ETHNIC,FAMILY, AND SOCIAL CONTEXTUAL INFLUENCES ON ASIAN AMERICAN ADOLESCENTS' RELIGIOSITY

In recent years, a number of excellent ethnographic and qualitative studies have signaled a growing interest among scientists in immigrants and their religious practices. Few large-scale studies, however, have examined the religious practices and family religious context of Asian immigrant adolescents. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a large nationally representative survey, we explore the important associations between ethnic and family contexts and Asian American adolescents' religiosity. Specifically, we find that first generation Asian American adolescents report higher levels of public and private aspects of religiosity than their native-born counterparts; Filipino and Korean immigrant adolescents report higher religiosity than Chinese immigrant children; however, the most important factor influencing Asian immigrant children's religiosity is their parent's religious practices and the concordance between parent and adolescent's religious affiliations. Protestant Asian adolescents who are also from a Protestant family report higher religiosity than Buddhist or Catholic adolescents who are from a Buddhist or Catholic family. Implications of these patterns for the intergenerational transmission of religious faith and other aspects of immigrant religious practices are discussed.