The Effects of Marital Disruption on the Intergenerational Transmission of Religious Values

Abstract

This study sought to investigate the relationship between adolescent religiosity and parental religiosity between families where marriages were intact and those that were disrupted. It was hypothesized that adolescents who come from disrupted families, regardless of the level of discord in that family, would not reflect the religious values of their parents as well as their peers who come from intact families. The subjects for this study were 244 high school students who completed a questionnaire assessing their own religiosity, the perceived religiosity of their parents, and the perceived level of conflict between their parents. The results supported the main hypothesis. The results also showed a significant correlation between adolescent religiosity and perceived parental religiosity, and that adolescents are significantly less 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 from intact homes.