The Relationship Between Religiosity and Deviance Among Adolescents in a Religiously Pluralistic Society

Abstract

Most empirical studies of religion and deviance have employed samples from Western countries, especially the United States, where one predominant religion—Judeo-Christianity—is an embedded fixture of the mainstream culture. By comparison, research conducted in East Asia, where religious pluralism is the norm rather than the exception, is extremely scarce. Moreover, a large proportion of the population in East Asia professes themselves to be atheists. Given the drastically different religious climates between East and West, it thus remains an important empirical question whether the research findings on religiosity and deviance garnered from Western samples can be generalizable to East Asia. Given this background, the current study assesses the linkage between religiosity and deviance using a sample of adolescents in South Korea, where secular social controls emanating from Confucianism are potent. The results of the study show that religiosity’s deviance-constraining effects are considerably weaker in South Korea. In addition, many of the Western findings do not apply to the South Korean context.