Race/ethnicity, religious involvement, and domestic violence

Violence Against Women. 2007 Nov;13(11):1094-112. doi: 10.1177/1077801207308259.

Abstract

The authors explored the relationship between religious involvement and intimate partner violence by analyzing data from the first wave of the National Survey of Families and Households. They found that: (a) religious involvement is correlated with reduced levels of domestic violence; (b) levels of domestic violence vary by race/ethnicity; (c) the effects of religious involvement on domestic violence vary by race/ethnicity; and (d) religious involvement, specifically church attendance, protects against domestic violence, and this protective effect is stronger for African American men and women and for Hispanic men, groups that, for a variety of reasons, experience elevated risk for this type of violence.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Attitude to Health / ethnology*
  • Confidence Intervals
  • Cross-Cultural Comparison
  • Cultural Characteristics
  • Domestic Violence / ethnology*
  • Ethnicity / statistics & numerical data*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Interpersonal Relations
  • Logistic Models
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Odds Ratio
  • Religion and Psychology*
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Women's Health / ethnology*