Religiosity dynamics among recently arrived Turkish marriage migrants in Germany

Using mini-panel data from the SCIP (Causes and Consequences of Early Socio-Cultural Integration Processes among New Immigrants in Europe) project, this article contributes to the literature on marriage migration by investigating the dynamic role played by the religiosity of migrating partners. Specifically, we assess (1) how migrating partners differ from those who migrate for reasons other than marriage, in terms of their religiosity, to discuss the benefit system that the marriage migration offers to receiving partners and (2) how religiosity changes over the years for both migrating wives and husbands. Results from a series of linear mixed effects models reveal that, net of all controls, migrating wives are more likely to be religious than migrating husbands upon resettlement, as receiving husbands may prefer more traditional wives, and that receiving wives may prefer the opposite, to secure more self-dependence and power in the household. At the same time, it is found that migrating husbands become more religious than migrating wives two years after the resettlement, presumably as a way to reaffirm and restore their status loss as a result of various resettlement challenges and strain domestic relations. These findings suggest a nuanced image of the mechanisms behind marriage migration and religiosity.