Religious Service Attendance Among Immigrants

Abstract

A growing body of research by scholars of religion and immigration analyzes the religious organizations started by post-1965 immigrants to the United States. Little research, however, focuses on patterns in religious service attendance. The authors use pilot data from the New Immigrant Survey, a nationally representative sample of new legal immigrants to the United States, to systematically consider, for the first time, how demographic, familial, employment, household language, and migration factors influence regular religious service attendance for new immigrants from different religious traditions. Findings lend some support to the theory that immigrants who are less integrated into American society are more likely than others to regularly attend religious services. These preliminary conclusions generate broader hypotheses and potential theories about ways in which the norms of different religious traditions, the availability of religious centers, and the extent of immigrants’ ties to their ethnic communities influence their regular religious service attendance.