DENOMINATIONAL INFLUENCES ON SOCIALLY DIVISIVE ISSUES - POLARIZATION OR CONTINUITY

Research on denominational affiliation and its influence on individual attitudes has increased recently due to widespread interest in whethe r the United States has become increasingly polarized on a variety of divisive social issues, even while demographic differences among denom inations have decreased. However, recent empirical research has, in ge neral, failed to support a polarization argument. Using 22 years of da ta from the General Social Surveys, we analyze changes over time in th e relative variability and distribution of attitudes toward family iss ues (abortion, gender roles, and sexual behavior) within denominationa l groups after controlling for the effects of demographic covariates a nd church attendance. The results show that adjusted coefficients of v ariation and kurtoses have changed inconsistently. For example, althou gh there has been a decreasing trend in relative variation about women 's roles and premarital sex, measures of kurtosis fail to indicate a f lattening or peaking of the distributions among denominational groups. However, attitudes toward abortion among conservative and moderate Pr otestants have become relatively more variable and have moved in the d irection of bimodality as gauged by decreasing kurtoses. Similarly, mo derate Protestants show increasing relative variability and movement t oward bimodality with regard to attitudes toward homosexual relations. These results indicate that, except for a couple of notable examples, attitudes among members of denominational groups have not generally b ecome more polarized over time.