Many teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints center around the family. For example, family relationships are believed to continue beyond death: Marriages performed in temples can be eternal, and the children of couples married in temples can be sealed to (or united with) them for eternity. For many years, the church also has encouraged members to hold weekly family nights.
Given the church’s emphasis on marriage and children, how do its members feel about their families?
According to Pew Research Center’s 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study (RLS), they’re largely satisfied with their family bonds.
Compared with other religious groups, Latter-day Saints (widely known as Mormons) are among the most likely to rate their family lives as excellent or very good. About seven-in-ten Latter-day Saints rate their family lives this positively – similar to the shares among Hindus and Jews, and higher than the shares of other Christians and religiously unaffiliated adults who describe their family lives as very good or excellent.
“Tradition and Change Among Latter-day Saints in the U.S.”
| NET Excellent/ Very good | Excellent | Very good | Good | Fair | Poor | NET Fair/ Poor | Group | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All U.S. adults | 59 | 23 | 36 | 28 | 10 | 3 | 13 | 1 |
| Hindu | 73 | 36 | 37 | 17 | 9 | 1 | 13 | 2 |
| Jewish | 71 | 36 | 35 | 20 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 2 |
| Latter-day Saint (Mormon) | 69 | 31 | 38 | 19 | 11 | 1 | 12 | 2 |
| Catholic | 63 | 25 | 38 | 27 | 8 | 2 | 9 | 2 |
| Evangelical Protestant | 62 | 24 | 38 | 26 | 9 | 2 | 11 | 2 |
| Mainline Protestant | 62 | 21 | 41 | 27 | 9 | 2 | 11 | 2 |
| Orthodox Christian | 56 | 23 | 32 | 27 | 10 | 7 | 17 | 2 |
| Muslim | 54 | 22 | 33 | 32 | 10 | 3 | 14 | 2 |
| Religiously unaffiliated | 54 | 21 | 34 | 29 | 13 | 4 | 16 | 2 |
| Historically Black Protestant | 53 | 20 | 33 | 32 | 12 | 2 | 15 | 2 |
| Buddhist | 50 | 20 | 29 | 35 | 13 | 2 | 15 | 2 |
“Tradition and Change Among Latter-day Saints in the U.S.”
They also are more likely than members of many other religious groups to engage their children in religious activities, such as prayer and scripture reading or religious education programs.
Overall, the share of Latter-day Saints who are married has held fairly steady in recent decades. In the Center’s first RLS, conducted in 2007, 71% of Latter-day Saints were married. In each of our more recent surveys (conducted in 2011, 2014 and 2023-24), about two-thirds of Latter-day Saints have said they are married.
However, members of the church are less likely now than they were in 2007 to say they are the parents or guardians of children under 18 years old living in their home. In 2007, 49% of Latter-day Saints had minors at home, compared with 37% in 2023-24. This is in line with national trends. In the 2007 RLS, 35% of U.S. adults surveyed said they were the parents of children living at home. But in the 2023-24 RLS, the comparable share had fallen to 28%.
This analysis of family life, marriage and gender roles among Latter-day Saints is part of a larger project exploring church members’ demographic makeup, religious beliefs and practices, and political and social views, as well as how these characteristics have changed over time. Data in this analysis comes from the 2023-24 RLS as well as our previous landscape studies, conducted in 2014 and 2007. We also draw on our major 2011 survey of Latter-day Saints.
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are often called Mormons by other people, and for years the church used that term to refer to its members or related institutions, such as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. However, the church stopped using “Mormon” in 2018 and discourages others from using the term to refer to the church or its followers. In this analysis, we primarily use the church’s full name and refer to members of the faith as “Latter-day Saints.” We include limited references to the term “Mormon” in parentheses for readers who are unfamiliar with the full name of the church or the term “Latter-day Saints.”20
The rest of this analysis explores in more detail the religious connections that married Latter-day Saints have with their spouses and how Latter-day Saints see gender roles.
Religion and marriage among Latter-day Saints
Latter-day Saints are more likely than Americans in several other religious groups to say they are married to someone of the same religion. Among Latter-day Saint adults who are married, 87% have spouses of the same faith. No more than three-quarters of married adults in most other major U.S. religious groups say their spouses share their religious identity. (Protestants are an exception: 81% of married Protestants say their spouse is also a Protestant.)
Among married adults, Latter-day Saints also are more likely than members of other religious groups to say:
- Their own religious beliefs and the beliefs of their spouse are very similar.
- Religion is very important in their spouse’s life.
- They talk about religion with their spouse daily.
| Their own religious beliefs are very similar to their spouse’s | Religion is very important in their spouse’s life | They talk about religion with their spouse daily | |
|---|---|---|---|
| All married U.S. adults | 51 | 36 | 16 |
| Latter-day Saint (Mormon) | 77 | 73 | 37 |
| Protestant | 59 | 52 | 26 |
| Catholic | 47 | 36 | 12 |
| Jewish | 45 | 30 | 14 |
| Religiously unaffiliated | 41 | 7 | 2 |
“Tradition and Change Among Latter-day Saints in the U.S.”
Latter-day Saint views on gender
Latter-day Saints hold more traditional views about gender and family roles than the broader American public does.
For example, 61% of Latter-day Saints say that more women in the workforce is a change for the better, compared with 73% of U.S. adults overall. Among several religious traditions, the share is 80% or more. (Still, the portion of Latter-day Saints who see more women in the workforce as a positive change has increased significantly since 2014, when it was 49%.)
“Tradition and Change Among Latter-day Saints in the U.S.”
| A change for the better | A change for the worse | Hasn’t made much of a difference | Group | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All U.S. adults | 73 | 9 | 18 | 1 |
| Hindu | 89 | 1 | 10 | 2 |
| Jewish | 81 | 8 | 11 | 2 |
| Religiously unaffiliated | 80 | 5 | 14 | 2 |
| Historically Black Protestant | 77 | 5 | 17 | 2 |
| Buddhist | 76 | 7 | 16 | 2 |
| Mainline Protestant | 76 | 7 | 17 | 2 |
| Catholic | 75 | 8 | 16 | 2 |
| Muslim | 66 | 15 | 18 | 2 |
| Orthodox Christian | 64 | 9 | 26 | 2 |
| Latter-day Saint (Mormon) | 61 | 19 | 20 | 2 |
| Evangelical Protestant | 60 | 16 | 23 | 2 |
“Tradition and Change Among Latter-day Saints in the U.S.”
Likewise, members of the church are more likely than U.S. adults in other religious groups to say that children with two parents are better off when one parent stays home. Nearly eight-in-ten Latter-day Saints say this. Smaller majorities of evangelical Protestants (67%), Muslims (63%) and Catholics (58%) say children are better off with a parent staying home rather than with both parents working outside the home.
When asked in a follow-up question which parent should stay home, Latter-day Saints are among the most likely to say it’s better if the mother stays home (41% say this), though somewhat similar shares of Muslims (36%) and evangelical Protestants (35%) say the same.
Both among Latter-day Saints and among U.S. adults overall, men are more likely than women to say children are better off if their mother stays home.
Refer to this project’s detailed tables for more on how Latter-day Saint men and women answer the questions included in this project.
