A family inside the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church. (Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
(Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Grouping via Getty Images)

Parents have a lot of influence over their teenagers – including when it comes to religion. But while teens in the U.s.a. take subsequently their parents religiously in many ways, they stand out in some others, according to a new Pew Research Center written report.

The written report looks at U.S. teens' religious lives and the ways these reverberate – or don't reverberate – the religious lives of their parents. It is based on a survey of 1,811 pairs of teens ages 13 to 17 and their parents, with ane teen and one parent from each household. Each person answered questions not only about their own religious amalgamation, beliefs and practices, but as well about the part they think religion plays in the life of the other person taking the survey.

Here are x key findings from the report.

Organized religion research often focuses on the religious lives of adults, and on the fashion people'due south religious behavior and practices evolve equally they age. Just there is less data about younger people's religious views and habits, and the extent to which these are shaped by their upbringing. To better understand these dynamics, Pew Enquiry Heart surveyed ane,811 pairs of U.S. teens and their parents – i parent and one teen from each household. The survey was conducted online by Ipsos, from March 29 to Apr 14, 2019. Ipsos sampled households from its KnowledgePanel, a probability-based web console recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses and phone (landline and cellphone) numbers, designed to be nationally representative.

While many surveys are designed to measure the responses of individuals, this one also was designed to measure the responses of pairs. The goal was to mensurate the degree of religious alignment between teens and their parents by separately asking them similar questions near their religious affiliations, behavior and practices.

Parents who qualified for the study – those who had a kid ages 13 to 17 living with them – were asked to complete a web survey, with some questions referring specifically to their teenager (or the teen with the next upcoming birthday, if at that place was more than one in the household). Upon answering the last question, the responding parent was asked to pass the survey to the teen they had been asked about, so the teen could consummate their portion; parents were encouraged to permit teens to answer the questions on their ain.

While this survey is not meant to be representative of U.S. adults overall, it is weighted to be representative of two different populations: ane) parents with teens ages xiii to 17; and 2) teens ages 13 to 17. It is weighted to be representative by age and gender, race, ethnicity, education, and other categories.

Here are the questions used for this study, forth with responses, and its methodology.

Most teens share the religion of their parents or legal guardians. Protestant parents are probable to take teens who identify as Protestants, while Catholic parents generally have teens who consider themselves Catholics. The vast bulk of religiously unaffiliated parents have teens who also describe their religion equally atheist, agnostic or "nothing in particular."

Most parents and teens share a religious identity

Within the broad Protestant category, however, there are stark differences. Eight-in-ten parents who affiliate with an evangelical Protestant denomination take a teen who likewise identifies equally an evangelical Protestant. Only amongst parents who belong to mainline Protestant denominations, 55% have a teen who identifies in the same way, while 24% accept a teen who is religiously unaffiliated.

Overall, teens are somewhat less likely than their parents to identify as Christian (63% vs. 72%), and somewhat more likely to say they are religiously unaffiliated (32% vs. 24%).

Though the survey included parents and teens from many religious backgrounds, the sample did not include enough people from smaller groups – including historically Black Protestant denominations, Orthodox Christian churches and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as well as Jews, Muslims and other non-Christian faiths – to allow their views to exist reported separately.

Approximately half of teens (48%) say they have "all the aforementioned" religious beliefs as their parent. Among the other one-half of teens – those who say they share "some of the same" beliefs or have "quite different" beliefs from their parent – virtually 1-3rd (34%) say their parent doesn't know that they differ religiously. And 17% say this difference causes at least some disharmonize in their household.

Overall, about parents and teens accept a skillful read of how important religion is in the other's life. For instance, 73% of teens give the same reply as their parent about how important religion is to the parent, and 68% of parents give the aforementioned answer as their teen about how of import religion is to their teen. When parents and teens do not give the same answer, information technology is more often than not because parents are overestimating the importance of religion in their teen's life, rather than underestimating it.

Teens less religious than their parents by some measures, but not worship attendance

Teens are merely every bit likely as their parents to say they regularly become to religious services, but when information technology comes to more than personal forms of religious expression, teens appear less religious than their parents. Around 4-in-ten teens and parents say they attend services at least once or twice a month. And perhaps because attendance at religious services tends to be a family unit activity, the vast majority (88%) of parents who say they regularly attend religious services also have a teen who reports attending that often. (The survey was conducted before the coronavirus outbreak, which has shifted many people's attendance habits.)

Yet, teens are less likely than their parents to pray daily (27% vs. 48%), to believe in God with absolute certainty (40% vs. 63%) and to consider religion "very important" in their lives (24% vs. 43%).

