Religion and Attitudes on Moral Issues: Effects of Individual, Spouse and Parental Characteristics

Abstract

Previous research on the explanation of moral attitudes has been restricted to individual characteristics of the respondents. In this article we take account of the trivial fact that respondents are surrounded by people in their primary networks who may affect their moral attitudes as well. The crucial question then becomes; Which individual characteristics affect one's moral attitudes, respectively, which characteristics of people belonging to the individual's network (spouse, parents, and parents-in-law) affect the individual's more attitudes ? We perform multivariate (LISREL) analyses, using national family data representative of the Dutch population. In line with previous research we find that the effects of individual religious characteristics (religious involvement and religious beliefs) outweigh the effects of other characteristics (educational level and personal income) on the respondent's moral attitudes. Moreover, we find additional direct effects of spousal characteristics on the respondent's moral attitudes. These findings indicate that people in the respondent's networks contribute to the explanation of one's attitudes on moral issues.