Non-Religious Couples Remain at Higher Risk of Domestic Abuse

With domestic violence erupting as a major national health problem, a new study discovered a factor that helps prevent blow ups from coming to blows: Men who attend religious services weekly are three times less likely to strike their wives than those who attend once a year or less.

In this national survey of more than 2,420 couples that studied physical abuse by either men or women, regularly attending religious services lowered risks of domestic violence for both, even after taking into account other variables that increase risk, like unemployment or educational differences.

Other studies show physical violence erupts among 28 percent of couples at some point, and severe violence plagues three to 10 percent of intimate relationships, the research team noted.

Yet when studying factors that might either contribute to domestic violence or protect partners from it, "religion has been virtually ignored by researchers," noted lead study author Dr. Christopher Ellison of the University of Texas at Austin.

Why might religiously active couples be less likely to come to blows?

"Through public and private religious activities, partners may cultivate a sense of purpose and values centered on loving and caring and on the needs and welfare of others," suggested the research team. Also, other studies have found religious attendance linked with more enduring marriages and higher marital quality in terms of satisfaction, happiness and adjustment.

"Research on stress has also shown persons who attend religious services regularly report lower levels of psychological distress, which might also contribute to lower rates of domestic violence," commented Dr. David Larson, president of the National Institute for Healthcare Research.

What puts couples at greater risk for domestic abuse?

Although income per se was unrelated to violence, "unemployment is a very strong predictor of abuse by men but appears unrelated to female [perpetuated] violence," the researchers stated. "For men the odds of violence also rise as the woman's share of the couple's earnings increases," they noted. However, relative earning power is unrelated to violence by women.

"Our study contributes to mounting evidence that educational differences among partners may increase the risk of abuse," stated the researchers. In couples in which men are much better educated, women are less likely to commit violence, but men are more likely.

The study also found that men who hold much more conservative religious views than their theologically liberal partners were twice as likely to physically abuse the women than men who had partners who held similar religious views. Perhaps this religious disparity reflected conflict in values and lifestyles, increasing the risk of conflict and violence, the researchers suggested.

Younger couples were more likely to report abuse. "The odds of domestic violence decrease substantially with age for men and women alike," the study found.

Finding that attending religious services weekly cuts domestic violence, the researchers concluded, "Clearly, future research is need to identify what, if anything, about personal religious commitment or congregational life may reduce the risk of domestic abuse and to explain why unchurched individuals may be disproportionately likely to engage in partner violence."

Reference: Ellison, C. G., Bartowski, J.P., Anderson, K.L. "Are There Religious Variations in Domestic Violence?" Journal of Family Issues 1999; 20(1): 87-113.