Families and Religion Are Alike in That They

Research suggests that parents have a large touch on their children's religious behaviors.³⁵ For example, there is considerable overlap betwixt how often teens and their parents attend religious worship services (encounter Chapter 3). But what about religious behavior? Exercise teens and their parents also tend to be in alignment on that forepart? For near families, the reply appears to exist yes. Nearly half of the parents surveyed say their teen holds "all the same" religious beliefs as they practise, and another four-in-ten parents say their teen holds "some" of the same religious beliefs they do.

Practise teens concur with this? Indeed, about half of teens ages 13 to 17 say their parent has yet religious beliefs as they do. And, among teens whose responding parent says they have withal religious beliefs, 76% give the same response. Boosted analyses, even so, show that among teens who say they have at to the lowest degree some different religious behavior from their parent, a 3rd report that their parent does not know their religious beliefs are different. And although virtually half of teens say they have at to the lowest degree some religious beliefs that differ from their parent'due south, only 9% written report that having different religious beliefs causes conflict in their family.

What practice adolescents mean when they say their religious beliefs are different from their parent's beliefs? Some mutual responses from teens are that they question some of the behavior their parents hold, that they don't similar going to worship services every bit much as their parents want them to, that they are less strict or conservative than their parent, and that they don't believe in God or in faith. Just viii% of teens whose religious beliefs differ from their parents' report that they are more than religious than their parent.

With increasing religious diversity in the U.Southward., interfaith marriages are at present relatively commonplace. Their prevalence, all the same, varies considerably. Mainline Protestant and unaffiliated teens are nigh three times more likely than evangelical Protestant teens to alive in an interfaith home. Although many teens follow their parents' atomic number 82 when it comes to religion, this plays out in various ways for teens whose parents differ in their religious identities. Some of these teens say they make their own decisions virtually what organized religion (if any) to follow, while others prefer the religion of the parent who is more interested in religion, and still others have parents who choose for them.

One-half of parents say their teen has all the same religious behavior as they practice

Many parents recall that their teen's religious beliefs are similar to their own behavior. Well-nigh half (53%) of parents who responded to this survey before handing it off to their teen say that teen has "all the same" religious behavior as they practice. Another four-in-ten (42%) report that their teen has "some of the same" religious behavior. Few parents (4%) say the teenager slated to take the survey after them has "quite unlike" religious behavior.

Mainline Protestant and religiously unaffiliated parents are relatively unlikely to think their teen shares all their religious behavior. Just iv-in-ten mainline Protestant and unaffiliated parents say their teen's religious behavior are completely the aforementioned equally their ain. By comparison, two-thirds of evangelical Protestant parents and 55% of Catholic parents say their teen's religious beliefs are all the same every bit their own. Still, big majorities of parents across all the large religious groups analyzed in this report say that their teen shares at least some of their behavior; no more than 7% in whatever religious tradition say that their teen'southward beliefs are quite different.

Parents who regularly attend worship services are peculiarly likely to say their teen's religious beliefs are like to their ain. About two-thirds of parents who attend worship services once or twice a month or more often (65%) say their teen holds all the aforementioned religious beliefs they do. By comparison, fewer than half of parents who nourish a few times a year or less often (44%) report that their teen has all the aforementioned religious beliefs as they do. A similar pattern emerges among parents based on the importance of organized religion in their lives; those who say religion is very important to them are more probable to written report that they and their teen share nonetheless beliefs.

Whether parents perceive their teens' religious beliefs to be similar to their own as well varies by partisanship and marital status. While 58% of Republican and Republican-leaning parents say their teen's religious beliefs are the same as their ain, fewer Democratic and Democratic-leaning parents call back that's the example (48%). And 54% of married and cohabiting parents say their teen shares all their religious beliefs, compared with 44% of unmarried parents.

Parents of teens in higher grades are less probable than those of younger teens to say they share nonetheless beliefs. While 55% of parents with teens in 10th class or lower report that their teen has yet religious beliefs, fewer parents with teens in 11th and 12th grade (47%) say the aforementioned.

