engage in religious/spiritual practices the levels of relationship stigma decrease. Additionally, Vazquez et al found that when couples reported high levels of religious/spiritual well-being their overall relationship satisfaction was better. Overall, what is seen here is that religious/spiritual well-being is a good mediating factor between relationship stigma and couple satisfaction for Black-White couples. Couples experience stigma and may engage in spiritual and religious practices which lessens the impact of stigma on satisfaction.

What are the implications?

The findings from Vazquez et al. study provide a possible strategy for interracial romantic couples who are wanting to improve their relationship satisfaction. Religious/spiritual well-being can be used as a mediating role for relationship stigma and couple satisfaction. The reason for this is religious or spiritual practices may be working to strengthen the individuals in the relationship which ultimately helps to mitigate the negative effects the couple may feel from relationship disapproval or negative attitudes they may receive. For this reason, interracial couples who are experiencing relationship struggles due to stigma or disapproval of their relationship giving religion or spirituality a try may have great benefits for their relationship.

Citation

Vazquez, V., Otero, I., & Goodlow, J. (2019). Relationship stigma and Black-White interracial marital satisfaction: The mediating role of religious/spiritual well-being. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 22(3), 305–318. https://doi.org/10.1080/13674676.2019.1620189