Subscribe
E-mail
Posts
Comments

The Heritage Foundation has just posted its December “Top Ten Findings” on family, religion, and adolescent well-being.  Turns out that teens from families with frequent religious attendance do better on several measures than those from non-observant families.  Of course, many of you believed that already.  Here are the details:

1.  Teens from intact families with frequent religious attendance were least likely to have ever gotten into a fight. Teens from intact families with frequent religious attendance were least likely to have ever gotten into a fight (27.1 percent) when compared to (a) their peers from intact families with infrequent religious attendance (32.1 percent), (b) peers from non-intact families with frequent religious attendance (34.3 percent), and (c) peers from non-intact families with infrequent religious attendance (43.5 percent).

2.  Teens from intact families with frequent religious attendance were least likely to have ever used hard drugs. Teens from intact families with frequent religious attendance were least likely to have ever used hard drugs (8.5 percent) compared to (a) their peers from non-intact families with frequent religious attendance (9.5 percent), (b) peers from intact families with low to no religious attendance (14.6 percent), and (c) peers from non-intact families with low to no religious attendance (20.1 percent).

3.  Teens from intact families with frequent religious attendance were least likely to have ever committed a theft of $50 or more. Teens from intact families with frequent religious attendance were the least likely to have ever committed a theft of $50 or more (11.7 percent) when compared to (a) those from intact families with low to no religious attendance (15.3 percent), (b) those from non-intact families with frequent religious attendance (15.8 percent), and (c) those from non-intact families with low to no religious attendance (23.5 percent).

4.  Teens from intact families with frequent religious attendance were the least likely to have ever shoplifted. Teens from intact families with frequent religious attendance were the least likely to have ever shoplifted (6.1 percent) when compared to (a) their peers from non-intact families with frequent religious attendance (7.9 percent), (b) peers from intact families with low to no religious attendance (9.9 percent), and (c) peers from non-intact families with low to no religious attendance (12.3 percent).

5.  Teens from intact families with frequent religious attendance were the least likely to have ever run away. Teens from intact families with frequent religious attendance were the least likely to have ever run away (5.2 percent) when compared to (a) their peers from intact families with low to no religious attendance (8.1 percent), (b) peers from non-intact families with frequent religious attendance (8.5 percent), and (c) peers from non-intact families with low to no religious attendance (13.1 percent).

6.  Teen girls from intact families with frequent religious attendance averaged the fewest sexual partners. Teen girls from intact families with frequent religious attendance averaged the fewest sexual partners (0.47) when compare to (a) their peers from non-intact families with frequent religious attendance (0.93), (b) peers from intact families with low to no religious attendance (1.14), and (c) peers from non-intact families with low to no religious attendance (1.55).

7.  Teen boys from intact families with frequent religious attendance averaged the fewest sexual partners. Teen boys from intact families with frequent religious attendance averaged the fewest sexual partners (1.04) when compared to (a) their peers from intact families with low to no religious attendance (2.03), (b) peers from non-intact families with low to no religious attendance (3.14), and (c) peers from non-intact families with frequent religious attendance (3.92).

8.  Teens from intact families with frequent religious attendance were the least likely to have ever been drunk. Teens from intact families with frequent religious attendance were the least likely to have ever been drunk (22.4 percent) when compared to (a) their peers from non-intact families with frequent religious attendance (24.5 percent), (b) peers from intact families with low to no religious attendance (33.4 percent), and (c) peers from non-intact families with low to no religious attendance (41.2 percent).

9.  Teens from intact families with frequent religious attendance were the least likely to have been expelled or suspended from school. Teens from intact families with frequent religious attendance were the least likely to have ever been expelled or suspended from school (17.3 percent) when compared to (a) their peers from intact families with low to no religious attendance (25.5 percent), (b) peers from non-intact families with frequent religious attendance (32.5 percent), and (c) peers from non-intact families with low or no religious attendance (46.7 percent).

10.  Teens from intact families with frequent religious attendance earned the highest GPA, on average. On average, teens from intact families with frequent religious attendance earned the highest GPA (2.94) when compared to (a) their peers from intact families with low to no religious attendance (2.75), (b) peers from non-intact families with frequent religious attendance (2.72), and (c) peers from non-intact families with low to no religious attendance (2.48).

——————————————————————————–

Source: Fagan, Patrick (2006)

http://www.heritage.org/upload/Map_of_Religion.pdf

2 Responses to “Survey on adolescents shows value of religious upbringing”

  1. on 18 Dec 2006 at 2:21 pmSteve

    I wonder if #10 & #8 are linked in some way… Too bad #8 didn’t have a “frequency” subsection.

  2. on 19 Dec 2006 at 8:52 ammark

    Do “intact families” include same sex spouse/partner families?

Leave a Reply