About half of teens say they have notwithstanding religious behavior every bit their parent

Just because parents believe they have the same religious beliefs equally their children does non mean their children necessarily agree. Consequently, the survey also asked teens how similar they think their religious beliefs are to their parent's (referring to the parent who participated in the survey). About half (48%) of adolescents ages 13 to 17 study that they and their parent share nevertheless religious beliefs. Nearly equally many (43%) say they share some behavior with their parent, while eight% say their parent has quite different religious behavior.

Parents and their teenage children are oft – but not always – on the aforementioned page about whether they share the aforementioned religious beliefs. 3-quarters of teens with parents who say they have all the aforementioned religious beliefs agree with that assessment; even so, i-in-v say they have simply "some" of the same religious beliefs.

There are large differences across religious traditions in whether teens recollect they have however religious beliefs as their parent. Adolescents with a religious affiliation (57%) are almost twice equally likely as unaffiliated adolescents (thirty%) to say they agree all the same religious beliefs equally their parent, which may reflect the intergenerational growth of the unaffiliated.³⁶ Indeed, as noted in the first chapter, teens are more likely than their responding parent to say they have no religious affiliation, which may reflect dissimilar beliefs. Amid Christian adolescents, evangelical Protestants stand out in the reverse style. 2-thirds of evangelical teens say they have all the same religious beliefs equally their parent, compared with 53% of mainline Protestant teens and 52% of Catholic teens who say this.

Whether teens think they have all the same religious beliefs as their parent besides varies by their own rate of worship service attendance. Teens who say they attend religious services on a regular basis – that is, one time or twice a month or more ofttimes – are far more likely than those who nourish less often to say they and their parent share nevertheless religious beliefs (64% vs. 36%). Similarly, teens are more likely to report that they accept all the same beliefs equally their responding parent when they identify a higher importance on religion in their life.

The perception of shared religious beliefs likewise varies past form level. Four-in-ten teens in 11th or twelfth grade report that their parent has all the same religious beliefs. Past contrast, 54% of 9th and tenth graders and half of teens in 8th grade or lower say their parent has all the same religious behavior as they do.

Teens who attend worship services with ii parents are relatively probable to say their religious beliefs are all the same equally the beliefs of the parent who took the survey before them. Six-in-ten adolescents who attend worship services with both parents say they have all the aforementioned religious beliefs as their parent, compared with 45% of those who nourish with one parent and 35% of those who practice not nourish services. Teens who never nourish religious services also are more probable than others to say their beliefs are quite different from their parent's (16%).

Why teens attend worship services appears to exist similarly important. Among teens who say they attend services mainly because they want to, two-thirds also study that their religious beliefs are all the same every bit their parent's behavior. Past contrast, among those who say they attend because their parents want them to, simply four-in-ten say they hold withal religious beliefs their parent holds.

Teens who report having some of the same religious beliefs or quite different beliefs than their parent were too asked directly whether their parent is aware of those differences. Overall, most teens say their parent knows, but fully a third (34%) point that their parent is unaware of the differences. And teens who are affiliated with a religion are more probable than those who are unaffiliated to say that their parent does not know their beliefs are dissimilar (xl% vs. 28%).

Well-nigh teens report footling or no conflict over faith with their surveyed parent

What are the consequences of one-half of American teens saying that at least some of their religious beliefs are dissimilar from their parents? Overall, 9% of surveyed teens say their beliefs are dissimilar from their parent's beliefs and that this deviation causes conflict with their parent, compared with 35% who say information technology doesnotcrusade conflict, even though their parentknowsthey take different behavior. When asked about the conflict caused by having different beliefs, seven% of teens say their parents are unaware of the differences.³⁷ The remaining half of teens say that they share all the same religious beliefs with their parent (48%) or declined to answer the question (i%).

There is relatively little difference between teens from various religious traditions in this regard. Although unaffiliated teens (69%) are far more than probable than affiliated teens (42%) to report that their religious behavior are not all the same as their parent's beliefs, they are not any more likely to report conflicts with their parents over those differences.

Teens who nourish services mainly considering their parents want them to are slightly more than probable than those who attend of their ain accord to say they have at least some religious disharmonize with their parent (13% vs. vii%). Very few teens (v%) who say they never nourish religious services report that differences in belief cause conflict with their parent.

