Are There Religious Variations in Marital Infidelity?
Amy M. Burdette Carolina Population Center, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, burdamy{at}prc.utexas.edu’ + u + ‘@’ + d + ”//–> Christopher G. Ellison The University of Texas at Austin Darren E. Sherkat Southern Illinois University, Carbondale Kurt A. Gore The University of Texas at Austin Although previous scholarship has examined the relationship between religious involvement and a wide range of family outcomes, the relationship between religion and extramarital sexual behavior remains understudied. The authors investigate how religious affiliation, participation, and biblical beliefs explain differences in self-reported marital infidelity. This study examines data from the 1991-2004 General Social Surveys and finds that religious factors are associated with the likelihood of marital infidelity. Both church attendance and biblical beliefs are associated with lower odds of self-reported infidelity. Additionally, the authors find substantial denominational variations in
