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Covenant Marriage and the Sanctification of Gendered Marital Roles

The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, ehb113{at}psu.edu

Laura A. Sanchez

Bowling Green State University, Ohio

Steven L. Nock

University of Virginia, Charlottesville

James D. Wright

University of Central Florida, Orlando

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.

Key Words: covenant marriage • evangelicals • gender • traditionalism • mixed methods

This version was published on February 1, 2009

Journal of Family Issues, Vol. 30, No. 2, 147-178 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0192513X08324109


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