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Religion and U.S. Secondary School Students

Current Patterns, Recent Trends, and Sociodemographic Correlates

University of Michigan

Tyrone A. Forman

University of Illinois at Chicago

Cleopatra H. Caldwell

University of Michigan

Deborah S. Willis

University of Michigan

This study used large nationally representative samples of 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-grade students to examine current patterns, recent trends, and sociodemographic correlates of religiosity among American adolescents. The results indicate that approximately 60% of American young people feel that religion is an important part of their life, 50% regularly attend religious services, and the vast majority report an affiliation with a specific religion. Trend data suggest that key indicators of religiosity have been relatively stable for nearly a decade among8th and 10th graders and for more than a quarter century among high school seniors. Bivariate and multivariate analyses of the relationships between selected sociodemographic factors and the religion measures indicate that younger students, girls, Black and Latino youth, more affluent youth, rural youth, and Southern youth are generally more religious than their older, male, White, less affluent, urban, and non-Southern counterparts.

Key Words: religion • adolescents • trends

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