The Transmission of Religious Beliefs across Generations: Do Grandparents Matter?*

INTRODUCTIONAlthough the transmission of religious values and beliefs across generations is one of the primary means by which continuity is maintained in the American family, cultural critics of contemporary family life maintain that the capacity of older generations to instill such values and beliefs in younger generations has attenuated as a result of marital instability and rampant individualism (Bellah, Madsen, Sullivan, Swidler and Tipton, 1985; Popenoe, 1993). From this perspective, the ability of parents to reproduce religious orientations in their children has diminished over the last several decades, presumably undermining the moral grounding of children. Changes in the religious landscape of the nation are also said to contribute to the devaluation of families as conduits of religious traditions, most notably the growth in secularism and the development of alternative spiritual movements that prize self-fulfillment and religious expression over religious conformity and the inerrancy of religious doctrine (Inglehart and Baker, 2000; Roof, 1993; Smith, 2005; Wuthnow, 1998). However, there have also been significant challenges to the assertion that the family has become too fragile an institution to pass down core values and beliefs to the next generation (Bengtson, Biblarz and Roberts, 2002; Bengtson, 2001 ; Cherlin, 2002). In this investigation we examine the intergenerational transmission of religious beliefs to adolescents and young adults. Using a unique data set consisting of three linked generations, we test whether grandparents and parents, independently and jointly, influence the beliefs of grandchildren in the family's youngest generation. Further we examine whether family structure and the gender of sending and receiving generations condition the strength of this downward influence. Despite considerable social change in family and religious life over recent decades, we suggest that contemporary families possess a stock of religious capital sufficient to influence the religious orientations of successive generations.While religiosity is often considered (and measured) as a characteristic of an individual, it is also a social product forged by early experiences within nuclear and extended families. The literature suggests three mechanisms by which parents transmit their values and beliefs to their children: ( 1 ) Socialization or the direct training and instruction of children; (2) Social learning or role modeling that demonstrates desired outcomes to children; and (3) Status inheritance by which parents situate their children to particular social and economic contexts that predispose particular sets of values and world-views (Acock and Bengtson, 1980; Moen, Erikson and Dempster-McClain, 1997; Yi, Chang and Chang, 2004). Any or all of these mechanisms may be operating in the transmission process to maintain continuity across generations. Studies have shown that parents exert a lasting imprint on the religious ideologies and commitments of their children (Glass, Bengtson and Dunham, 1986; Myers, 2004; 1996; Sherkat, 1998) and that a majority of American teens prefer to adopt the religious traditions of their parents rather than seek out other religions (Smith, 2005). Less understood is the role that the wider family plays in the transmission of religious beliefs, values and practices. Indeed, children are embedded in a complex web of family relationships and receive messages about religious beliefs, values and expectations from parents, grandparents and other relatives (Mueller and Elder, 2003). Until relatively recently, grandparents have been little considered in social science theory and research on intergenerational transmission and its consequences for youth. However, recent research indicates grandparents play an increasingly important role in the lives of dieir grandchildren (Bengtson, 2001 ; Casper and Bianchi, 2002). Owing to increases in life expectancy over the 20th century, grandchildren spend more time with grandparents in their lives than ever before, increasing opportunities for shared activities and mutual benefit (Uhlenberg, 2005). …