Religiosity and the Impact of Religious Secondary Schooling

Abstract

ABSTRACTUsing a nationally representative longitudinal survey and incorporating propensity score matching methods, we follow secondary school students post-graduation to determine how Catholic and private religious schooling impacts religiosity. There is an established literature examining the Catholic school impact on collegiate and labor market outcomes, although many families may choose Catholic or private religious schooling in efforts to instill religiosity. Our results show that Catholic and private religious secondary schooling exhibits relationships related to increasing religious participation shortly after high school graduation, although as time progresses these effects are less consistent. The largest and most robust finding is for male Catholic school attendees.