Jim Liebelt's Youth Culture Watch

Study: Church-going Teens Go Further with School

Sociologists from Brigham Young University and Rice University found religiously-affiliated youth are 40 percent more likely to graduate high school than their unaffiliated peers and 70 percent more likely to enroll in college.

The researchers note that teens' fellow church-goers are an important factor, serving as mentors who help teens set their sights high.

"Youth have a unique chance to form relationships with peers and mentors outside of their classroom at school or their neighborhood at home," said Lance Erickson, the lead study author and a sociologist at BYU. "Mentors especially care for, counsel with and encourage youth throughout their growing years in a way that teachers and parents might not be able to."

Erickson and co-author James Phillips of Rice University studied data from more than 8,379 teens across the country.

Across all faiths, Erickson's new study found that measures of religious participation and spirituality are positively associated with higher educational attainment. Church attendance, for example, was especially predictive of high school graduation, while prayer was more influential for college enrollment.

Interestingly, Erickson and Phillips found mentors with a religious background have essentially the same effect as educators who mentor students.

"Having a non-parent, adult figure who provides positive behavioral encouragement and that a teenager feels comfortable approaching is huge," Phillips said. "Here we see just how far-reaching those religious mentorships are, even to the point of influencing college enrollment as effectively as mentors who are strictly from educational settings, such as teachers or coaches."

Source: Phys.org
http://phys.org/news/2012-11-church-going-teens-school.html
 

Millennials Losing Their Religion

According to new research from the Pew Research Center, religious values are declining among Millennials.

The United States continues to be a highly religious nation. Most Americans say they belong to a particular faith and large percentages agree with statements about key religious beliefs and behaviors.

About three-quarters of the public (76%) say prayer is an important part of their daily life, while an identical percentage agrees that “we will all be called before God at the Judgment Day to answer for our sins.” And eight-in-ten say they never doubt the existence of God.

The percentage of the public agreeing with all three statements has shifted little since the first Pew Research values survey in 1987. That year, 68% of respondents agreed with all three statements; this year 67% do so.

Nonetheless, in the current survey, 68% of Millennials say they never doubt the existence of God, a decline of 15 points since 2007. Over this period, the proportion of older age cohorts expressing firm belief in God has remained stable.

There have been smaller declines in the percentages of Millennials agreeing to the other two statements about core religious beliefs – the personal importance of prayer and belief in a Judgment Day.

Still, just 55% of Millennials agree with all three religious values; among older age cohorts, two-thirds or more agree with all three religion statements.

Source: Pew Research Center
http://www.people-press.org/2012/06/04/section-6-religion-and-social-values/

Religious Identity Remains Constant Through High School

A new study finds many American teens maintain their religious identity through high school, even though their participation in church and other religious activities declines.

This was true of teens in all three groups studied -- from Asian, Latin American and European backgrounds -- according to University of California, Los Angeles psychiatry professor Andrew J. Fuligni and colleagues.

The study of 500 teens in the Los Angeles area also found that those from Latin American and Asian backgrounds had higher levels of religious identity, and teens from Latin American backgrounds had higher rates of religious participation.

Changes in religious identity that did occur among some teens were associated with changes in ethnic and family identities. This suggests important links in the development of these social identities during the teen years, the researchers said.

The study was released online recently in advance of publication in an upcoming print issue of the journal Child Development.

"Greater change likely occurs at prominent points of transition, such as the upcoming transition to adulthood," Fuligni said in a UCLA news release. "Moving away from home, encountering new work environments, attending college, developing long-term romantic relationships -- those markers in our lives -- are all features of the period after high school that may cause more significant change in religious identity."

Source: U.S. News & World Report
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/boomer-health/articles/2011/07/07/religious-identity-remains-constant-in-teen-years-study

Survey: 72% of Millennials 'More Spiritual Than Religious'

Most young adults today don't pray, don't worship and don't read the Bible, a major survey by a Christian research firm shows.

If the trends continue, "the Millennial generation will see churches closing as quickly as GM dealerships," says Thom Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian Resources. In the group's survey of 1,200 18- to 29-year-olds, 72% say they're "really more spiritual than religious."

Among the 65% who call themselves Christian, "many are either mushy Christians or Christians in name only," Rainer says. "Most are just indifferent. The more precisely you try to measure their Christianity, the fewer you find committed to the faith."

Key findings in the phone survey, conducted in August and released today:

•65% rarely or never pray with others, and 38% almost never pray by themselves either.

•65% rarely or never attend worship services.

•67% don't read the Bible or sacred texts.

Many are unsure Jesus is the only path to heaven: Half say yes, half no.

"We have dumbed down what it means to be part of the church so much that it means almost nothing, even to people who already say they are part of the church," Rainer says.

The findings, which document a steady drift away from church life, dovetail with a LifeWay survey of teenagers in 2007 who drop out of church and a study in February by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, which compared the beliefs of Millennials with those of earlier generations of young people.

Source: USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2010-04-27-1Amillfaith27_ST_N.htm