Temple Marriages Are Less Likely to End in Divorce: Insights from the B. H. Roberts 2023 Current and Former Latter-day Saint Survey

Authors

Stephen Cranney
Joshua Coates

Keywords

temple marriage, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, divorce rates

Abstract

It is a commonly held truism that temple marriages are less likely to end in divorce. But is it true? How do we know? The fact is that this popular belief is primarily based on surveys that are now forty to fifty years old. A popular statistic of temple marriages having a 6% divorce rate is cited by the Gospel Topics essay on “Temple Marriage,” which in turn cites an article from the Los Angeles Times. However, the Times article came from a 1985 Church study that used 1981 data, making this 6% number more than forty years out of date.

Recommended Citation

Cranney, Stephen and Coates, Joshua (2024) "Temple Marriages Are Less Likely to End in Divorce: Insights from the B. H. Roberts 2023 Current and Former Latter-day Saint Survey," BYU Studies Quarterly: Vol. 63: Iss. 3, Article 3.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol63/iss3/3