Religiosity and Marital Stability Among Black American and White American Couples

Abstract: We examine the effects of subjective and organizational religious participation on marital stability over time for urban Black American couples and White American couples who participated in a longitudinal project. Our findings indicated that the role religiosity plays in the stability of marriage over time varied by gender and race. Black husbands and wives reported that religion was more important to them and that they attended religious services more frequently than White husbands and wives. Greater service attendance was predictive of decreased odds of divorce, only when reported by wives. Interaction effects revealed that the effect was more notable among White wives. Practitioners should consider the diversity between and within couples and the sociohistorical contexts in which marriages are embedded. Key Words: gender, marital stability, race, religiosity. Introduction The literature on marriage is dominated by research examining the factors that lead to marital instability or divorce/separation. Although there is a lack of consensus about the specific factors associated with divorce, a number of researchers have focused on the objective social and economic conditions that are related to marital stability (Orbuch, House, Mero, & Webster, 1996; White & Edwards, 1990). More recently, there has been an interest in the role that religiosity plays in the stability of marital relations (Mahoney, Pargament, Tarakeshwar, & Swank, 2001). Religiosity is typically assessed via subjective religious participation (religious beliefs) and organizational religious participation (service attendance) (Pargament, 1997); both aspects of religiosity may be resources that contribute to marital stability among couples-particularly for Black Americans (Sherkat & Ellison, 1999). For example, Wilson and Musick (1996) provided evidence that greater subjective and organizational religious participation was associated with enhanced family functioning and higher marital satisfaction. Furthermore, Call and Heaton (1997) found that when spouses participated in organizational religious activities together, couples were less likely to divorce over time. Although most religious doctrines and congregations promote attitudes for the sanctity of marriage (Bumpass & Sweet, 1972; Hodge, 1996), with the underlying assumption that religious participation may encourage couples to remain married and avoid divorce, we acknowledge that divorce is not always bad or unwarranted. In this study, we examined the links between religiosity and marital stability over the first 7 years of marriage for a representative sample of urban Black American couples and White American couples who participated in a longitudinal project. The proposed research had two specific goals. First, we examined whether there were gender and racial differences in subjective and organizational religious participation among Black American and White American couples. We also assessed the perceptions of each spouse regarding the joint service attendance with the other spouse (homogeneity of organizational religious participation). Second, we were interested in whether subjective and organizational religious participation were predictors of marital stability over time. For this later objective, we theorized that the processes may differ by gender and race. Theoretical Framework Theoretical work by Ellison and his colleagues (see Ellison & Levin, 1998; Sherkat & Ellison, 1999) illuminates the role that religiosity may play in the stability of marriages over time. On the basis of the themes oudined by Durkeim (1965), Ellison (1991) proposed several mechanisms or explanations for how religiosity may lead to increased coping and well-being during stressful life events. More specifically, he argued that interactions with religious networks and the internalization of religious beliefs were two components of religious social capital necessary to effectively deal with stress (Ellison & Levin). …