THE EFFECTS OF MARITAL DISRUPTION ON THE INTERGENERATIONAL TRANSMISSION OF RELIGIOUS VALUES

This study sought to investigate the relationship between adolescent r eligiosity and parental religiosity between families where marriages w ere intact and those that were disrupted. It was hypothesized that ado lescents who come from disrupted families, regardless of the level of discord in that family, would not reflect the religious values of thei r parents as well as their peers who come from intact families. The su bjects for this study were 244 high school students who completed a qu estionnaire assessing their own religiosity, the perceived religiosity of their parents, and the perceived level of conflict between their p arents. The results supported the main hypothesis. The results also sh owed a significant correlation between adolescent religiosity and perc eived parental religiosity, and that adolescents are significantly les s religious as a group from their mothers, but are more religious than their fathers. Finally, the results indicated that adolescents coming from disrupted families are less religious than adolescents coming fr om intact homes.