1. religion and spirituality

International Journal of Psychology and Behavioral Research. Vol., 4(1), 015-019, 2015
Available online at http:// www. ijpbrjournal.com
ISSN 2322-4002 ©2015 Victor Quest Publications
Investigation of the spiritual intelligence effectiveness on married
women's marital life satisfaction
1
2
Sima Basravi , Ali Mohammad Nazary , Ablolrahim Kasayi
3
1- AM family counseling, University of Kharami, Tehran campus, Tehran
2- Associate professor, University of Kharami, Tehran
3- Assistant professor, University of Kharami, Tehran
Corresponding author: [email protected]
Abstract
The aim of this study was investigation of the spiritual intelligence
effectiveness on marital life satisfaction of married women living in Karaj
city. the statistical population comprised of all married women living in
Karaj city. 30 married women, selected via simple sampling method,
constituted the sample. To gather data, ''Perceived Marital Relationship
Quality Component '' and the spiritual intelligence training protocol were
used. Univariate covariance analysis was applied to analyze the data. The
results of this study showed that spiritual intelligence training protocol
could be effective in improvement of marital life quality and its components
including intimacy, sexual excitement, love and trust. In other words,
spiritual intelligence enhances the married women's lives quality. Spiritual
Intelligence Training with emphasis on different communication patterns,
discovering false interactions, expanding acceptance experience,
facilitating expressed needs of couples and understanding the divine
presence, scholarly behavior and selfless love, leads to improvement of
love, trust, intimacy and marital life quality.
Keywords: spiritual intelligence, marital life quality, married women
Introduction
In recent years, interest in spiritual issues in the field of psychology and psychoanalysis has
been increased (Unterrainer, Huber, Sorgo, Collicutt and Fink, 2011). Researches show that beliefs,
cultural components and spiritual commitments intercommunicate with positive outcomes such as
psychological and physical health, marital satisfaction, interpersonal functioning and high quality of the
marital life (Seybold & Hill, 2001; Hosaini, Elias, Eric Krauspiritual & Aishah, 2010). Some
psychologists have defined spirituality as the permanent efforts of human beings to answer the life
''why''s. spiritual intelligence can be considered as one of the applicable aspects of spirituality concept.
The concept of spiritual intelligence was introduced for the first time by Stevens in 1996 (Vaughan,
2005) and further developed by Immons in 1999. Vaughan believes that spiritual intelligence includes
the individual's potential ability to perceive the meaning of life and his existence identity that in it,
constructs of intelligence and spirituality are combined in a new construct. In spiritual intelligence,
spirituality means seeking holiness, knowledge and meaning, while intelligence signifies applying
these concepts for adjustment and improving the level of human being's welfare (King, 2008). Amram
(2005) defines spiritual intelligence ad a set of abilities to use values and spiritual features in order to
increase the action and welfare of daily life. Spirituality affects all aspects of the individual's life
including familial relations. Family is basically the center of help, healing, and relief; this center should
reduce the pressure imposed on its members and provide them with opportunities to grow and evolve.
If family becomes a healthy and constructive environment for its members and fulfills their
psychological as well as physical needs, its demand to health institutes outside the family lessens
(James and Variation, 2015). Marital life quality is one of the factors that predict the health of a family.
Intl. J. Phys. Beh. Res. Vol., 4(1), 105-109, 2015
Life quality can be recounted as the outcome of mutual interaction between individuals' personalities
and linkage of life events, influencing the set of fields that form the life (James and Variation, 2015).
World Health Organization (2011) describes life quality as the individuals' comprehension of their
positions in their lives, according to their cultural context and environmental value systems, in relation
to their goals, criteria and interests. Many terms has been utilized to describe the quality of marital life,
such as adaptability, satisfaction, happiness, integrity and commitment, intimacy and trust (Dalgleish
et al, 2014).
Marital life quality means internal evaluation of couples' relations in some dimensions and
values; it refers to a scope of values that includes a spectrum reflecting extensive characteristics of
marital function and interaction (Tabrizi, 2006). In a meta-analysis, Sawatzk, Ratner and Chiu (2005)
studied the relationship between spirituality and marital life quality. In the final analysis, these
scholars mentioned spirituality as a discrete concept related to marital life quality (Sawatzk et al,
2005). Also, Zullig, Ward and Horn (2006) declared that according to pervious research, spirituality
had a positive effect on life quality.
Findings of King's (2009) study revealed a negative relation between spiritual intelligence and
depression, aggression, enmity and anxiety, and a positive relation between this concept and mood
traits, social sensitivity, life satisfaction, and activity. Generally, it can be said that those with higher
spiritual intelligence are more likely to use adaptive problem solving skills and profit from spiritual
resources to solve their daily life problems. They bestow meaning and value to their daily affairs and
can better cope with difficulties, therefore, they experience higher levels of marital life satisfaction.
