Marital Expectations, Spiritual and Cultural Beliefs, Religious Coping, and Marital Satisfaction in Muslim Women

Abstract

Marriage is a central institution in Muslim women’s lives, shaped by religious teachings, cultural norms, and personal expectations. However, marital distress often arises when culturally imposed roles are misattributed to Islam, creating confusion, guilt, and emotional strain. The present thesis addresses this gap through two distinct objectives. Objective 1 aimed to develop and content-validate a culturally sensitive Marital Expectations Scale for Muslim women that clearly differentiates expectations rooted in authentic Islamic teachings from those stemming from cultural traditions. Objective 2 examined the relationships between marital expectations, Islamic spiritual beliefs, religious coping strategies, and marital satisfaction.

To achieve Objective 1, a multi-phase scale development process was employed. Five in-depth semi-structured interviews with married Muslim women were analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Findings revealed five core domains: pre-marital ideals and sources of expectations, expectation–reality discrepancies, Islamic versus cultural expectations, emotional and psychological consequences, and Islamic coping and reframing. These themes were systematically transformed into scale items using participant language, followed by expert review for content validity and theological clarity. The final refined scale comprised 24 items organised into four subscales—Pre-marital Ideals, Expectation–Reality Discrepancies, Islamic versus Cultural Expectations, and Religious Coping and Reframing, along with one global reflective item, ensuring strong conceptual grounding and cultural relevance.

For Objective 2, a quantitative, cross-sectional correlational design was employed. Data were collected from 112 married Muslim women residing in Jamia Nagar, New Delhi. The study assessed Islamic and cultural marital expectations, spirituality-related orientations, religious coping strategies, and marital satisfaction. Multiple regression analysis indicated that Islamic marital expectations were positively associated with marital satisfaction, whereas cultural marital expectations were negatively associated. Due to strong intercorrelations among the spirituality components i.e., Tawakkul, Understanding of Qadar, and Taqwa, they were combined into a composite Spirituality Index, which demonstrated a modest but significant positive contribution. Religious coping strategies emerged as the strongest positive predictor of marital satisfaction, substantially enhancing the overall explanatory power of the model.

The findings highlight the central role of religiously grounded expectations and faith-based coping mechanisms in promoting marital well-being, while suggesting that culturally embedded expectations may negatively influence marital satisfaction among Muslim women.