White and Latino Remarriage Differences in the United States: A case for Moving Beyond the Catholic Assumption

Abstract

In the United States, Latinos and non-Hispanic Whites have similar first marriage and divorce rates, but Latinos remarry at lower rates than Whites. Although Latinos are disproportionately more Catholic than Whites, and Latinos remarry less than Whites, assuming that religion is driving the remarriage difference could be a religious congruence fallacy, which occurs when religion is assumed to be the driving influence behind a behavior actually shaped by other forces. The present study utilizes the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 and discrete-time event history analysis to examine the influence of religious affliation and attendance on ethnic remarriage differences. The findings suggest that Catholicism does not account for the lower rates of remarriage of Latinos compared to Whites and provide strong evidence for dispelling the previously untested on ethnic differences in remarriage. Additionally, Evangelical Protestants, Particularly men, appear the most likely to remarry.