Social scientists have long been interested in how cultural and structural characteristics shape individuals’ actions. We investigate this relationship by examining how macro- and micro-level religious effects shape individuals’ reports of premarital and extramarital sex. We look at how identifying with one of the major world religions—Islam, Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism, or Judaism—and living in a nation with a Muslim culture shape the likelihood of sex outside of marriage. Using hierarchical modeling techniques and cross-national data from the Demographic and Health Surveys, we find that ever married Hindus and Muslims are less likely to report having had premarital sex than are ever married Jews and Christians, and an earlier age at marriage does not appear to explain the relationship. Married Muslims are also less likely than affiliates of all other religions, except Buddhists, to report extramarital sex. The percentage Muslim within a nation decreases the odds of reports of premarital sex and this relationship is not explained by restrictions on women’s mobility. These findings contribute to research on religion, culture, policy, and health, as well as our understanding of the macro-micro relationship.

Since the founding of the discipline, sociologists have been interested in how cultural contexts shape individuals’ actions. Whereas Marx and Durkheim were largely interested in how surrounding culture and structures shape actions, Weber focused on how individuals’ actions combine to shape the culture. In the past 30 years, much theoretical attention has been devoted to understanding the relationship between cultural or structural characteristics and individuals’ actions (Blau 2002; Coleman 1986; Collins 1981; Ritzer 1990). This is known as the macro-micro link. To provide insight into the macro-micro relationship, contemporary researchers have focused on a variety of different types of cultures and structures, including inequality and economics (Collins 2000; Granovetter 1985; Huber 1990). After 9/11, religion received renewed attention as a potent micro belief system and macro cultural force that can powerfully shape individuals’ attitudes (Finke and Adamczyk 2008; Inglehart and Norris 2003; Scheepers, Te Grotenhuis, and Van Der Slik 2002). Some of these research findings echo Huntington’s (1993) controversial thesis that after the Cold War, the world’s new dividing line is between Islam and the West (i.e., North America and Western Europe).

Despite the discourse about religious divisions, scholars have given limited attention to understanding differences in behaviors resulting from adherence to the major world religions, defined here as Islam, Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism, and Judaism.1 Although these religions’ sacred texts proscribe some of the same behaviors, religious institutions are not equally effective in shaping individuals’ actions. Additionally, when a substantial proportion of a population adheres to the same religious beliefs, adherents can influence the macro cultural climate and enact formal restrictions, which may shape the behavior of all residents within a nation. In this study, we use data from the Demographic and Health Surveys (Measure DHS 2012) and multilevel models to explore how micro religious beliefs and macro religious cultures shape individuals’ sexual behaviors. We investigate whether individual and cultural religious beliefs influence behavior through micro (e.g., early age of first marriage) or macro (e.g., limits on women’s mobility) processes, and we examine the role of religious diversity in shaping Muslims’ sexual behaviors. In addition to providing insight into the macro-micro link and how religion and culture shape behaviors, our findings, which are based on a sample of mostly developing nations, have implications for researchers interested in health, family formation, gender equality, and policy.

