Religiousness and Unfaithfulness essay
Building a family is not an easy task. There are myriads of problems undermining healthy relationships, and very often it is rather hard to cope with them all without assistance from the outside. Social scientists thus continuously scrutinize various factors affecting family relationships. One of such controversial factors is religion. Multiple studies have been devoted to the links between religious involvement and a wide range of family implications. However, some of the aspects remain understudied, and extramarital sexual behavior is among those aspects. This aspect seems to be important as long as almost every religion throughout the globe is concerned of sexual activities, their interpretation and management within a community (Marks et al., 2011, p. 231). It is revealed that sexual infidelity is often a cause or a motive for divorce, domestic violence, spousal dissatisfaction, and marital conflicts as well as other socially disturbing difficulties. Association between religious activities and infidelity presents a substantial gap in scholar circles, so each relevant research may become a valuable springboard to move forward.
Varied aspects of family life have proved to be influenced by a multidimensional set of religious factors. Therefore, different researchers focus on different religious factors. Some of them concentrate their attention on faith itself; others refer to affiliation, church attendance, and participation,; still others base their analysis on biblical beliefs. Fincham et al. (2010) investigate how infidelity is influenced by faith itself. In particular, they focus on the faith practiced in praying. “Because religion and/or spirituality is integral to the lives of a majority of the world population, we conducted 3 studies on the role of prayer in romantic relationships,” they explain (Fincham et al., 2010, p. 649). As opposed to the above ideas, Atkins & Kessel (2008) stress that attendance is more related to the problem. their study to the Dollahite & Lambert (2007) broaden their focus and try to embrace different types of religious involvement. “A religious community is likely to be influential in an involved individual’s life due to the clarity of a religious group’s beliefs, the frequency of sustained interaction of most religious groups, and the likelihood of similarity in status attributes and beliefs an individual would share with other adherents,” they note (Dollahite & Lambert, 2007, p. 304).
“Sexuality is an omnipresent concern of religious groups, and religious proscriptions against extramarital sexual activity have been the source of considerable public discourse in the United States in the last decade” (Burdette et al., 2007, p. 1553). This statement proves that this field is worth of attention and at the same time seems to have received limited attention. It is quire worthy of note that there is hardly any religious group or tradition that would encourage extramarital sexual relations. Still, the strength of the fixed norms may differ and therefore the type of religious group should be considered during research. Some of them even try to introduce policy reforms for strengthening marital bonds (e.g., covenant marriage). Burdette et al. (2007) examine conservative Protestants and Catholics as the strongest and most wide-spread confessions in the United States.
Actually, there are several ways in which faith and religious participation influence behavioral patterns in marriage. On the one hand, affiliation creates a feeling of fear and shame in front of the religious community one refers to. Marital sexuality may be potentially controlled by the group. At the same time, regular attendance is associated with “lower opportunities for extramarital sex and raise the likelihood and costs of detection” (Burdette et al., 2007, p. 1554). The stigmas are heightened and the internal discomfort becomes associated with the prospect of straying. Further, religious groups are reported to provide consolidated social ties among members and marriage with nonmembers is discouraged. What is more, less time is left for flirting and adultery if a person is engaged in regular religious activities, including prayer (Fincham et al., 2010, p. 655). Finally, religion is influential in the aftermath of infidelity, as the sense of betrayal may be exacerbated (Dollahite & Lambert, 2007, p. 300).
As for the methods, the research is mainly based on self-reported marital behavior. Various surveys are processed to get a comprehensive image. Among them 1991-2004 General Social Surveys are. Among other aspects, these surveys definitely associate religious factors with the likelihood of marital infidelity, with lower odds of self-reported infidelity if to be more precise. Fincham et al. (2010) have conducted three studies. The participants spent 4-6 weeks praying for their partners. Dollahite & Lambert (2007) have conducted several in-depth interviews with 57 married couples. These were highly religious representatives of Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Burdette et al. (2007) offer comprehensive measurements of religious affiliation as a basis for denominational variations in the odds of marital infidelity examination. Specific forms of religious commitment are investigated as well. They measure marital infidelity via responses to the question “Have you ever had sex with someone other than your husband or wife while you were married?” The results of questionnaire are presented through a series of logistic regression models. Schafer (2011) utilizes dual-process theory to compare and contrast religious factors against rational and relational factors.
Fincham et al. (2010) come up with the conclusion that regular praying for the partner is associated with lower levels of extradyadic romantic behavior. Atkins & Kessel (2008, p. 407), though, reveal that “individuals with high religious importance but low attendance were more likely to have had an affair and weak evidence that marital happiness moderated the association between religiousness and infidelity.” According to the responds of the interviewees, faith and religious practice sanctifies marriage and improves its quality; marital commitment to fidelity is fortified through religious vows and involvement; moral values of couples are strengthened and infidelity is rare because of the fear to displease God (Dollahite & Lambert, 2007, p. 304). Burdette et al. (2007) test several hypotheses and come up with the following conclusions: the representatives of conservative Protestant affiliations and the Catholics are less likely to get involved in extramarital sexual ties, then families with no religious affiliation; the importance of marital fidelity is reinforced through the belief in the supernatural consequences of deviation; the more frequent the church attendance is, the less the likelihood of marital infidelity is. Schafer (2011), however, argues with the significance of religious affiliation and shows that relational experience of individuals matters more.
In this way, the review of contemporary scholar sources shows that religion plays a significant role in shaping marital life. However, the outcomes of studies are sometimes controversial as religious involvement is a multidimensional construct and some of the background factors (social and demographic characteristics etc.) are missed or misinterpreted. Still, literature review provides enough sound theoretical reasons for more specified research.
