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Religion and Decisions About Marriage, Residence, Occupation, and Children
Author(s) -
Sigalow Emily,
Shain Michelle,
Bergey Meredith R.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal for the scientific study of religion
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.941
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1468-5906
pISSN - 0021-8294
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-5906.2012.01641.x
Subject(s) - faith , residence , perception , portrait , social psychology , sociology , psychology , demography , theology , geography , philosophy , archaeology , neuroscience
Using data from the first wave of the Portraits of American Life Study (PALS), we consider the extent to which people report that religious factors influence their decisions about career choice, marriage, residency, and number of children. We find significant positive relationships between the importance of religion or religious faith and the perceived influence of religious factors on one's choice of occupation, decision about whether or whom to marry, decision about where to live, and decision about how many children to have. We also observe significant interactions between the importance of religion or religious faith and religious tradition, but we find no consistent patterns across our decision‐making outcomes. Our preliminary conclusions raise significant questions about the broader relationship between religion, perception, and decision making.