Personality Traits and Spouse Selection in Young Adults: The Mediating Role of Religiosity

The study investigated the association between personality traits, religiosity, and spouse selection in young adults. This cross-sectional research included 230 participants(men = 113, women = 117) aged 18-35 years (Mage= 22.3, SDage= 3.01), recruited in-person using a non-probability convenient sampling strategy. Participants filled out a demographic information sheet and completed English versions of the Ten Item Personality Inventory (Gosling et al., 2003), Religious Commitment Inventory-10 (Worthington et al., 2003), and Preference Criteria of Spouse Selection Inventory (Refahi et al., 2010). Data was analyzed using SPSS version 23.00 and Process Macro version 4.2. The findings revealed that process criteria of spouse selection positively correlated with religiosity, extraversion, conscientiousness, and agreeableness, but showed a negative association with neuroticism. Conversely, the content criteria of spouse selection showed negative associations with religiosity, extraversion, conscientiousness, and agreeableness, while positively correlating with neuroticism and openness to experiences. Furthermore, religiosity, extraversion, and agreeableness predicted both spouse selection criteria, with openness only predicting content criteria. Moreover, all personality traits indirectly influenced both spouse selection criteria through religiosity. This study has implications for academia and marital counseling, offering insights that could guide young adults in making informed and value-aligned marital decisions.