Given what said before, the question being probed in this study is whether training spiritual intelligence
can enhance marital life quality.
Method
The present study is semi-experimental with pre/post-test and a control group. The statistical
population consisted of all couples living in Karaj city in 2014. The sample included 30 married women
selected via simple sampling method. To perform the research, first, married women in Karaj city were
invited to participate in sessions of training spiritual intelligence. After notification and registration, 30
married women were selected randomly. The aim of study was explained and written consent.
''Perceived Marital Relationship Quality Component Questionnaire'' was performed to gather the pretest data. The participants were randomly put in the experimental and control groups. Members of the
experimental group took part in 8 sessions of training spiritual intelligence, holding once a week, each
session for 120 minutes. At the end, the same questionnaire was performed as the post-test. The data
were analyzed by univariate covariance analysis, so, normal distribution of them was previously
investigated through Clomot Geruf Smirnov test.
Perceived Marital Relationship Quality Components Questionnaire: this scale, developed by
Feltcher, Simpson and Tomas (2000), has 18 items answered on a 7-rate Likert range (1=never,
7=entirely). Its 6 subscales include satisfaction, commitment, intimacy, trust, sexual excitement, and
love components. Cronbach's alpha for the subscales in this study was reported 0.91, 0.96, 0.86, 0.78,
0.78, 0.86, 0.89 respectively, while its total Cronbach's alpha was obtained 0.85. In Iran,
Niloofarforooshan (2001) translated this questionnaire, and its content validity was confirmed by
several professors of Psychology and Counseling Group of Isfahan University. The scholar reported
its total Cronbach's alpha as 0.95. Also, this coefficient by gender separation was calculated 0.95 for
women and 0.94 for men. In the study of Khaje and Bahrami, Fatehi zadeh and Abedi (2000) the
internal consistency was determined by Chronbach's alpha, and this coefficient for the subscale as
mentioned above was computed 0.92, 0.84, 0.92, 0.94, 0.91, and 0.89, respectively.
Training Spiritual Intelligence Protocol: this protocol included 8 sessions of training spiritual
intelligence. The summary of its sessions is presented below.
Session 1: presentation. Objective: mutual presentation between the scholar and participants,
performing the pre-test
Session 2: Consciousness. Objective: enhancing participants' awareness and self-consciousness
(consciousness toward self and one's own-self)
Session 3: Goodness and grace. Objective: to live in a manner consistent with the clergy and the
experience of love and trust in life.
Session 4: internal orientation. Method: conversation, evaluation, and analysis of the former session
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Intl. J. Phys. Beh. Res. Vol., 4(1), 105-109, 2015
Home works to reach the strength and effective points of assigned home works, performing it in the
couple relations and giving feedback to the participants
Session 5: meaning and concept. Objective: Achieving meaning in every moment of life, regardless
of external circumstances
Session 6: Existence and character. Objective: improving the participants' insights and the experience
of peace and inner tranquillity
Session 7: Truth and honesty. Objective: The experience of a life accompanied by relaxation,
acceptance, openness and trust
Session 8: integrity and wholeness. Moving beyond the individual self to an interconnected and
transcendental whole, creating a relationship based on the inner heartfelt sympathy and orientation
with their fellow
Result
After performing the main analyses, a primary analysis was done to gain introductory insights on the
data. In this section, first, demographic and second, descriptive findings will be presented.
Table 1: the mean and standard deviation of the experimental and control groups
Group
N
M
SD
Relationship Quality
Experimental
30
16.13
4.23
Control
30
11.76
2.20
Intimacy
Trust
Experimental
Control
Experimental
Control
30
30
30
30
15.40
11.43
15.63
11.73
4.45
1.79
4.31
1.99
As it is observed in Table 1, the highest and lowest standard deviation belongs to Intimacy (4.45) and
Relationship Quality (4.23) components of the experimental and control groups, respectively. In
addition, the highest mean is accrued to Relationship Quality component in the experimental group
(16.13), while the lowest one is computed for Intimacy component in the control group (15.40).
Table 2: the results of covariance analysis for the effect of training spiritual intelligence on marital life
quality, intimacy, sexual excitement and love
Source of Sum
of Fd
Mean of F
Significance Eta
changes
squares
Square
level
Square
Marital life 247558.59 1
247558.59 1785.02
0.000
0.25
Quality
Effect
Pre-test
34912.86
25
1396/51
10.07
0.01
0.18
effect
Error
554.50
4
138.62
Total
304889
30
Intimacy
5057.66
1
5057.66
213.81
0.000
0.25
Effect
Pre-test
1146.90
13
88.22
3.73
0.007
0.18
effect
Error
378.46
16
23.65
Total
8487.00
30
Trust
6348.12
1
6348.12
0.000
0.25
effect
Pre-test
1054.48
12
577.46
0.000
0.18
effect
Error
186.88
17
7.99
Total
9343.00
30
According to Table 2, after controlling the effect of pre-test (p<0/01), marital life quality (p<0/01((,
intimacy (p<0/01) and trust (p<0/0000) remained significant. In other words, training spiritual
intelligence protocol as an intervening program had been successful in improving marital life quality,
intimacy, and trust in the experimental group.
