The authors of this Danish study- Willem R.J. Vermeulen, Mioara Zoutewelle-Terovan, Niels Kooiman and Aart C. Liefbroer- sum up some of their findings in their wrap-up of the paper.
For married couples, we found that, when all other couple characteristics are the
Religion and union dissolution: Effects of couple
same, religiously affiliated couples are less likely to divorce than religiously unaffiliated
couples. Moreover, religiously affiliated couples who visit religious gatherings are less
likely to divorce than those who visit religious gatherings less regularly. These findings
support the traditionalist model: The more religious couples are, the more they adhere to
traditional norms of the uniqueness of marriage. As we reasoned in H1, there is a couplelevel effect: More religious couples are less likely to divorce than less religious couples.
and municipal religiosity on divorce and
separation
Although Lyman Stone, in his tweet, attributes the success of marriage in religious communities to social support mechanisms, the authors do not. They only note:
We can think of two main explanations for this finding. First,
couples who are more integrated into a religious community may experience higher levels
of social control (external pressure). Second, a self-selection effect may be present.
It’s odd to me that people default to power and control versus economics. I’ll bet if they looked just a wee bit into the lives of the religiously affiliated they would find that their daily routines, their weekly commitments which undoubtedly incorporate others from the church community, run somewhat smoother. And if a system of living makes you better off, you are more likely to nurture it and stay committed to it.
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