Covenant Marriage and the Sanctification of Gendered Marital Roles

    Authors

    E. H. Baker; L. A. Sanchez; S. L. Nock;J. D. Wright

    Comments

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    Abstract

    This study contributes to research on the deinstitutionalization of marriage and changing gender ideologies by focusing on a unique group of marriage innovators. With quantitative and qualitative data from the Marriage Matters project (1997-2004), this study used a symbolic interactionist perspective to compare covenant- and standard-married couples. Findings reveal that covenants are more traditional than standards across religious, marital, and gender attitude indices. Qualitative analyses suggest that covenants see their marital status as a powerful symbol to publicly display their beliefs about the benefits and necessity of traditional religious marriage. Covenant-married couples defuse the stigma of gender subordination by casting it as a service to God and by crafting a hybrid form of gender traditionalism that incorporates emotional ethics of egalitarianism. Conversely, standard-married couples view gender, marriage, and religion as diffuse, privatized, individualized matters. Implications are discussed in light of further research on contemporary marriage and shifting gender roles.

    Journal Title

    Journal of Family Issues

    Volume

    30

    Issue/Number

    2

    Publication Date

    1-1-2009

    Document Type

    Article

    First Page

    147

    Last Page

    178

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000261946600001

    ISSN

    0192-513X

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