Abstract
One body of extant research has documented the social contours and positive effects of teen religiosity, while another has explored the religious sources of social congeniality (“niceness”) among adult Americans. This study integrates these parallel bodies of scholarship by examining the religious bases of niceness among American teens. Using post-hoc interviewer ratings from wave 1 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), we examine the degree to which religious teens are perceived more positively than their nonreligious peers. Associations linked to six dimensions of teen religiosity are considered. Select facets of teen religiosity are associated with more positive interviewer ratings, particularly for interpersonal warmth, thereby providing modest support for hypothesized patterns. Findings are interpreted in light of current theories of religious involvement, interpersonal dispositions, and social competencies.
Highlights
Recent research on religion among American teens has demonstrated that religious involvement is a key factor in the lives of youth and provides a host of pro-social effects for adolescents (e.g., Bartkowski 2007; Fletcher and Kumar 2014; French et al 2013; Hardie et al 2016; Lytra et al 2016; Pearce and Denton 2011; Sabatier et al 2011; Smith and Denton 2005)
We seek to address this issue by first discussing the role of religion in the lives of American teens, after which we review the effects of religious involvement on interpersonal congeniality among adults
Based on our review of the literatures on religious teens and faith-inspired congeniality, we anticipated that the normative infrastructure of religious organizations, the pro-social religious networks of congregational involvement, the internalized convictions of a religious worldview, and the practice of private devotion would produce salutary effects across all of these dimensions of “niceness”
Summary
Recent research on religion among American teens has demonstrated that religious involvement is a key factor in the lives of youth and provides a host of pro-social effects for adolescents (e.g., Bartkowski 2007; Fletcher and Kumar 2014; French et al 2013; Hardie et al 2016; Lytra et al 2016; Pearce and Denton 2011; Sabatier et al 2011; Smith and Denton 2005). The current study augments these parallel bodies of scholarship on religion among teens and the linkages between religious involvement and interpersonal orientations by exploring the extent to which adult perceptions of teens vary by adolescent religiosity. We seek to address this issue by first discussing the role of religion in the lives of American teens, after which we review the effects of religious involvement on interpersonal congeniality among adults. Based on these bodies of research, we generate a series of hypotheses about the relation between adolescent religious involvement and adult perceptions of religious and nonreligious teens. Our investigation ends with a discussion of the findings of this study and an identification of several directions for future research
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