Most teens attend religious services with at least one parent

About teens report attention religious services with either both (40%) or one (25%) of their parents. Another 7% say they more often than not nourish with other people, such as grandparents, other family members or friends. Just 1% say they attend worship services alone. Roughly one-quarter say they never attend religious services or declined to answer the question.

Many teens and their parents engage in religious practices equally a family in other ways also. About six-in-ten teens (59%) say they "often" or "sometimes" talk about religion with their family, while virtually half of teens (48%) report saying grace – a prayer or approval before a meal – with their family at least sometimes. A smaller share of teens (25%) say they commonly read religious scripture as a family.

Teens are about as likely to say they go to religious services mainly because their parents want them to (38%) every bit to say they go mainly because they themselves want to go (35%).  When it comes to religious activities in full general, about ii-thirds of teens who do religious things with their family unit say they do and then partly or mostly because their parents want them to. Only even if teens are participating to please their parents, they seem to be getting something out of it: Around 3-quarters of teens who engage in religious activities with their family say these pursuits bring them "a lot" of enjoyment (27%) or "some" enjoyment (51%). And many teens limited both sentiments: Among teens who say they participate because their parents want them to, 79% also say they get at to the lowest degree some enjoyment from information technology.

Religious teaching is relatively common. Six-in-x teens say they take participated in a religious educational activity program, such as Sunday school or Hebrew school, including 29% who say they continue to participate oft or sometimes and 31% who say they rarely participate or used to but no longer do and then. And near half (51%) say they have been role of a religious youth group.  Most religiously unaffiliated teens say they have not participated in these activities, though 32% say that they have received religious education at some point and 27% say they take participated in a religious youth group, even if they no longer do so.

Teens with Republican parents are more religiously engaged by some measures

Past some measures, teens whose parents identify with or lean toward the Republican Political party seem to exist more religiously engaged than those whose parents are Democratic or lean to the Democratic Party. For example, teens with Republican parents are more likely to say they attend religious services weekly or more frequently, participate in religious education programs often or sometimes, and get to a religious youth grouping at least sometimes. They as well are more likely to talk to their family about religion, say grace and read scripture with their family at least sometimes. These patterns hold even when the analysis is limited to teens who are religiously affiliated.

Evangelical Protestant teens are more than religious than other teens by traditional measures, and also are more than likely to say they at least sometimes engage in religious education or religious youth groups. Organized religion appears to be more than deeply embedded in their lives in other ways, likewise: Evangelical teens are more likely than teens in other religious groups to say they regularly experience a deep sense of spiritual peace and well-existence (at least once or twice a month). Vii-in-ten say this, compared with roughly half or fewer Catholic, mainline Protestant and unaffiliated teens. Evangelical teens also are more probable than these other groups to look to religious teachings and beliefs when making ethical decisions. Every bit for evangelical parents, they are more than likely than other parents to say it is very important that their teen is raised in their organized religion (71%) and that their teen marries someone in their faith (53%). Overall, 55% of parents with a religious affiliation say information technology is very important to heighten their teen in their religion, while well-nigh a third (36%) say it is important that their child eventually marries within their religion.

Plurality of teens, parents say there may be truth in many religions

Teenagers tend to be open up to the possibility that there may be truth in multiple faiths and that people tin can be moral without believing in God. A plurality of teens (45%) express the belief that many religions may exist truthful, while 31% say that only 1 organized religion is truthful. Fewer teens say at that place is piffling or no truth in any religion.

A majority of teens (61%) say information technology is non necessary to believe in God to be moral and have good values, while 38% say information technology is necessary to believe in God to exist moral. The pattern amidst parents on these questions is largely like.

Many U.South. teens report having religious or spiritual experiences at least once or twice a calendar month. One-half feel a deep sense of spiritual peace and well-being at to the lowest degree monthly, while 46% say they think near the pregnant and purpose of life and xl% report feeling a deep sense of wonder about the universe. The nigh common experience is a stiff feeling of gratitude or thankfulness, reported by 77% of teens in the survey.

While religiously unaffiliated teens are just equally probable as others to say they feel a deep sense of wonder virtually the universe, they are much less probable than teens in other religious groups to report feeling spiritual peace at least in one case or twice a calendar month.

Religious 'nones' as likely as other teens to report feeling a deep sense of wonder about the universe

Note: Here are the questions used for this report, forth with responses, and its methodology.

Jeff Diamant is a senior writer/editor focusing on religion at Pew Inquiry Center.