Family,Denomination, and the Adolescent World View: An Empirical Enquiry Among 13- to 15-Year-Old Girls in England and Wales

ABSTRACT

The present study draws on a large survey of 16,581 13- to 15-year-old girls representative of the school population in England and Wales to examine the power of family denominational affiliation to predict the adolescent world view. World view was illustrated by reference to nine areas: personal well-being, worries, counseling, school, social concern, religious beliefs, paranormal beliefs, sexual morality, and attitudes toward substances. Comparisons were made between those who claimed no religious affiliation and those who claimed affiliation as Anglicans, Roman Catholics, Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, and Jehovah's Witnesses. The data demonstrated that each of these seven denominational groups offered a distinctive profile in areas of personal and social importance. These findings were interpreted as offering support for views advanced in Canada by Bibby, in Australia by Bouma, and in the United Kingdom by Fane regarding the continuing social significance of religious and denominational affiliation and as offering critique of the British Government's decision not to include denominational subdivision of the Christian category within the 2001 census conducted in England and Wales.