What determines if children stay religious into adulthood? A new study may have the answer
A new study examining how parents can most effectively foster faith in their children found that the family home is the single most critical factor in determining whether a child retains their faith into adulthood.In new research titled “Passing the Torch: How Faith Moves Across Generations,” the Institute for Family Studies and Communio looked at adults raised in Christian households to identify the parental behaviors most strongly associated with lasting religious faith.The study found that parents who regularly attend church, pray daily, talk about their faith with their children, and build strong family bonds are significantly more likely to raise children who remain faithful into adulthood.When it came to religious behaviors, adults who said their parents attended church weekly were more than twice as likely to attend church weekly in their 30s and 40s (26 percent versus 12 percent) compared to those whose parents were not regular weekly attenders.The study also found that church attendance was significantly more likely in adulthood if a child attended church weekly with both parents rather than just one parent, resulting in a 41 percent likelihood of adult attendance compared to 29 percent.Small spiritual practices woven into daily family life can have a major impact, the research found.
Children from families that regularly said grace before meals were more than three times as likely to attend church weekly as young adults, with attendance increasing from 7 percent to 22 percent.A similar pattern appeared in households that regularly prayed together outside of meals and church services, such as at bedtime.
Children from those families had a 52 percent chance of praying daily as adults.Regular conversations about faith also appeared to make a major difference.Children raised in homes where religion was discussed several times a week or more were more than twice as likely to attend church weekly, pray daily and consider religion highly important as you...