The Effect of Catholic University Characteristics on Student Religiosity: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

What features of a Catholic university (if any) make a difference for student religiousness? Despite growing interest, no comparative institutional data on this question are currently available to Catholic scholars. To demonstrate thevalue of such information and suggest common metrics, the question was examined by means of a meta-analysis of 26 studies measuring student religious outcomes in Catholic universities since 1960. Overall, there is a “Catholic difference”: religiosity in Catholic universities exceeds secular universities by about half (.40-.50) a standard deviation. Student church attendance — an “objective” religious activity — is highly sensitive to institutional differences; prayer and self-assessed religiousness — reflecting “subjective” personal devotion or attitude — are not. Church attendance has dropped by .5 standard deviations since the 1960s, with most of the decline occurring recently; rises sharply (r=.84) with increased Catholic concentration; and declines in universities that are more selective, as indicated by Carnegie undergraduate profile (r=-.88), and wealthy, as indicated by average faculty salary (r=-.91). Schools with fewer required theology/philosophy courses have very low church attendance; those with very high church attendance have lower selectivity, indicated by lower entering SAT scores and higher admissions yield. The implications of these limited findings for improving Catholic identity and faith practice, and the added value that more comprehensive data would bring, are discussed.