Premarital Sex for Ever Married Respondents The first model includes control and individual-level religion variables. We hypothesized that ever married Muslims would be less likely than ever married Jews and Christians to report premarital sex (Hypothesis 1). In Model 1 of Table 2, we find corroboration for this hypothesis, as the odds of ever married Muslims reporting premarital sex are 53 percent lower than they are for Christians. Likewise, Model 1 provides support for our second hypothesis that ever married Hindus are less likely than ever married Jews and Christians to report premarital sex (Hypothesis 2). The odds of ever married Hindus reporting premarital sex are 40 percent lower than they are for Christians. Buddhists, Jews, and people of other religious faiths have higher odds of reporting premarital sex than do Christians. Conversely, ever married people with no religion and adherents of traditional faiths have lower odds than Christians of reporting premarital sex. Model 1 of Table 2 also shows that ever married people, individuals from urban areas, and respondents with higher levels of education have higher odds of reporting premarital sex. Women, people with more children, and residence in a more populous nation are associated with lower odds of reporting premarital sex. Table 2. Religion’s Role in Explaining Premarital Sexual Behavior among Ever Married Men and Women (age 15 to 64 years); Hierarchical Logistic Regression Models (Odds Ratios Are Reported) View larger version Figure 3 presents predicted probabilities of reporting premarital sex by religious affiliation for ever married females who live in a rural area, are not currently working, and have been assigned the mean on all other variables in Model 1 of Table 2. The probability of an ever married Muslim woman reporting premarital sex is the lowest at .61, followed by an ever married Hindu woman (.67). Of the major religious groups, Buddhists (.84) have the highest predicted probability of reporting premarital sex, followed by Jews and Christians. Download Open in new tab Download in PowerPoint Model 2 includes age at marriage and tests the hypothesis that ever married Muslims and Hindus will be less likely than ever married Jews and Christians to report premarital sex because, in part, they married at younger ages (Hypothesis 3). Age at marriage is significant. We do not, however, find support for the third hypothesis: age at marriage does not significantly mediate the relationship between Muslim and Hindu religious affiliation and reports of premarital sex. For every additional year respondents waited to get married, their odds of reporting premarital sex increase by 4 percent. When age at marriage is included, the coefficients for Muslim and Hindu religious affiliations are reduced slightly but remain highly significant. Model 3 includes the percentage Muslim and tests the hypothesis that as the percentage Muslim within a country increases, ever married residents will be less likely to report premarital sex (Hypothesis 5a). In support of this hypothesis Model 3 shows that a 1 percent increase in the percentage Muslim is associated with a 2 percent decrease in the odds of reporting premarital sex. To better understand the magnitude of the effect, we produced predicted values for a married Muslim woman who is not working, lives in a rural area, and has been assigned the mean on all other variables included in Model 3. If this woman lives in a nation where 1 percent of residents are Muslim, her predicted probability of reporting premarital sex would be .72. In a nation where 23 percent of residents are Muslim, which is the sample mean, the woman’s predicted probability would be .61. Finally, in a nation where 90 percent of residents are Muslim, which is the sample maximum, the woman’s predicted probability of reporting premarital sex would tumble to .28. Model 4 includes the interaction between Muslim affiliation and the percentage Muslim to test the hypothesis that as the percentage Muslim increases, ever married Muslims will be less likely to report premarital sex (Hypothesis 5b). The interaction is not significant; therefore, the hypothesis is not supported. The percentage Muslim appears to reduce the odds of reporting premarital sex for all ever married residents, regardless of religious affiliation. Model 5 includes restrictions on women’s mobility to examine the hypothesis that formal restrictions on women’s mobility will, in part, mediate the relationship between percentage Muslim and reports of sex outside of marriage (Hypothesis 7). Restrictions on females’ mobility are not significant, offering little support for this hypothesis. Islamic culture does not appear to shape reports of premarital sex through restrictions that limit women’s mobility. Model 6 examines the final two hypotheses (Hypotheses 8a and 8b): religious diversity will shape the relationship between Islamic religious affiliation and the odds of reporting sex outside of marriage. The interaction between Muslim affiliation and religious diversity is not significant, offering little support for either of the last two hypotheses.15

Extramarital Sex for Married Respondents Table 3 examines the influence of religion on the odds of extramarital sex. We hypothesized that married Muslims would be less likely than married Christians and Jews to report extramarital sex (Hypothesis 4). In Model 1 of Table 3 we find corroboration for this hypothesis: the odds of married Muslims reporting extramarital sex are 45 percent lower than the odds for Christians. In a separate analysis, we switched the comparison group to Muslims and found that married Muslims are less likely than all other major religious groups, except Buddhists, to report extramarital sex. This finding shows that Muslims are distinct from almost all other religious groups in being less likely to report sex outside of marriage. Table 3. Religion’s Role in Explaining Extramarital Sexual Behavior among Married Men and Women (age 15 to 64 years) who Reported Sex in the Past 12 Months; Hierarchical Logistic Regression Models (Odds Ratios Are Reported) View larger version In a separate analysis, we produced predicted probabilities of reporting extramarital sex by religious affiliation for married females who live in a rural area, are not currently working, and have been assigned the mean on all other variables in Model 1 of Table 3. The probability of reporting extramarital sex in the past 12 months is lowest for married Muslim women (.003), followed by married Hindu women (.004). Of the major religious groups, Jews (.006), followed by Buddhists and then Christians, have the highest predicted probabilities. Model 1 also shows that older people and women are less likely to report extramarital sex. Conversely, married people in urban areas have higher odds of reporting extramarital sex than do people living in rural areas. At the country level later years of data collection are associated with higher odds of reporting extramarital sex, and married people and individuals in more populous nations have lower odds of reporting extramarital sex. Model 2 includes the percentage Muslim to test the hypothesis that as the percentage Muslim increases, married residents will be less likely to report extramarital sex (Hypothesis 6a). The coefficient for percentage Muslim is not significant, providing little support for this hypothesis. Model 3 includes the interaction between Muslim affiliation and percentage Muslim to test the hypothesis that as the percentage Muslim increases, married Muslims will be less likely to report extramarital sex (Hypothesis 6b). The interaction term is not significant, offering little support for this hypothesis. Model 4 includes the coefficient for restrictions on females’ mobility, which is also not significant. In this study formal restrictions on women’s mobility do not have any effect on the odds of reporting sex outside of marriage. Finally, Model 5 includes the interaction between Muslim religious affiliation and religious diversity to test the final hypotheses (Hypotheses 8a and 8b): religious diversity will shape the relationship between Islamic religious affiliation and reports of sex outside of marriage. The interaction between Muslim affiliation and religious diversity is not significant, offering little support for either of these hypotheses.

Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank Jacob Felson and the anonymous reviewers for their comments.

Notes 1.

We focus on these five groups because they tend to have relatively large populations, appear in a number of different countries, are well-known, and data on them are easily accessible. 2.

The 2008 European Values Survey, which surveyed 47 European nations, asked respondents whether casual sex was ever justified (1 = never justified and 10 = always justified). Christians (mean = 3, SD = 2.6) surveyed were not only more likely to approve of casual sex than were Muslims (mean = 1.8, SD = 1.9), but there was also more variation in their attitudes. 3.

Using the search engine SCOPUS, we found more than 13,000 articles published between 2000 and 2011 that include the phrase “Demographic and Health Surveys” in the abstract. 4.

Of the countries in which DHS conducted surveys between 2000 and 2008, 24 countries did not have key information on respondents’ religion or sexual behaviors. 5.

Coding syntax is available at http://www.AmyAdamczyk.com. 6.

Some of the country surveys did not have separate marital and cohabitating categories, likely because separate options did not make sense. In some nations, marriage requires an official license; in other nations, people may be considered married when they live together and define it as marriage. If a country’s survey distinguished between married and cohabitating, we used these categories; if it did not, we could not distinguish between them and we considered all respondents in the married/cohabitating category to be married. 7.

This information was not collected for Malawi, Chad, and Cambodia. 8.

In a separate analysis, we considered further dividing the nonspouse category. However, only 1.46 percent of married respondents reported having sex with someone other than their spouse in the previous 12 months. With such a small cell size, we were unable to further divide this group and get the models to converge. 9.

Specific information about the religions included in each category can be found at http://www.AmyAdamczyk.com. 10.

The “other religions” category includes Confucian, Jain, Sikh, “do not know,” and other religions that could not be classified into the other groups. 11.

Unfortunately, the DHS does not include a variable that captures respondents’ income or expenditures in a universal metric. 12.

The family code encompasses forced marriages, lack of equal rights among spouses, and lack of inheritance rights. The physical integrity dimension includes prevalence of domestic violence, sexual harassment, and the practice of female genital mutilation. Some countries also impose laws restricting women’s ability to own land or obtain bank loans. Finally, civil liberties highlight women’s inability to move freely. 13.

In a separate analysis, we looked at the influence of an interval measure of the mobility variable before it was converted into a dichotomous measure. In the multivariate context, results did not change when we used the interval measure. Haiti did not have an SIGI measure and we assigned it a score of 0 based on the lack of restrictions along these four dimensions. 14.

We considered conducting a multilevel event-history analysis for premarital sex that included right-censoring for age at marriage or date of interview. Because of our large sample size and need to use probability weights, we had a lot of difficulty producing these models. In a separate analysis we used a multinomial logistic multilevel model to examine current virginity, premarital sex (regardless of current marital status), and first sex within a marital relationship. Results for the full sample are very similar to the ones presented here, which focus on ever married people. Specifically, Muslims were more likely than Christians to report currently being a virgin or having first sex within a marital relationship, rather than premarital sex. Likewise, as the percentage Muslim increased, the odds of reporting currently being a virgin or having first sex within marriage, rather than premarital sex, increased. 15.

We considered looking at the direct effect of religious diversity, but theoretically we were not sure why diversity would shape the odds of first sex of all people within a nation, regardless of religious affiliation. Nevertheless, in a separate analysis we tested for this effect and it was not significant.