Religion and Deviance among Adult Catholics: A Test of the "Moral Communities" Hypothesis

This study tested multi-level models that represented relationships among individual-level and community-level measures of religiosity and measures of deviant behavior that individuals reported they would be likely to commit. Data came from 2,667 adult Catholics surveyed as part of the Notre Dame Study of Catholic Parish Life. Results from multivariate analyses supported the argument that the level of religiosity within a given social context affects projected deviance, although there was no evidence of any substantial interaction between personaland communitylevel religiosity. Results also suggested that contextual effects are not necessarily consistent across all types of deviance.