Organized Religious Involvement and Mental Health Among Caribbean Black Adolescents

Though religion has been related to better mental health, the aspects of organized religious life most salient for the mental health of Caribbean Black adolescents in the US, beyond religious service attendance, has been understudied. This research utilized a sub-sample of Caribbean Black adolescents from the NSAL-A, a nationally representative U.S. dataset, to examine (1) the prevalence of organized religious involvement (e.g., participation in religious service activities, choice to attend religious services) and (2) the relationship between organized religious involvement and mental health. Results showed that 62 % of Caribbean Black adolescents attend religious services regularly (at least a few times a month) and 49 % or more attend religious services or participate in religious activities (e.g., youth groups) by choice. Additionally, various aspects of organized religious involvement were positively related to coping and self-esteem, and negatively related to depressive symptoms. Religious service attendance was not related to any of the mental health indicators. Study results can inform the development of individual and group level interventions targeted at supporting the mental health of Caribbean Black adolescents.     

Multiracial Church Attendance and Support for Same‐Sex Romantic and Family Relationships

Research has found that attending a racially diverse congregation promotes more favorable attitudes toward interracial dating, marriage, and adoption, but does participation in an integrated faith community promote tolerance toward other non‐traditional romantic and family forms? This study examines the relationship between involvement in a racially diverse congregation and support for same‐sex romantic and family relationships. Data are taken from the 2005 Baylor Religion Survey. I fit logistic regression models to estimate the effect of attending a multiracial church on support for homosexuality, same‐sex marriage, and same‐sex adoption, net of sociodemographic and religious controls. Results indicate that persons who attend churches where between 25 and 75 percent of attendees are of another race are more likely to support gay sex, marriage, and adoption compared with those who attend more racially homogenous churches. This relationship generally holds when models are estimated for evangelicals and mainline Protestants separately, but not for Catholics. Findings suggest a link between religion‐based racial prejudice and heterosexism/homophobia and that increased exposure to racial diversity may promote a general tolerance toward non‐traditional romantic couples and families.     

THE ROLE OF PARENTAL RELIGIOSITY IN HIGH SCHOOL COMPLETION

Scientists have produced a modest literature documenting the associations between individual religious behaviors and educational outcomes. Most scholars hypothesize that religion provides a context of social capital in which students reap educational benefit (or detriment) from the adults in the religious community. Despite the intergenerational influence inherent in the various social capital explanations, few studies have directly examined the role of parental religiosity in the educational outcomes of adolescents. In this study, I begin to address this gap by investigating whether and how parental religiosity is associated with a student's chances of graduating from high school. I seek to answer three questions related to parental religiosity and students’ high school graduation. First, does parental religiosity affect a student's chances of graduating from high school? Second, if parental religiosity is associated with high school graduation, does it operate primarily through the student's own religiosity or is there an independent effect? Third, if parental religiosity is independently associated with a student's high school graduation, what are the mechanisms by which it is associated? Using data from the first and third waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), I find that students whose parents attend religious services more often have greater odds of completing high school, and students who attend religious services with parents are almost 40% more likely to finish high school, net of a number of other religious and sociodemographic factors.     

Religion,Convention, and Paternal Involvement

Family scholarship has generally overlooked the influence that religion may have on paternal involvement. Accordingly, using longitudinal data taken from the National Survey of Families and Households, I examined the influence of religious affiliation and attendance on the involvement of residential fathers in one‐on‐one activities, dinner with their families, and youth activities and found religious effects for each of these three measures. Virtually no evidence was found for a competing hypothesis that these effects are artifacts of a conventional habitus such that the type of men who are more conventional in their patterns of civic engagement are both more religious and more involved with their children. However, civic engagement is positively related to paternal involvement.     

Higher Education and Religious Liberalization among Young Adults

Going to college has long been assumed to liberalize students' religious beliefs. Using longitudinal data from the National Survey of Youth and Religion, we compare change in the content of religious beliefs of those who do and do not attend college. We find that, in general, college students are no more likely to develop liberal religious beliefs than nonstudents. In some cases, collegians actually appear more likely to retain their initial beliefs. Change in religious beliefs appears instead to be more strongly associated with network effects. These findings indicate that college's effect on students' religious beliefs is both weak and fragmented, and suggest that the multiplicity of social worlds on college campuses may help to sustain religious beliefs as well as religious practice and commitment.     

