ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the effects of Catholicism on age at first marriage, the odds of never having married, and the likelihood of divorce. It aims to compare Catholics with Baptists and with other Protestants. Apart from the studies by Larry Bumpass and James Sweet and Bumpass, Castro Martin, and Sweet, most of the studies on Catholicism and marriage in the United States have used religion to measure Catholicism. Gary Becker argues that economic background affects the gains from marriage and divorce. Religious upbringing is the preferable measure of religion because religion might be selected with decisions on marriage and divorce. Although a Catholic upbringing affects marriage and divorce rates in some cases, descriptive marital statistics on Catholics differ from summary statistics on non-Catholics, in some cases quite markedly, because Catholics differ from non-Catholics in other ways. Differences in location could affect differences in marriage and divorce rates.
