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Religion in Domestic Violence Prevention PSAs: The Role of Religiosity in Motivating Christian Bystanders to Intervene
Author(s) -
La Ferle Carrie,
Muralidharan Sidharth
Publication year - 2019
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/jssr.12624
Subject(s) - religiosity , prayer , church attendance , faith , social psychology , religious identity , respondent , attendance , psychology , sociology , political science , law , theology , philosophy
Domestic violence is an ongoing health issue around the world, propelling individuals and organizations to seek out new and innovative ways to mitigate its widespread reach. Focusing on the potential of religion to positively impact messaging, the current study examines how Christian symbolism might be used to encourage intervention behavior using public service announcements (PSAs). Using a between‐subjects design of Christian Americans as the respondent pool, a religious symbol versus a control ad was utilized. Levels of religiosity were also measured and factors impacting the construct assessed. Findings revealed religiosity, the importance of religion in one's life, was the underlying motivator for highly religious people to act rather than a religious cue. Within religiosity, the perceived strength of faith to one's identity held greater value than church attendance and frequency of prayer. Theoretical implications are discussed as well as insights for people working in public service messaging.