The current study utilized a qualitative approach to identify the specific processes and principles that promote stability and happiness in exemplary interfaith marriages. In-depth interviews were conducted with 32 interfaith couples (N = 63) that had been recruited through purposive sampling who reported being happily married on average 20 years. Six core themes were identified through team-based systematic analysis using NVivo 12. Many couples reported several significant challenges because of their religious differences, as discussed in our first theme. We organized the five themes regarding how couples navigated religious differences into the AFFIRM model. That is, the adaptive processes and principles we identified in these interfaith couples were that they (a) Assisted and supported each other's practices and beliefs, (b) Focused on similarities of belief, (c) Fostered religious Intimacy and understanding, (d) Respected each other's religious choices, and (e) made Marriage their first and highest priority. Differences in challenges and processes between couples that were interfaith throughout their entire marriage and couples that diverged in faith during their marriage were tested using t-tests and Fisher's exact tests. Clinical implications and directions for future research are discussed.

The relationship between two types of religiousness (progressive and orthodox) and marital relationships was investigated using qualitative data from a sample of 26 Christian couples (13 progressive and 39 orthodox individuals) from California and New England. The focus of the study was individuals' frameworks of values and goals (moral order) and the ontological views behind them. Text analysis, t-tests for between-group differences of coded results, and phenomenological analysis were used. Results indicated that couples in the progressive group had Non-transcendent Selfhood as a basic moral order and engaged in mutual loving-kindness to respect and care for each other primarily in the form of a horizontal marital relationship. The couples in the orthodox group had Transcendent God Primacy as a basic moral order and, in addition to loving-kindness (horizontal relationship) toward the spouse, engaged in Transcendent Religious Striving (a vertical movement) as their main religious activity. Spouses in the orthodox group supported, strengthened, and shared the striving of each other. The substantive difference found in the types of being religious and their effects on marital relationships extends the understanding of the link between religion and marriage.