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Changes in Religiosity Across the Transition to Young Adulthood

  • Empirical Research
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Abstract

Social identities, as those pertaining to religion, may change over time as adolescents make the important transition into young adulthood. This 4-year longitudinal study examined developmental changes in religious affiliation, identity, and participation across the transition from adolescence to young adulthood among 584 individuals (from M age  = 17.9 years to M age  = 22.1 years; 55 % female). We also investigated whether changes varied as a function of individual (i.e., gender and ethnicity) and contextual (i.e., college type and residential status) factors, as well as the association between religiosity and well-being (e.g., meaning and purpose in life, depressive symptoms). The results indicated a significant decline in reported affiliation with a particular religious group or faith for all youth. The change in a psychological sense of religious identity varied by gender, and the change in religious participation differed by ethnicity, but other individual-difference factors generally played minor roles in the changes in religiosity across time. Religiosity was more consistently linked with a greater sense of meaning and purpose than with fewer depressive symptoms across the transition to adulthood, suggesting that it may be particularly important for eudaimonic well-being. Overall, the findings suggest that youth generally experience a decrease in religiosity as they transition to young adulthood, but this rate of change may vary between individuals. The results have important implications for the way in which religion is viewed and lived out by young adults in the United States.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by Russell Sage Foundation, the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation, and National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Grant Number DGE-0707424. We would like to thank the participating students and schools for their assistance with the project.

Author contributions

M.C. participated in the design and coordination of the study, performed the statistical analyses, participated in interpretation of the data, and drafted the manuscript; K.T. participated in the conception of the study, participated in its design and coordination, participated in performing statistical analyses and the interpretation of the data, and helped draft the manuscript; A.F. conceived of, designed, and oversaw the study, participated in interpretation of the data, and helped draft the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of California, Los Angeles, 1285 Franz Hall, Box 951563, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

    Melissa Chan, Kim M. Tsai & Andrew J. Fuligni

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  1. Melissa Chan
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  2. Kim M. Tsai
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Correspondence to Melissa Chan.

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Chan, M., Tsai, K.M. & Fuligni, A.J. Changes in Religiosity Across the Transition to Young Adulthood. J Youth Adolescence 44, 1555–1566 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-014-0157-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-014-0157-0

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