The Role of Religion in Union Formation

Evelyn Lehrer, University of Illinois at Chicago

Previous research has shown that the faith in which a young woman is brought up has important effects on various dimensions of economic and demographic behavior, including educational attainment, fertility, employment, and the perceived costs of pre-marital sex and divorce. Based on this evidence, the present paper develops hypotheses regarding patterns of entry into marriage and cohabitation for the main religious groups in the United States: ecumenical Protestants, exclusivist Protestants, Catholics, Mormons, Jews, and the unaffiliated. The hypotheses are tested using data from the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth. The paper also examines how religious participation during the formative years affects the linkage between religious affiliation and entry into first union.

Presented in Session 15: Psychological Causes and Consequences of Marital Transitions