Religiosity and Attitudes Towards Sexuality and Marriage of the Adult Population in Croatia

Attitudes of the adult population in Croatia on some of the issues in the field of marriage and sexuality are analysed in this paper. The aim was to explore the extent to which it is a dominantly Christian, specifically Catholic population in accordance with norms of traditional church morality in these issues, and if recent data show any changes in this respect. Based on previous research considering congruence with church moral norms in the field of sexuality and marriage, a general hypothesis on religious respondents as a heterogeneous group was set. This implies that a higher religiosity (observed through indicators of religious identification and practice) points to the lower permissiveness in attitudes toward sexuality and other issues in the area of marital relations. The paper used data from two studies: Social and Religious Change in Croatia (SRC) from 2004 and the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) module Religion from 2008/2009. The analysis showed that religious respondents are not a homogenous group, while an indicator of religious practice proved to be a consistent predictor of a greater chance that those respondents who regularly attend church for religious services are more traditional in attitudes about sexuality and marriage. However, the findings indicate the presence of a combination of traditional and modern values in the population of believers. In the context of socio-demographic and socio-structural correlates, younger respondents, better educated, males and those in urban areas show a greater permissiveness in the investigated attitudes.