The Relationship Between Women’s Age and Marital Adjustment in the First Five Years of Marriage: The Mediating Role of Psychological Hardiness and Religious Orientation

The present study aimed to investigate the mediating role of psychological hardiness and religious orientation in the relationship between women’s age and marital adjustment during the first five years of marriage. The research method was descriptive and correlational. The statistical population included all married female students at Islamic Azad University of Mashhad in May 2024, whose marriage duration was less than five years. A total of 214 participants were selected using the available sampling method. Data collection tools included a demographic questionnaire, the Psychological Hardiness Scale by Kobasa et al. (2002), the Dyadic Adjustment Scale by Spanier (1976), and the Religious Orientation Scale by Allport and Ross (1950). Data analysis was conducted using Pearson correlation and path analysis with SPSS 22 and AMOS 22 software. The results showed that age had a direct relationship with marital adjustment and an indirect relationship through religious orientation (p-value < 0.05). However, age did not have an indirect relationship with marital adjustment through psychological hardiness (p-value > 0.05). Based on these findings, it can be concluded that the relationship between women’s age and marital adjustment is not a simple linear one, and religious orientation can play a mediating role in this relationship.