Article Abstracts
June 2008, Vol. 49 Issue 3

2006 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
WHY DO SMALL RELIGIOUS GROUPS HAVE MORE COMMITTED MEMBERS?

DANIEL V. A. OLSON
PURDUE UNIVERSITY

In recent years a small but growing literature has shown that religious groups located in areas where their members are a smaller proportion of the population have more committed members.  Arguments based on the religious economies model suggest that the leaders of these small religious groups face greater religious competition from larger groups and hence they must work harder to recruit members and increase commitment levels among current members.  I argue instead that, for reasons extrapolated from Blau (1977), small population share groups have much higher rates of members leaving and new members joining.  Both of these processes (leaving and joining) tend to select for more committed current members.  The least committed are the most likely to leave the group and those who actually join a group tend to be the most committed from among the pool of potential joiners.  Thus congregations with higher membership turnover rates have current members that are more committed.  In fact, membership turnover is one of the best predictors of per member giving and attendance. Such processes can lead to higher commitment levels in low population share areas even if religious leaders do nothing to recruit new members or raise commitment among their current members. 

“SPIRITUAL, BUT NOT RELIGIOUS:”
THE IMPACT OF PARENTAL DIVORCE ON THE RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL IDENTITIES OF YOUNG ADULTS IN THE UNITED STATES

JIEXIA ELISA ZHAI
BAYLOR UNIVERSITY

CHRISTOPHER G. ELLISON
CHARLES E. STOKES
NORVAL D. GLENN
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN

 In recent years, researchers have exhibited considerable interest in the distinctions between "religion" and "spirituality," and in the apparently growing numbers of people in western societies who self-identify as "spiritual but not religious." However, few studies have systematically examined the antecedents or correlates of these important constructs. Using data on a nationwide (US) sample of 1,500 young adults (ages 18-35), half of whom are children of divorce and the other half of whom were raised in intact, two-parent families, our results underscore the potential importance of parental divorce in giving rise to a "spiritual but not religious" identity. Specifically, offspring of divorce constitute the majority (62%) of this category in our sample.  Even with controls for sociodemographic factors, offspring of divorce are significantly less likely to identify themselves as "religious" but no less inclined to self-identify as "spiritual," as compared with young adults from intact families. Implications of these patterns for the intergenerational transmission of religious faith and other aspects of contemporary American culture are discussed.

RELIGION AND ADOLESCENT DEPRESSION: THE IMPACT OF RACE AND GENDER

RICHARD J. PETTS
THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

ANNE JOLLIFF
INDIANA UNIVERSITY-PURDUE UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS

Using two waves of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this study examines whether the relationship between religion and depression varies by race and gender. Results suggest that religious participation and religious importance indirectly reduce depressive symptoms by enhancing social support for youth. This study also suggests that the relationship between religion and depression may be unique for Latino and Asian adolescents. Religious participation and religious importance are associated with increased depression among Asian adolescents. Results also suggest that the relationship between religious participation and depression among Latino adolescents is curvilinear. However, this relationship varies by gender; religious participation is negatively related to depression among Latino males, but the relationship is curvilinear for Latina females. Overall, this study suggests that the relationship between religion and depression among adolescents may be conditioned by race and gender.

CATHOLIC GUILT AMONG U.S.TEENAGERS:
A RESEARCH NOTE

STEPHEN VAISEY
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL

CHRISTIAN SMITH
UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME

“Catholic guilt” is an idea deeply embedded in U.S. popular religious culture. Few empirical studies, however, have investigated the actual extent of Catholic guilt among adherents of Catholicism. The findings of the little relevant research that exists are also inconclusive and difficult to generalize. This study uses data from the National Study of Youth and Religion to investigate the extent of possible Catholic guilt among U.S. adolescents ages 13 to 17, testing 15 distinct hypotheses. Findings reveal no evidence of Catholic guilt in this population with one exception—compared to other religious traditions, Catholicism appears to both cause and relieve less guilt among U.S. teenagers. There is no evidence, however, that Catholics feel more guilty than other teens, that more observant Catholics feel more guilty than less observant ones, nor that guilt-inducing behaviors affect Catholics more strongly than other teens.

DISPLAYS OF FAITH:
MATERIAL/VISUAL VERSUS COGNITIVE/VERBAL

MICHAEL J. McCALLION
BENJAMIN BENNETT-CARPENTER
SACRED HEART MAJOR SEMINARY, DETROIT

Displays of faith, discussed in this paper as evangelization, are often associated with the verbal, not the non-verbal.  In common perception, these displays tend to be related to Protestants more than Catholics.  With a number of qualifications, we find, however, that the data indicate possible non-verbal forms of publicly displaying faith that appear more frequently among Catholics than Protestants.  Our data lead us to suggest that distinctions persist between Catholics and Protestants in terms of emphases upon the material versus the cognitive and the visual versus the verbal.  These findings could suggest less usual conceptions of public displays of faith than those found in the literature.

UNDERSTANDING AN OUTLIER:
HOW PARISH CULTURE MATTERS IN A HIGHLY PARTICIPATORY CATHOLIC CHURCH

KATHERINE DiSALVO
NEW YORK THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

This ethnographic case study examines parish and civic participation at an empowerment -focused, highly participatory, predominantly Hispanic Roman Catholic Church in the Lower East Side of New York City.  After finding that American Catholics participate less in congregational life and in varied areas of public service than members of other religious groups, several scholars have offered hypotheses as to how denominational culture and standard parish practices may discourage the participation of individuals.  Other scholars argue that congregations’ differing participation in public life depends significantly on their internal cultures.  Findings of this study bridge the conclusions of these sets of scholarship.  Ethnographic data from St. Mary’s supports the theory that exercise of civic skills within congregations affects members’ civic participation elsewhere, yet this data also shows how meanings and practices of parish culture, not just denominational culture, affect individuals’ civic participation integrally.  At St. Mary’s, parish culture shapes the parish’s public action, but also shapes the civic value of individual participation within the parish.