By the Grace of God: Religiosity, Religious Self-Regulation, and Perpetration of Intimate Partner Violence

Although some researchers have argued that religiosity has a deterrent effect on criminal offending in general, and serves as a protective factor against men’s intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration, others have obtained inconsistent or contradictory findings indicating that religiosity per se may be less important than other factors and may be protective only for some groups of men. The present study extends previous research by using measures that gauge multiple dimensions of religiosity to examine its effects on IPV perpetration among a national, community sample of adult men (N = 260). Findings indicate that religiosity is functionally less important than religious self-regulation in reducing men’s likelihood of IPV perpetration, supporting previous research showing that the protective effects of religiosity may be limited to certain groups of men. Implications of the findings for future research are discussed.