Iv-in-10 teens with different religious behavior from parent say they are less religious, less certain of their beliefs

The roughly one-half of teens who say their religious beliefs are not all the same as their responding parent'due south beliefs were asked to explain, in their own words, how their beliefs differ from their parent'southward beliefs. Overall, 14% of the teens who got this question say that questioning or being unsure almost their beliefs is what makes them different from their parent. Some of these teens discuss general doubt, such as one who said, "She definitely believes in a god and I'1000 not sure." Others express more than specific concerns, such as one teen who said, "Sometimes I just don't believe in anything. Why does God let people die, or bad things happen to good people?"

Uncertainty in belief is particularly relevant to differences between unaffiliated teens and their parents. One-in-five unaffiliated teens who report that their religious beliefs are different from their responding parent's beliefs talk about uncertainty, compared with 9% of affiliated teens who written report that their religious beliefs are different in this way.

Another 7% of teens who say their religious behavior are different from their parent's betoken that they are just less religious than their parent or that they are less strict or conservative than their parent. These responses include general comments such as, "My dad is probably more religious than I am." Others give more specific answers such as, "My parents believe everything and try to live by God's word. I sometimes don't live past God's word even though my parents think it's not OK." Such responses most frequently come from religiously affiliated teenagers. One-in-ten affiliated teens who report having beliefs that differ from their parent'south behavior note that they are less conservative than their parent. By comparison, 3% of unaffiliated teens who written report having unlike beliefs say the same.

An additional seven% of teens who written report that their beliefs differ from their parent'due south point to a lack of involvement in attention church or other worship services equally the primal difference between them and their parent. Some of these teens say things like, "I don't like church building." Some give more specific responses, questioning whether worship service attendance is necessary for i to be religious. For example, one teen notes, "I don't feel similar I needed to go to church building to believe in god or exist a part of a religion." Religiously affiliated teens (9%) are somewhat more likely than unaffiliated teens (4%) to focus on worship services equally the main difference between them and their parent.

Amidst teens who say their religious behavior differ from their parent's, 6% point to lack of conventionalities in God every bit a fundamental departure. Some of these teens gave definitive statements like, "I don't believe in God." In some cases, they describe conflict between them and their parent(southward): "I practice non believe in god, and I am forced to get to Sunday School until I am a confirmed Catholic." Or, "I am not as gullible every bit my mom and don't believe in a God. It's all hogwash."

Importantly, all the same, 8% of teens who report having different beliefs from their parent say that they are morereligious than their parent or get to worship services more than often than their parent. In some cases, teens indicate to disagreement over bones beliefs. For example, "I believe that at that place is a god, and my parent doesn't." Or, "I read the bible." Similarly, ane respondent notes, "I believe y'all get to heaven when you die. My mom doesn't hold with me." Others point to differences in religious participation. For instance, ane teen – writing about a father – explains: "I go to church and CCD and aid at church. He doesn't become to church building." Finally, others give more full general responses, such as: "I would say I'm more religious than my parents."

1-in-7 teens live with two parents from dissimilar religions

The residue of this chapter focuses on differences between teens from interfaith homes and those from single-organized religion homes (run across sidebar "Defining interfaith homes" below). The survey finds that seven-in-x teens alive in homes with ii parents of aforementioned religion (or no religion), 14% in homes with two parents of different religions (including one affiliated parent and one unaffiliated parent), and 16% in single-parent homes.³⁸

Evangelical Protestant teens are the least likely to live in an interfaith abode, with just vii% living in this environment. By comparing, 14% of Cosmic teens, i-in-five unaffiliated teens, and 22% of mainline Protestant teens live in interfaith homes.

Looked at from the opposite direction, how practice the religious characteristics and behaviors of teens who live in interfaith homes differ from others? Put simply, teens who live in interfaith homes are less religious than those with two parents who take the same religion.

For example, 44% of teens who alive in interfaith homes are religiously unaffiliated, compared with 29% in homes where 2 parents share a organized religion. Teens in interfaith homes likewise are less likely than those in homes where two parents share the same faith to attend religious services at least monthly and say religion is very of import in their lives.

(Differences betwixt those in religiously mixed households and those in single-parent households are non statistically significant.)

