Religious Homogamy and Marital Satisfaction Reconsidered

Abstract

The relationship between religious homogamy and marital satisfaction is examined utilizing log-linear models. Inclusion of the separate effects of husband's and wife's religion on marital satisfaction allows us to control for the potentially spurious relationship between religious affiliation and marital satisfaction. Results indicate that homogamous marriages are more satisfying. In order to test the hypothesis that dissatisfaction in heterogeneous marriages arises over conflict regarding socialization of children, the presence of children is included. The hypothesis is discounted, since the homogamy effect remains significant. When frequency of religious attendance is included, however, the homogamy effect becomes nonsignificant, suggesting that patterns of religious involvement underlie higher satisfaction within homogamous marriages. In this report the relationship between religious homogamy and marital satisfaction is examined, and possible explanations for that relationship are explored. In one of the most recent analyses of interreligious marriage, Glenn (1982) finds evidence that religiously homogamous marriages are characterized by greater marital happiness than are heterogamous marriages. Males, in particular, reported greater marital satisfaction in homogamous marriages, and the difference in the percentage reporting a high level of marital status between homogamous and heterogamous marriages was statistically significant at the .10 level, even after controlling other factors. The difference for females, however, was not significant. Glenn suggested that the homogamy effect is more salient among men because children generally adopt religious values of their mothers, so that heterogamous marriages are more apt to create conflict between fathers and children than between mothers and children. Implicit in this explanation is the notion that the religious identification of children is a major source of strain in heterogamous marriages.