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A Match Made in Heaven? Religion-Based Marriage Decisions, Marital Quality, and the Moderating Effects of Spouse’s Religious Commitment

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  • Samuel Perry

Abstract

Studies examining the persistent link between religion and martial quality have focused exclusively on religion’s within-marriage influence on spousal attitudes and behaviors. The current study shifts the focus to examine how religion’s influence on pre-marital choices holds potential returns to marital quality, and under what conditions of spousal religiosity. Utilizing data from the 2006 Portraits of American Life Study, I examine how several key measures of marriage quality are affected by religious influences on the marriage decision; the religious commitment of one’s spouse; and interactions between these two factors. Multivariate analyses reveal that religion’s influence on the marriage decision does not directly predict respondents’ relationship-satisfaction or their spouse’s loving or hurtful behaviors, while the importance of religion to one’s spouse is strongly associated with all these marital outcomes. Interaction effects reveal that spouse’s religiosity does not greatly influence marital quality among persons whose marriage decision was uninfluenced by religion. However, among persons for whom religion figured prominently in their marriage decision, those with less-religious spouses experienced negative marital outcomes, while those with more-religious spouses reported positive marital outcomes. Pre-marriage religious influences thus predict higher marital quality under the conditions that persons for whom religion greatly influenced their marriage-decision are able to marry religiously-committed spouses. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

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  • Samuel Perry, 2015. "A Match Made in Heaven? Religion-Based Marriage Decisions, Marital Quality, and the Moderating Effects of Spouse’s Religious Commitment," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 123(1), pages 203-225, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:123:y:2015:i:1:p:203-225
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-014-0730-7
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Evelyn L. Lehrer, 2004. "Religion as a Determinant of Economic and Demographic Behavior in the United States," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 30(4), pages 707-726, December.
    2. Evelyn Lehrer & Carmel Chiswick, 1993. "Religion as a determinant of marital stability," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 30(3), pages 385-404, August.
    3. Linda J. Waite & Evelyn L. Lehrer, 2003. "The Benefits from Marriage and Religion in the United States: A Comparative Analysis," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 29(2), pages 255-275, June.
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    1. Naiwei Chen & Ho-Chyuan Chen, 2021. "Religion, Marriage and Happiness – Evidence from Taiwan," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 16(1), pages 259-299, February.

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