The Positives and Negatives of Higher Education: How the Religious Context in Adolescence Moderates the Effects of Education on Changes in Religiosity

Authors

Philip Schwadel, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

ORCID IDs

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4672-3162

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2017

Citation

Published in Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 56:4 (2017), pp 869–885.

doi 10.1111/jssr.12486

Comments

Copyright © 2018 The Society for the Scientific Study of Religion; published by John Wiley Inc. Used by permission.

Abstract

Although longitudinal research suggests that declines in religiosity associated with higher education vary across religious traditions, it tells us little about variation in the effects of higher education on changes in religiosity more broadly. Higher education may promote increases in religiosity for some, particularly with many Americans now being raised in relatively secular homes. This research note uses multilevel growth curve models and four waves of longitudinal data to examine how the religious context in adolescence moderates the effects of higher education on changes in emerging adult religiosity, regardless of the direction of change. Religious tradition and parent religious service attendance assess the religious context in adolescence, and several religiosity scales and measures of religious behaviors assess dimensions of religiosity. Results show that higher education is particularly likely to lead to religious decline for mainline Protestants and those with religiously active parents, and to increases in religiosity for the religiously unaffiliated and those with parents who infrequently attend religious services. These findings demonstrate how the religious context in adolescence conditions the influence of education, thereby highlighting the variable nature of the influence of higher education on changes in religiosity.