“SUGAR AND SPICE AND EVERYTHING NICE?”: THE INFLUENCE OF RELIGION IN IDENTITY FORMULATION AND INSTANCES OF DOMESTIC

Abstract

The current study investigated the effects of religious instruction on women’s development of self and gender ideology, and how religious philosophy and affiliation, and gender role ideology affect instances of Domestic Violence (DV) victimization among women. Social Learning Theory grounded the analysis, and shed light on how, through observation and modeling, individuals develop core belief systems. Logistic regression was utilized to study the effect of religion and gender ideology on DV victimization. Results indicate that more individuals who identified as fundamentalist reported instances of having been victimized than did those who were more moderate in their religious beliefs. Fewer respondents who reported a high level of religious affiliation describe having been victims of DV, as did those who professed a belief in the Bible as the literal or inspired word of God. An inverse relationship was noted between traditional beliefs about gender roles and