@article{ref1,
title="Religion and intimate partner violence in Chile: Macro- and micro-level influences",
journal="Social science research",
year="2009",
author="Lehrer, Evelyn L. and Lehrer, Vivian L. and Krauss, Ramona C.",
volume="38",
number="3",
pages="635-643",
abstract="The Catholic Church has had a strong influence on the Chilean legal and social landscape in ways that have adversely affected victims of intimate partner violence; e.g., it succeeded until just five years ago in blocking efforts to legalize divorce. At the same time, quantitative studies based on survey data from the United States and other countries show a generally favorable influence of religion on health and many other domains of life, including intimate partner violence. The present study explores the puzzle posed by these seemingly opposing macro- and micro-level forces. Results based on data from the 2005 Survey of Student Well-Being, a questionnaire on gender-based violence administered to students at a large public university in Chile, show that moderate or low levels of religiosity are associated with reduced vulnerability to violence, but high levels are not. This non-linearity sheds light on the puzzle, because at the macro level the religious views shaping Chile's legal and social environment have been extreme. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.<p />",
language="en",
issn="0049-089X",
doi="10.1016/j.ssresearch.2009.03.001",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2009.03.001"
}