1999/01/01 by Christopher G. Ellison, John P. Bartkowski, Kristin L. Anderson · 3 citations
Social Sciences · #Intimate Partner and Family Violence #Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology #Religion, Society, and Development
paper · doi:10.1177/019251399020001005
openalex publication_date 1999/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/14
Religious variations in domestic violence remain understudied. Arguments are developed linking aspects of religious affiliation, practice, theology, and couples' religious (dis)similarities with domestic violence. These relationships are then examined via gender-specific models of data from the first wave of the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH-1). The authors find that regular attendance at religious services is inversely associated with self-reported perpetration of domestic violence for men and women. Denominational homogamy (i.e., same-faith vs. mixed-faith relationships) has little bearing on the likelihood of abuse. Other forms of religious dissimilarity do appear to heighten the risk of abuse. In particular, men who hold much more conservative theological views than their partners are especially likely to perpetrate domestic violence. The implications of these and other findings are discussed, and several promising directions for further research are identified.