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Conclusion
The findings of the present study revealed that training spiritual intelligence could improve
marital life quality. This finding is alike those of Alex et al (2011), Hosaini, Elias, Eric Krauspiritual and
Aishah (2010), King (2008). Given previous studies, it can be said that spiritual life, by its dependence
on an inner core reflecting the individual's view toward the world and surrounding, has a significant
role in predicting life satisfaction and marital life quality. Dudley and Kosinkki (1990) as well as
Rabinson and Blanton (1993) have also confirmed this outcome. Zaher and Marchal (2001) believe
that individuals with high levels of spiritual intelligence are flexible and highly conscious to themselves.
In addition, they are highly able to face difficulties and solve daily life problems and more satisfied with
marital life. As emerged in this study, spiritual intelligence and marital life quality were positively
correlated. Women use spiritual intelligence as a way to solve problems more, and therefore, this
concept can explain the quality of their marital lives.
So, those who profit higher levels of spiritual intelligence probably apply adoptive problemsolving skills more and give meaning and value to their daily tasks, and use spiritual sources to cope
with their lives difficulties. On the other hand, behaviors such as forgiveness, sacrifice, dedication,
self-control and granting sanctity to daily affairs are more chromatic in these people's lives; hence, it
probably gives them more strength to oppugn with hard situations and make cordiality in their live and
hereupon, they will be merrier with their marital lives.
Additionally, the results of this research acknowledged the effectiveness of training spiritual
intelligence on improvement of marital intimacy. This finding was formerly supported by the studies of
Stevens (2000), Nygren (2005), Sawatzky, Ratner and Chiu (2005), Zuling, Ward and Horn (2006),
and Erick Krauspirituala and Aishah (2010). In explanation of this hypothesis it can be assumed that
spiritual intelligence in general includes a kind of compatibility entailing the highest developmental
levels of cognitive, emotional, moral, and interpersonal aspects that assists the individual to achieve
unison with his/her surrounding phenomena and acceding internal as well as external integration. This
intelligence bestow the person an overall view on the life and its all events and experiences, and
enables him to reframe and reinterpret his experience while deepening his recognition and knowledge.
Active integration of spirituality in daily life and adoptive usage of abilities, values, and related
resources, manifests the expression of spiritual intelligence (Vaughan, 2000). For instance, Spiritual
intelligence can be applied to identify and understand the patterns of thought, goals and beliefs that
form the foundation of our and others' behaviors (Vaughan, 2000).
Spiritual intelligence is related to goal setting in life, capacitates the individual to free himself
from any kinds of disgust and abhorrence toward others, and gives him the ability of discrimination
and moral wellness. This intelligence also makes him flexible against rules and be creative in the face
of limitations. Spiritual intelligence aids couple to think of rational-practical solutions instead of
deepening their conflicts that in its turn, leads to feeling more intimacy.
Another finding of this study was that training spiritual intelligence can positively affect the
marital trust. Nygren (2005), Alex et al (2011), and Sahebalzamani et al (2013) also came to the same
conclusion.
Spirituality is in connection with the transcendent existence, belief in the invisible, and the
development of human beings through the maze of life and adjusting the personal life based on the
interaction with this transcendent existence and perceiving its Permanente attendance in a divine
meaningful, organized and oriented essence. This aspect of human's existence is indigenous and
evolves through the religion rituals and practices.
Spiritual intelligence helps us to find solutions based on the state, meaning and value of
problems. This intelligence enables us make our activities meaningful and evaluate our performances.
It also aids us to perceive which of our acts and behaviors are more valid and which direction in our
lives is more perfect and transcendental to be selected as the life pattern. Trusting the almighty
divinity helps couples to relay on a secure support and have more trust on their mates, and to
eliminate their affective problems by trusting each other. Singh and Sinha (2013) investigated the
impact of spiritual intelligence on life quality. The findings indicated that those receiving training of
spiritual intelligence, compared to the control group, had higher levels of life quality and felt more
intimacy with their spouses. This increase in the level of life quality was significant in long-term.
This study had some limitations that should be mentioned. First, it was performed on only one
gender (women). Second, the training duration was short (2 months) and without follow up to control
the effect of training on obtained results. Additionally, some demographic features (social-culturaleconomic statutes, and studies) of the participants were not specified since they did not accept to
unfold them, although having this information could enhance the findings validity. Hereupon, it is
suggested that future researches be performed on both genders to increase findings validity and their
generalization to the whole society. The other offer is to administer fallow up after the training protocol
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performance with the aim of assessing the results reliability. Obtaining complete demographic
information in order to monitor the training effect and enhance the findings validity is also proposed.
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