The Perpetration of Abuse in Intimate Relationships: Does Religion Make a Difference?

Abstract

This chapter examines the relationship between religion and perpetration of intimate partner violence and abuse. The chapter opens with a brief overview of the problem, including several risk factors that have been examined extensively in empirical research. Very little research has examined how religion may affect likelihood of intimate partner violence and abuse perpetration; despite the fact that there are several reasons to hypothesize that religion could serve as either a protective or a risk factor. We focus largely on the religiosity construct and review the research literature on religiosity and intimate partner violence and abuse, noting the limitations of many of the studies, including narrow operationalizations of religiosity. We then turn to an examination of studies that use multidimensional measures of religiosity as well as research that indicates that religiosity per se is less important in predicting intimate partner violence and abuse perpetration than is style of religious self-regulation, that is, introjected versus identified religious self-regulation. We highlight some of the critical gaps in empirical research on the relationship between religion and intimate partner violence and abuse perpetration and identify directions for future research in this area.