Am J Psychiatry 1986; 143:1245-1249
Copyright © 1986 by American Psychiatric Association
"Moonies" get married: a psychiatric follow-up study of a charismatic religious sect
M Galanter
A 3-year follow-up of longtime engaged members of the Unification Church
revealed remarkable compliance with the sect's unusual marital commitments.
Of 305 subjects, 95% were still active in the church and 85% had been
married in the interim to mates designated by their religious leader. Their
scores on a measure of psychological well-being remained below those of the
general population, and members who deviated from the sect's expectations
showed even greater distress. Furthermore, analysis revealed that
affiliative ties with the sect apparently counteracted the distress
produced by the unusual marital experience and help to explain compliance
with the sect's unusual behavioral norms.
