Beyond Denomination: New Tests of Whether and How Religion Matters for Family Planning

Sara Yeatman, University of Texas at Austin
Jenny Trinitapoli, University of Texas at Austin

The present study uses unique data from rural Malawi to extend the socialization hypothesis to clarify the complex relationship between religion and fertility in sub-Saharan Africa. In particular, the study focuses on four important and unanswered questions. First, if contraceptive learning is increased in rural Africa via involvement in a religious community, does religious participation matter? Second, does the effect of religious involvement on social learning extend to Muslim communities (a large and growing subpopulation)? Third, using more precise denominational categories, does the effect of religion or religious participation vary across Christian subgroups? And finally, looking beyond religious denomination, we ask whether the characteristics of a woman’s specific religious congregation are associated with the size of her family planning network. Our results suggest that religion does matter for women’s fertility networks, but that denomination and attendance at religious services are relatively poor ways of examining its influence.