Background & objectives: Stress and difficult conditions in some occupations (e.g.nursing) severely impaire marital and family relations. The present study aims to investigate the role of psychological hardiness, Islamic optimism and patience in predicting marital satisfaction of female nurses.

Methods: This research was a descriptive cross-sectional study. The research population included all married female nurses working in Ardabil governmental hospitals where 144 female nurses were selected by multistage cluster sampling method in 2014. Standard questionnaires were used for data collection. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics consisting of pearson correlation coefficient and multiple regressions using SPSS v.16.

Results: The results showed that psychological hardiness (r=0.49), Islamic optimism (r=0.43) and patience (r=041) have significant positive relationships with marital satisfaction. Multiple regression analysis showed that 34.6% of nurses' marital satisfaction is explained by psychological hardiness, optimism and patience (p<0.001).

Conclusion: Based on the findings, conflicts in married nurses' life can be controlled by training and strengthening psychological hardiness, optimism and patience, and avoiding interference of occupational stress on family and marital relationships by adopting these psychological approaches.