Defining interfaith homes

What does information technology mean to say an adolescent lives in an interfaith home or that they have interfaith parents? There are a variety of potential means to define interfaith families. Is interfaith a subjective concept, based on whether members of a family view their religious beliefs and identities every bit unlike from one another? Or is it more than objective, reflecting differences in family members' formal religious affiliations? Do couples who belong to dissimilar sects or denominations of the aforementioned globe religion (Christianity, for example) count equally interfaith couples? Are a Catholic and a Baptist an interfaith couple, or a Methodist and a Presbyterian? Also, is it about the adults that live in an boyish'southward home, or is information technology about an adolescent'due south biological parents, regardless of who they alive with? What nigh if two parents have the same religious affiliation, but the adolescent is different – does that count? In that location is no single, correct reply to these questions.

This written report focuses on the adults whom teens alive with and defines interfaith homes in an objective manner based on the data provided by the responding parent. Each responding parent provided detailed information about their own religious affiliation and, if they are married or cohabiting with a partner, about their spouse or partner's religious affiliation. These religious affiliations were grouped into the following traditions: Protestant, Catholic, Mormon, Orthodox Christian, Jehovah's Witness, other Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, other globe religion, other faith and unaffiliated. If the responding parent and their spouse or cohabiting partner are affiliated with dissimilar traditions, they are considered interfaith. Given these categories, a Methodist and a Presbyterian (or any other combinations of Protestant denominations) would not be considered interfaith, but a Catholic and a Protestant would be. Importantly, this measure of interfaith focuses on an adolescent's home, not on their biological parents. And it does non define differences in belief or religious worldviews between parents every bit interfaith, only their religious affiliations. It also does non consider a house where a parent and teen accept different religious affiliations to be an interfaith home, because the analysis seeks to explore the surround in which a teen lives and the connection that may accept with the teen's own religious identity, behavior and practices.

When parents' religions differ, teens give variety of responses about how they choose which 1 to follow

When their parents take different religions, how practise teens cull which organized religion (or lack of religion) to follow? The survey asked teens whether their parents – all of their parents, not just the one who took the survey before them or the ones they alive with – have the same religion as each other, or different religions. If the teens indicated that their parents' religions were different and that they have the same religion as at to the lowest degree one of the parents, they were then asked to explain, in their ain words, how they chose.³⁹

Roughly i-in-five teens (21%) say they made their ain decision based on what felt right to them or what made the most sense. Some give full general responses such as, "I merely chose myself," or "I followed what I felt was all-time for me." Others provide more context. For example, "I went to church with my mother, who is Baptist and I went to church with my male parent, who is Catholic and from there I decided."

A similar share (19%) say that one of their parents is more religious than the other, or that one parent cares more than almost organized religion than the other, which influenced their choice. For instance, "My dad takes me to church regularly, whereas my mom doesn't do much of anything," or "My dad doesn't have one so I followed my mom'due south."

Some other 16% of teens whose parents have different religions fabricated information technology articulate that their parent chose for them, or that they were primarily raised in the religion of one of their parents. For case, "I was baptized every bit a Cosmic and this was agreed upon by both of my parents then it was a mutual decision between my parents." Similarly, "it's what [I] was born and raised with." This is oft framed as being out of the teen's control. Other typical responses include variations on the teen'due south mother making the choice. And in some cases, teens acknowledge their lack of commitment with the religion that was chosen for them. For example, "I am Catholic considering my mother makes me simply I am not interested in whatever religion."

Of form, families change. Another mutual ready of responses, bookkeeping for 8% of teens who say their parents have different religions, reverberate the changing circumstances in some families by pointing to the fact that some teens were primarily raised by one of their interfaith parents. For instance, "I've lived with my Mom my whole life, and then I follow her religion." Similarly, "my mom raised me earlier marrying my stepfather."

A previous Pew Research Heart study that analyzed how adult respondents were raised religiously found that mothers tend to be seen as more responsible for religious upbringing when parents have dissimilar religions, and that those from mixed religious backgrounds are more than likely to adopt their mother'southward religion as their own.

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Source: https://www.pewforum.org/2020/09/10/shared-beliefs-between-parents-and-teens/

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