Religious Dynamics and Marital Dissolution: A Latent Class Approach

Past research on religious homogamy has struggled to distinguish whether religiosity or homogamy has a stronger impact on preventing a marital dissolution. To rectify this problem, I use a latent class approach to compare couples with various forms of partner religiosity and similarity. Based on 707 newlywed couples from the Marriage Matters survey (1998–2004), I discovered four latent classes: “holy” couples (both partners are highly religious), “nonattending” couples (both partners identify as religious but don’t regularly attend services), “unbalanced” couples (the wife is religious but the husband is not), and “secular” couples (both partners are not religious). Findings indicate that holy, nonattending, and unbalanced couples experience less odds of divorce compared with secular couples, suggesting that religiosity in a variety of forms is more important than partner similarity in avoiding divorce.     

Family Processes and Adolescent Religiosity and Religious Practice: View From the NLSY97

This article focuses on family processes and adolescent religious attendance and personal religiosity. We find that the closeness and quality of the marital relationship and relationship between adolescent and parents significantly contributes to the strength of adolescent religious conviction and practice. The study used data from the NLSY97 cohort. Predictors include parenting style, closeness, and parent–child closeness; family structure; income, employment, parental education, mother's age at first birth, and number of siblings; adolescent characteristics (e.g., age, gender, race/ethnicity, disability, lying or cheating); and environmental characteristics (e.g., region of country, urbanicity, and physical environment risk). Family religious attendance was dramatically influenced by race in adolescents aged 16 years. Adolescents living with married, biological parents in 1997 were 36% more likely to attend worship services than those living with stepfamilies. Adolescents living in more physically risky environments, with peers who belonged to gangs, cut classes, or had sex, were less likely to attend weekly worship services with their families. Finally, compared with adolescents whose parents had a high-quality marital relationship and who had good relationships with both parents, all other adolescents were less likely to attend weekly worship services with their families.     

Ports of Entry and Obstacles: Teenagers' Access to Volunteer Activities

The recruitment of young people into volunteering activities is the primary focus of this article. We examine which teenagers volunteer, the ways that teenagers become involved in volunteer activities, and why teenagers do not volunteer. Teenagers who volunteer tend to have dominant status, that is, access to social power, high personal competency, and socialization into volunteer experiences through family, church, and school. Personal contact with family, friends, and teachers who are involved with service, prior participation in school‐ and church‐based service, and personal initiative lead teenagers to learn about and engage in volunteering activities. Teenagers who do not volunteer often do not have sufficient time or interest. Differences exist among teenagers as to which factors prompt volunteering. For example, teenagers who are white, have parents who volunteer, and attend religious services are more likely than others to learn about volunteer activities through organizations, and teenagers with higher personal competency (grade point averages) are more likely than others to learn about volunteering activities at school. The article includes suggestions for recruitment policy and management of teenage volunteers.     

Why is Collective Violence Collective?

A theory of collective violence must explain both why it is collective and why it is violent. Whereas my earlier work addresses the question of why collective violence is violent, here I apply and extend Donald Black's theory of partisanship to the question of why violence collectivizes. I propose in general that the collectivization of violence is a direct function of strong partisanship. Strong partisanship arises when third parties (1) support one side against the other and (2) are solidary among themselves. Such support occurs when third parties are socially close to one side and remote from the other and when one side has more social status than the other. Third parties are solidary when they are intimate, culturally homogeneous, and interdependent. I focus in particular on lynching: Lynching is a joint function of strong partisanship toward the alleged victim and weak partisanship toward the alleged offender. Unequal strong partisanship appears in both classic lynchings (of outsiders) and communal ynchings (of insiders) across societies and history. Where partisanship is weak or strong on both sides, lynching is unlikely to occur. Evidence includes patterns of lynching in various tribal societies, the American South, imperial China, and medieval Europe.     

HOW DO VOLUNTARY ORGANIZATIONS FOSTER PROTEST? THE ROLE OF ORGANIZATIONAL INVOLVEMENT ON INDIVIDUAL PROTEST PARTICIPATION

Prior research shows that members of voluntary organizations are more likely to protest than nonmembers. But why, among members, do some protest while others do not? I explore whether organizational involvement—the extent in which members engage in the “life” of their organizations—affects protest. I identify four dimensions of involvement—time and money contributions, participation in activities, psychological attachment, and embeddedness in interpersonal communication networks. Only the first dimension has robust effects on protest, and they are nonlinear: intermediate contributors have the highest protest rates. The three other dimensions substantially increase protest only under specific “involvement profiles.”     

