1. Objectifs

Intentions :
The authors «examine trends and predictors of religious intermarriage as another indicator of religion’s social influence.» (p. 668)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
The authors use «restricted data from the 1981, 1991, and 2001 censuses of Canada, and the 2011 NHS [National household survey].» (p. 668)

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

In the light of their analysis, the authors find that «[r]esidents of Quebec province with its majority Catholic population and distinctive Quebec history and culture are over 20 percentage points less likely to intermarry. This finding is consistent with the well-known group size effect on intermarriage previously noted as most Quebec residents identify as Catholic (Besanceney 1965; Davidson and Widman 2002; Hou et al. 2015; Schoen 1986). Finally, although statistically significant, the difference between women (the reference group) and men is small, with men being just 0.6 percentage points more likely to intermarry.» (p. 673) They conclude that «[a]lthough religious intermarriage increased between 1981 and 2011 in Canada, the increase is not uniform. Instead, the findings suggest that the role of religion in marriage has diverged into three distinct pathways for different religious communities. One pathway seems to imply a weakening of religion’s influence in marriage, shown by relatively high and increased intermarriage. […] A second pathway, represented by Sikhs and Hindus, depicts maintenance of strong endogamous norms, with low and stable intermarriage levels. For these two groups, religion’s influence on marriage remains strong. Finally, a third pathway represented by declining intermarriage among Muslims and the unaffiliated also suggests that religion’s social influence on marriage continues, but in different ways.» (p. 674-675)