New Research Finds Mom and Dad Are the Most Powerful Force in Keeping Children Faithful

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A major report draws on research of more than 60,000 Americans to learn what actually works in transmitting the faith to the next generation.

A new report released today by the Institute for Family Studies (IFS) and Communio shows that religious decline in America is not inevitable. Secularization of the culture is not the primary issue. Reversing this trend depends almost entirely on what happens inside the home. Passing the Torch: Families, Parents, and Adult Faith is the most comprehensive examination to date of how parents can successfully transmit the faith to their children.

The report shows that families are the single most important factor in whether or not children adopt faith in adulthood.

Drawing on four national datasets including the Global Flourishing Study, the Communio Nationwide Study on Faith and Relationships, and the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health,researchers analyzed data from more than 60,000 Americans to discover what produces lasting religious commitment in adulthood.

Key findings include:

• Regular faith conversation is one of the strongest predictors of adult religiosity. Children raised in homes where faith was discussed several times a week were more than twice as likely to attend church and say religion was very important to them as adults.
• Both parents attending worship weekly matters. When both parents attended church weekly, 41 percent of children did the same in adulthood. When only one parent attended, that figure dropped to 29 percent.
• Father involvement has an impact across generations. Children who had faith conversations when dad was involved were significantly more likely to have those same conversations with their own children.
• Marital satisfaction correlates to frequency of faith conversations. Parents who reported being completely satisfied in their marriages had more faith-related conversations with their children throughout the week compared to fewer than four conversations per week with those with low marriage satisfaction.
• A strong parent-child relationship almost doubles the odds of adult belief. Children who reported a very good relationship with both parents had 97 percent higher odds of believing in God as adults compared to those with weaker parental relationships.

“Faith isn’t something kids are going to get from the culture," said Jesse Smith, PhD, co-author of the report and assistant professor at The Ohio State University. "Our study shows that parents are the most important figures for their children's spiritual formation. They're the key role models, teachers, and tone-setters for giving kids the foundation in faith they'll take with them into adulthood."

“Successful faith transmission is less about one dramatic moment and more about thousands of ordinary ones. Faith is most likely to endure when it is woven into ordinary family life,” said co-author Jane Lankes Smith, Ph.D, a research scientist at the Institute for Population Research at The Ohio State University.

The report offers ten specific recommendations for parents and pastors that strongly emphasize the family dynamics of home-life and the need for congregations to be more involved in supporting families.

“The reality is the married home is the most impactful small group,” J.P. De Gance, Communio founder and CEO, said. “When parents are engaged in the discipleship of their children, this is where faith most often takes deep root. This report reinforces important biblical truths and provides some great actionable steps for both parents and pastors to restore Christian faith in their homes and across society.”

Passing the Torch was co-authored by Jesse Smith, PhD, and Jane Lankes Smith, PhD, both from The Ohio State University, in collaboration with IFS and Communio.

The full report is available at ifstudies.org.

James Lynch
Institute for Family Studies
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