First Advisor

Robert Liebman

Term of Graduation

Spring 2001

Date of Publication

3-8-2001

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (M.S.) in Sociology

Department

Sociology

Language

English

Subjects

Apostasy, Church membership -- United States, Religion and sociology -- United States

Physical Description

1 online resource (88 pages)

Abstract

This investigation sought to understand religious disengagement among young adults in the U.S. Specifically, it addressed the following questions: How can the trend toward religious disengagement among young adults in the 1990s be explained?

In an attempt to answer these questions, several existing models and perspectives which attempt to explain the social causes of religious disengagement among young adults were presented. These are the following: age-based, social learning, traditional beliefs, the family-life cycle, religious innovation, localism and deprivation.

These models and perspectives were combined to create several hypotheses, which were then tested with data collected from General Social Survey (GSS). Young adult cases from four of the most recent GSS surveys available (1991, 1993, 1994 and 1996), were merged into a single data file. Bivariate analyses and logistic regression were used to examine the association between church apostasy and each of the independent variables.

In general, these data provided support for the traditional age-based model, traditional beliefs and values, and religious innovation. The family-life cycle also found some support. However, this study suggests alternative methods for investigating church apostasy among young adults. Furthermore, there is a need for sufficient explanations of religious disengagement, which apply to and account for the different religious involvement of young adults in America.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/44863

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