Religious beliefs and practices and Catholic couples' management of anger and conflict

Grounded theory techniques and Repertory Grids were used in a qualitative s tudy to generate and analyse material from 20 Catholics each interviewed tw ice. Religious practices increased the amount of intrapersonal 'space' avai lable by acting physiologically, cognitively and affectively to reduce the intensity of anger experienced and to support couples in taking responsibil ity for their own part in a conflict. Couples could also regulate the inter personal space between them by detouring their anger to God, and by finding support for both the avoidance and confrontation of conflict through relig ious beliefs. The relationship with God had an interactive and compensatory role in relation to the marital relationship. Changes in religious beliefs or marital relationship dynamics were not always neatly integrated and amb ivalence over anger and conflict sometimes resulted and manifested in disco rdance between the spousal and God relationships. Copyright (C) 2000 John W iley & Sons, Ltd.