Religion and union dissolution: Effects of couple and municipal religiosity on divorce and separation

Abstract

BACKGROUND Several theoretical models argue that divorce risks depend on an individual’s level of religiosity and the level of religiosity in this individual’s spatial context. However, it remains unclear whether the same relationship holds for couples and whether the strength of the effect of couple-level religiosity depends on the level of religiosity in the context (a so-called cross-level interaction effect). Moreover, we lack considerable knowledge about whether such effects also apply to the dissolution of unmarried cohabitations.