Why Dutch women are still more religious than Dutch men: Explaining the persistent religious gender gap in the Netherlands using a multifactorial approach
Publication year
2019Number of pages
28 p.
Source
Review of Religious Research, 61, 2, (2019), pp. 81-108ISSN
Publication type
Article / Letter to editor

Display more detailsDisplay less details
Organization
Leerstoel Empirische en praktische religiewetenschap
SW OZ RSCR SOC
Journal title
Review of Religious Research
Volume
vol. 61
Issue
iss. 2
Languages used
English (eng)
Page start
p. 81
Page end
p. 108
Subject
Center for Religion and Contemporary Society (CRCS); Inequality, cohesion and modernization; Ongelijkheid, cohesie en moderniseringAbstract
In many secular Western countries, women continue to demonstrate higher levels of religiosity than men. But why does this religious gender gap persist? In this research note, we set out to explain the religious gender gap in the Netherlands for three dimensions of religiosity: belief in God, frequency of prayer and frequency of church attendance. Using high quality national representative survey data from LISS (Longitudinal Internet Studies for the Social sciences), an empirical model is built combining social and psychological determinants. We find that the experience of health restrictions, the personality trait conscientiousness and the gender orientation masculinity contribute to an explanation for the gender gap in the Netherlands regarding all three dimensions of religiosity. For belief in God and frequency of prayer, an additional psychological explanation comes from the gender orientation femininity.
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
- Academic publications [229134]
- Electronic publications [111496]
- Faculty of Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies [11074]
- Faculty of Social Sciences [28720]
- Open Access publications [80317]
Upload full text
Use your RU credentials (u/z-number and password) to log in with SURFconext to upload a file for processing by the repository team.