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Chris Esselmont, Alex Bierman, Marital Formation and Infidelity: An Examination of the Multiple Roles of Religious Factors, Sociology of Religion, Volume 75, Issue 3, AUTUMN 2014, Pages 463–487, https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/sru036
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Abstract
Research increasingly shows that religion is a potent resource for family functioning, but less research has examined how religion may influence marital infidelity. Marital fidelity is important to examine because it is a critical aspect of healthy functioning within marriage. In this research, we examine how the use of religion as a basis for marital formation is related to the probability of subsequent sexual infidelity using a probability sample of Judeo-Christians from the United States. We find that personal aspects of religiosity, such as religious importance and beliefs in biblical inerrancy, bolster an inverse relationship between religiously based marital formation and sexual infidelity, while attendance at religious services does not moderate this relationship. This study shows that individuals are more likely to be faithful when marriages are formed on a religious basis, but only when these individuals also possess a strong degree of personal religiosity.