Reasons for embracing a religion: The case of Brazilian women

The Economics of Religion is based on the model proposed by Azzi and Ehrenberg in 1975, which aimed to assess the religious frequency. Therefore, this article proposes to estimate the determinants of religious frequency of Brazilian women. To achieve this goal, information from the National Survey of Demography and Health of Children and Women as of 2006 (PNDS-2006) is employed and from an ordered logistic regression model, socioeconomic determinants, demographic, cultural and behavioral factors that may interfere in such demand are estimeted. According to the results, it can be inferred that religious frequency of Brazilian women receive interposition of their demographic characteristics, in particular rises with age. In relation to income, it was not observed any correlation pattern, while higher level of education reduces the likelihood of the woman never go to church. Thus, we found no evidence that the level of occupation, marital status and death of children affect significantly the frequency to religious services of women surveyed. And finally, the main feature of women impacting the demand for religious activities and services stems from the inspiration that the woman had, that is, if she was raised in a religion, especially Catholic or evangelical.