Changing Patterns of Religious Affiliation, Religiosity, and Marital Dissolution: A 35-Year Study of Three-Generation Families

Abstract

This article examines multiple aspects of religion and the risk of marital dissolution with a life course lens. Relying on the Longitudinal Study of Generations (LSOG), 1971 to 2005, we explore the effects of religion on the risk of first marital dissolution. Using discrete time-logit analysis, we find that the effect of religion and religiosity on divorce and separation were not significant, after controlling for sociodemographic factors, such as gender, ethnicity, marriage cohort, education, presence of children, household income, and employment status. Our findings support exchange theory that emphasizes educational and financial resources as key factors in divorce rather than religion or religiosity.

Keywords:

• life course
• Longitudinal Study of Generations
• marital dissolution
• religiosity
• religious affiliation

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This study uses data from the University of Southern California (USC) LSOG funded by grants from the National Institute on Aging. Information on the LSOG data is available on the National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging (NACDA) website, located in ICPSR (http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/NACDA/studies/22100). We are grateful to the team of the USC LSOG for releasing data collected in 2005 (Wave 8). A special thanks to Merril Silverstein. Adebiyi Germain Boco received financial support from USC and Brigham Young University to attend a data training and user workshop for the LSOG, July 25–27, 2012, Park City, UT. We thank Gary Horlacher for helpful conversations. We also thank Aafke Komter and participants of the CFR conference “New Family Forms Following Family Dissolution: Consequences in/on Postmodern Society,” Leuven, Belgium, September 12–14, 2012, for valuable comments on an early version of this article. A preliminary version of this article was presented at the Graduate Students’ Association annual multidisciplinary research conference, University of Lethbridge, March 16, 2013. Any errors in the article are ours alone.