Better together: religious-based relationships and communal coping among older African American couples

Disparities in relational stressors highlight the need to understand how older African Americans establish enduring romantic relationships. The current study examined the association between religious-based romantic relationships and communal coping among married and cohabiting older African American couples. Participants were 194 African American couples wherein both partners were at least 50 years of age or older. Participants completed measures assessing religion within their relationship and communal coping, and data were evaluated using the Actor Partner Interdependence Model. Men's religious-based relational views were associated with their own communal coping and the communal coping of their female partner. Higher levels of religious-based views among men contributed to more frequent experiences of communal coping in their romantic relationship. There were no significant effects between women's religious-based relational views in association with either women's or men's communal coping. Results indicate that men who perceive their romantic relationship as having religious-based significance may be more likely to engage in communal coping and more likely to benefit from their partner's communal coping. These findings can be used to inform efforts designed to improve the relational bonds within romantic older African American relationships.