FP-22-18 Marital Status Variation in Religiosity Among Older Women and Men

Religiosity, feelings of closeness to a God, and involvement in religious activities, are linked to higher levels of couples’
commitment to one another and marital quality (Dollahite & Lambert, 2007). In long-term couples they are associated with a
reduced likelihood of divorce (Dollahite & Lambert, 2007; Tuttle & Davis, 2015). A growing number of older adults are currently
unmarried due to increasing shares experiencing a gray divorce (Brown & Lin, 2022, 2012) or never marrying (Lin & Brown, 2012),
demonstrating the need to explore the heterogeneity in church attendance and religious attitudes among the unmarried. Using
the 2016 wave of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), this family profile examines religious service attendance and religious
attitudes by marital status among adults aged 65 and older, distinguishing between women and men.