AN INTERACTIVE MODEL OF RELIGIOSITY INHERITANCE - THE IMPORTANCE OF FAMILY CONTEXT

I use an intergenerational data set that is uniquely suited to estimat ing the magnitude of religiosity inheritance. Interviews with 471 pare nts in 1980 and their adult offspring in 1992 address three related is sues: (1) What are the effects of childhood, parental, and family infl uences on the religiosity of adult offspring? (2) What factors conditi on the ability of parents to transmit their religiosity? (3) How do th e recent experiences of adult offspring modify earlier family influenc es on religiosity? The results suggest that three sets of variables ai d the transmission of religiosity-parental religiosity, quality of the family relationship, and traditional family structure. One's religios ity is determined largely by the religiosity of one's parents. Parent' s marital happiness, parent-child support, moderate strictness, and a working husband/nonworking wife increase the ability of parents to tra nsmit their religious beliefs and practices. Although the recent exper iences of adult offspring affect their religiosity, these experiences do not reduce the influence of parents and family context.