The role of parental religiosity in shaping paternal investment: evidence from Bangladesh and India
Year: 2025
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Among humans, paternal investment has been shown to enhance both fertility and offspring survival. While psychological and ecological influences on human paternal investment are relatively well documented, cultural influences remain less well understood. It has been proposed that religion can be an important socio-cultural factor shaping paternal investment. First, religions often instill pro-family values in fathers, potentially increasing their investment. Second, if religions promote pro-family values in mothers, these values may be communicated through religious behaviours, encouraging greater paternal investment. Alternatively, fathers may use maternal religiosity as a strategic cue of maternal pro-family commitment to reduce their own investment, shifting responsibility to mothers. To evaluate these hypotheses, we analyse data from 1238 children under 17 years old across 822 households in India and Bangladesh. Our findings suggest that in India, paternal religiosity is positively associated with fathers' housework assistance and emotional support to mothers. In Bangladesh, maternal religiosity is positively associated with paternal emotional support to mothers and child provisioning. In both countries, maternal religiosity positively associates with paternal investment among the most religious fathers. These findings indicate that religion plays a complex role in paternal investment, shaped by the interplay of parental religiosity and socio-ecological context.
Institutions: European Research University, University of Otago, Baylor University, Binghamton University, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Harvard University, Mahidol University, Brunel University of London, University of Connecticut, Pennsylvania State University
Language: English
Subfield: Demography
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4413339213