Teens' Religious Views Remain Steady Through High School

According to the conclusion of a new research by University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), it would appear that teens maintain their religious beliefs steady throughout high school, while most other aspects of their lives change.

High school is known to be the place and time where young adults find their niche. This is defined as an ensemble of cultural and social views, groups and involvements that help develop their character, self-awareness and personalities.

Yet, even through these decisive times, teens hold on to religion as a mainstay, an aspect that does not change. Naturally, there are cases in which teens become religious, or stop being so, but these are the exceptions rather than the norm.

In a paper published in the latest issue of the journal Child Development, experts say that this correlation holds true regardless of ethnic background. In fact, this background is what mostly influenced kids' religious identity and participation.

The new conclusions are not meant to suggest that activities such as attending church or spiritual services remain at the same levels as before high school. In most cases, students attend church less often, but in their minds this does not mean they are becoming less religious.

The new work, led by UCLA professor of psychiatry Andrew J. Fuligni, focused on adolescents belonging to Asian, Latin American and European backgrounds. In all of them, religious identity remained stable throughout high school.

This correlation held even after the team accounted for ethnic differences in religious affiliation, socioeconomic background and generational status, as well as other related factors. In all groups, church attendance dropped significantly during high school.

“Adolescence is a critical time for self-awareness and exploration,” Fuligni says. The expert's area of expertise is family relationships and adolescent development. He applies these studies to culturally and ethnically diverse populations and groups.

“There's been a lot of research about adolescents' social identities in the areas of ethnicity and gender but very little on the role of religion, and even less work on the degree of religious identification and participation among adolescents from ethnic minority backgrounds,” he adds.

“While there was a significant decline [in church attendance] across the high school years, it's possible that teens were simply busy doing other things, perhaps a part-time job, taking part in extra-curricular activities or simply socializing with peers,” Fuligni explains further.

“Plus, kids are beginning to make their own decisions, and where attendance at religious services and activities is driven by parents earlier in childhood, parents may be allowing their teens to make their own decisions about participation as they progress through high school,” he concludes.