Introduction to the special section on religion and spirituality in family life: Delving into relational spirituality for couples

In light of the ongoing salience of spirituality and religion for individuals across the globe, this special section presents four rigorous empirical studies that tie conceptually based and potentially malleable spiritual constructs to better marital functioning. These studies exemplify an emerging subfield called Relational Spirituality, which focuses on the ways that couples can draw on specific spiritual cognitions and behaviors to motivate them to create, maintain, and transform their unions (Mahoney, 2010, 2013). In this introduction, we first provide a thumbnail sketch of the past 3 decades of empirical research in this area. We then summarize compelling findings from the 4 articles in this special section about 3 constructs that appear to enhance married heterosexuals' relationship dynamics: petitionary prayer for partner, spiritual intimacy, and the sanctification of marriage. In addition, religious/spiritual coping was shown to have promise as a construct relevant to couples' functioning. Finally, our introduction highlights that future research is needed to extend current findings to diverse samples and to uncover spiritual constructs that can harm couples' relationships, particularly couples in distress.