Religious and Secular Voluntary Participation by Immigrants in Canada: How Trust and Social Networks Affect Decision to Participate

Participation in voluntary associations is an important part of an immigrant’s integration into a host country. This study examines factors that predispose an immigrant’s voluntary involvement in religious and secular organizations compared to non-immigrants (“natives”) in Canada, and how immigrants differ from natives in their voluntary participation. The study results indicate that informal social networks, religious attendance, and level of education positively correlate with the propensity of both immigrants and natives to participate and volunteer in religious and secular organizations. Immigrants who have diverse bridging social networks, speak French and/or English at home, and either attend school or are retired are more likely to participate and volunteer for secular organizations. Further, social trust matters to native Canadians in their decision to engage in religious and secular organizations but not to immigrants. Pride and a sense of belonging, marital status, and the number of children increase the likelihood of secular voluntary participation of natives but not of immigrants. These findings extend the current understanding of immigrant integration and have important implications for volunteer recruitment.     

Zwischen Säkularisierung und religiöser Reorganisation – Eine Analyse der Religiosität türkischer und polnischer Neuzuwanderer in Deutschland

This paper addresses the role of religion in the process of immigrant integration in Germany. Based on novel data (SCIP 2010/11) from a survey among new Polish and Turkish migrants, it particularly focuses on the impact of the migratory event upon religious participation and private religious practice as well as on early trends of changing religiosity in the receiving context. The study confirms, first of all, that both groups of newcomers experience a decrease in religious practices after the migratory event. This decrease is more pronounced among Muslim Turks than among Catholic Poles and more pertinent for worship attendance than for prayer, thus attesting to the relevance of religious opportunity structure. Secondly, it can be shown that among new Polish immigrants, religious decrease is more pronounced among individuals with stronger social ties to the secular German mainstream, while this is not the case for Turks. For them, thirdly, it seems that religious practices are being re-captured after the rather disruptive first couple of months in what may a called a process of religious re-organizations. These group-comparative findings attest to limits of classical assimilation theory and to the relevance of symbolic boundary dynamics. Overall, they underline that publicly visible religious diversity will remain a permanent feature of modern immigrant societies.     

RELIGIOUS INVOLVEMENT AND EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES: The Role of Social Capital and Extracurricular Participation

Previous research has observed that religious participation is positively related to a wide variety of adolescent outcomes, including academic achievement, but relatively little is known about why this is the case. We focus on a group of related potential explanations for why religious involvement improves educational outcomes. We examine whether religious participation enhances academic outcomes among teens by the way in which it shapes their social ties, or social capital, focusing on both intergenerational relationships and on relationships with peers. We also examine the potential intervening role of extracurricular participation. Using structural equation models to analyze data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), we examine the potential role of social capital and extracurricular participation in mediating the relationship between religious participation and academic achievement, dropping out of high school, and attachment to school. We find that religious attendance promotes higher intergenerational closure, friendship networks with higher educational resources and norms, and extracurricular participation. These intervening variables account for a small part of the influence of adolescent religious participation on the educational outcomes in this study.     

Correlates of Social Anxiety,Religion, and Facebook

This study examines how religiosity, network homophily, and self-monitoring relate to social and Facebook-specific anxiety, role conflict, and Facebook intensity. Correlation analyses indicate a connection between Facebook use and anxiety, as well as a link between religiosity and anxiety. We found that role conflict correlates with Facebook intensity, Facebook-specific anxiety, and social anxiety. Regarding religiosity, those who prefer a literal interpretation of the Bible, attend church more frequently, and pray more often have higher anxiety. Facebookers who are higher self-monitors have a less homophilous Facebook network and are less likely to identify their religious views on Facebook.     

Religious residue: The impact of childhood religious socialization on the religiosity of nones in France,Germany, Great Britain,and Sweden

One of the distinguishing features of religious life in Western Europe in recent decades has been the sharp increase in the proportion of people who identify as unaffiliated with any religious tradition (religious nones). Non-affiliation entails a rejection of religious belonging, not the absence of all religious belief and practice; yet the determinants of religiosity among nones have not been fully explored. Drawing on data from the 1998–2018 ISSP surveys in four West European countries (France, Germany, Great Britain, and Sweden), I test the impact of childhood religious socialization on the religiosity of unaffiliated adults by comparing lifelong nones, who were never religiously affiliated, with disaffiliates, who were raised within a religious tradition and have since exited organized religious life. Disaffiliates are consistently more religious than lifelong nones due to religious residue from childhood, with greater residue found among those who were more religiously committed as children. Religious decline among the unaffiliated over time, combined with the increasing proportion of lifelong nones and second-generation lifelong nones who lack even an inherited, minimal religious residue, suggest that secularization will gather momentum.     

