Creating Partisan “Footprints”: The Influence of Parental Religious Socialization on Party Identification

Abstract

ObjectiveNo studies in the American context consider the influence of parental religious socialization on the development of individuals’ party identifications (PIDs). This study attempts to fill the gap. The theory posits that parental religious socialization plays an important developmental role in shaping a child's PID. However, the precise relationship between a parent's religion and the child's PID may vary over time and across generations in response to changing religio‐partisan conflicts.MethodsThe expectations are tested using child‐parent pairs from the Youth–Parent Socialization Panel Study. Conventional bivariate and multivariate techniques are employed to estimate a child's seven‐point PID. Measures of parental religious belonging, beliefs, and behaviors, as well as a parent's PID, other parental sociodemographic controls, and measures of a child's religion are included in the multivariate models.ResultsIn the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, a pre‐Boomer parent's religious belonging and to a very limited extent religious behavior are more influential for the Baby Boomer child's PID than religious beliefs. However, for the younger generation included in the study, in the 1990s, a Baby Boomer parent's religious beliefs become more influential to his or her post‐Boomer child's PID than does the parent's religious belonging or behavior.ConclusionsThe findings imply an important and evolving role of parental religious socialization in shaping individuals’ PIDs.