The family transmission of religion in Canada: An intergenerational approach to religious socialization

Abstract

This article seeks to measure the effect of parental socialization on the intergenerational transmission of religion and religiosity levels in Canada. Basing the analysis on the cohort replacement theory, the author is able to quantify the intergenerational change in religiosity. The use of a novel database – The Transmission of Religion across Generations – allows the author to demonstrate that there was an intergenerational decline in affiliation within all of the religious groups analysed (Catholicism, mainline Protestant, evangelical and Pentecostal, Islam, and ‘other religions’) and that the average level of religiosity is also decreasing. Among the socialization factors examined, only ‘talking about religion with certain family members’ and ‘the presence of religion in the household during childhood’ had a positive effect on the religiosity of the respondents. However, despite the positive effect of these indicators, the results reveal that their strength is not sufficient to reverse the overall trend of intergenerational religious decline and general secularization.