Religion as a determinant of marital stability

Abstract

Although a growing literature on the determinants of marital stability has accumulated over the past two decades (e.g., Becker et al. 1977; Castro-Martin and Bumpass 1989; Schultz 1991), the role of the religious affiliations of husband and wife has received little attention.1 This issue has not been studied in depth in part because until recently, there were no large data sets containing for each partner detailed information on both religion and marital history. The National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH), conducted in 1987-88, provides a unique opportunity to quantify the effects of religion on the likelihood of marital dissolution.2 The survey includes a main sample of 9,643 men and women of all marital statuses, representative of the US population age 19 and over. In addition to abundant socioeconomic and demographic information for the respondents and their first spouses (where applicable), the survey documents marital histories as well as the religious identification of each partner, before and after the respondent’s first marriage.3

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