RELIGIOUS REFERENCE GROUPS AND THE PERSISTENCE OF NORMATIVE BEHAVIOR: AN EMPIRICAL TEST

Reference groups and significant others are vitally important in both the formation and the persistence or change of normative as well as deviant behavior patterns. Thus one's initial religious beliefs and behavior (or lack thereof) reflect the socializing influence of the family. However, the situation may change when young people leave home for education or work, as demonstrated by research that shows decreases in religious beliefs or church attendance when young people leave home to attend college. In contrast to the pattern whereby religiosity declines in a college or university environment, we maintain that students who develop close ties with others who are religious, especially in a highly religious community, will maintain the same patterns of high commitment developed in their families. Specifically, we hypothesize that religious beliefs and participation will be positively related to (1) parents' religious beliefs and practices and (2) current friends' religious beliefs and participation. These hypotheses were tested with a sample of college students living on campus (n = 339). The data support the argument that students' current religious beliefs and behavior are related to both their parents' religiosity and the reinforcing effects of the religiosity of their current friends.     

The transnational lives and third space subjectivities of British Nigerian girls

Drawing on ethnographic research conducted in 2012 on British Nigerian young women who have gone to boarding school in Nigeria and returned to attend university in the UK, I use the concept of third space as a heuristic device for understanding their transnational subjectivities and practices. I argue that, for some, this third space is a transgressive one in which they can craft alternative subjectivities and narratives about African culture and political economy. Applying insights from decolonial theory, I seek to build on the transgressive nature of this third space. In positioning themselves variously as Londoners, Nigerians, dual and post‐nationals, they express key features of contemporary transnational European subjectivities. Yet, parental expectations that they marry Nigerians and members of the Nigerian diaspora serve to reproduce the racial distinctions and nationalist rhetoric of colonial modernity that their third space subjectivities contest.     

What's in It for Me?

Abstract

Social service workers' values and religious beliefs often differ greatly from those of their clients. This paper will assist helping professionals to develop a deeper understanding of the motivations behind clients' religious behaviors by describing religious participation through the lens of rational choice theory. A working definition of rational choice is provided. A graphic construct explaining the interaction of demand and supply on religious participation is presented. This model shows how a feedback loop develops to increase religious involvement. A discussion follows regarding religious participation as viewed from a demand side and supply side perspective. The paper concludes with ideas of how the information applies to social service workers and researchers.     

Christian and Catholic Background and Adherence in New Zealand Homosexually Active Males:

The sychological influence of religious background, current religious ad 1 erence, Catholic background and current identi- ,1fi5c9at iNonew a sZ ae aClaanthdo, lhico mwoasse ixnuvaelslyti gaactetidv ea sm paalerts .o fR ae swpoidnedre nsttsu dY ro omf Catholic and Baptist backgrounds appeared dispro rtionately overrepresented in the sample while Presbylerians an 8Me"lhodt.sts w ere under-represented. While 84% of respondents were raised within a particular religious tradition, on1 16% regularly attend some form of reli ious service, indicating t 8 at the major effect over time has been atenation from religious heritage in thts group. Religious nonadherence was between two and five times greater in the sample than in the eneral population. Those currently religious were not distinguishable from the non-religious on personality characteristics. Those of a Catholic background reported more succorance and less self-control than those from non-Catholic backgrounds, while those currently identifying as Catholic reported less guilt but more social dysfunction than those not identifying as currently Catholic. Differences in sexuality (in both orientation and expression) between respondents of Catholic and non-Catholic backgrounds were found. Few religious respondents and even fewer non-religious respondents would seek help from a minister if they became ill with AIDS. The implications of these findings on sexual identity formation and support services for AIDS are discussed.     

Attitudes toward homosexuality among U.S. residents of Mexican descent

This study examined attitudes toward lesbians and gay men in a sample of northern California residents of Mexican descent (N = 616), using 3‐item versions of the Attitudes Toward Gay Men (ATG) and Attitudes Toward Lesbians (ATL) scales presented simultaneously in Spanish and English. Males’ attitudes toward homosexual men were significantly more negative than females’ attitudes, whereas females expressed relatively negative attitudes toward lesbians. Overall, respondents expressing negative attitudes endorsed more traditional gender attitudes than respondents with positive attitudes, tended to be older and less educated, had more children, were more likely to belong to a fundamentalist religious denomination and to attend religious services frequently, were more conservative politically, and were less likely to have personal contact with gay people. Further analyses revealed that associations between attitudes and education, number of children, personal contact, and religious attendance occurred mainly among respondents who spoke and read English (rather than Spanish) or identified with U.S. culture (rather than Mexican culture).