Citation

Houston-Kolnik JD, Todd NR. Am. J. Community Psychol. 2016; 57(3-4): 459-472.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/ajcp.12055

PMID

27233477

Abstract

Religious congregations are uniquely poised to provide programs to support survivors of violence against women; yet little is known regarding the prevalence of such programs. In this study, we used data from three waves of the National Congregation Study (N = 3334) to examine change across time in the presence of a congregational program to support survivors of sexual assault or domestic violence. We also explored results among different Christian religious traditions across time. Given the gendered nature of this violence, we also tested whether the (a) gender of the head clergy (i.e., religious leader), and (b) ability of women to serve in congregational leadership roles predicted the presence of programs. As points of comparison, we also examined the total number of congregational social service programs and food programs in particular. Overall, we found different patterns of change across religious traditions for the different programs. Moreover, clergy gender and the ability of women to serve in leadership roles predicted the presence of different types of programs. Limitations, implications, and directions for future research also are discussed.

© Society for Community Research and Action 2016.

Language: en