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Religiousness and Infidelity: Attendance, but not Faith and Prayer, Predict Marital Fidelity
Article first published online: 7 APR 2008
DOI: 10.1111/j.1741-3737.2008.00490.x
© National Council on Family Relations, 2008
Additional Information
How to Cite
Atkins, D. C. and Kessel, D. E. (2008), Religiousness and Infidelity: Attendance, but not Faith and Prayer, Predict Marital Fidelity. Journal of Marriage and Family, 70: 407–418. doi: 10.1111/j.1741-3737.2008.00490.x
Publication History
- Issue published online: 7 APR 2008
- Article first published online: 7 APR 2008
- Abstract
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Keywords:
- general social surveys;
- infidelity;
- religiousness
High religiousness has been consistently linked with a decreased likelihood of past infidelity but has been solely defined by religious service attendance, a limited assessment of a complex facet of life. The current study developed nine religiousness subscales using items from the 1998 General Social Survey to more fully explore the association between religiousness and infidelity. Interestingly, logistic regressions using currently married participants (N= 1,439) demonstrated that attendance, but not faith, nearness to God, prayer, and other religious attributes, was related to infidelity. Exploratory analyses also found that individuals with high religious importance but low attendance were more likely to have had an affair and weak evidence that marital happiness moderated the association between religiousness and infidelity.