Explaining religious change across generations: an international study of religious transmission in families

Our general question concerns the transmission and transformation of religion and values across generations through family socialization. While there is a large body of evidence to suggest that the decline in church religiosity in the Western world is due mainly to intergenerational change, there is also a lack of detailed knowledge about how this change happens. Studies that investigate how the (non-)transmission of religion takes place across generations are, however, rare; and they are limited in terms of scope, generalizability, and even more when it comes to comparative studies. Our ongoing research project (ID 61361) is addressing these gaps and so far, revealed the close interconnection of inner familiar dynamics and contextual factors. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, has interfered with data gathering, complicating, and delaying the implementation of the cross-national survey, and prolonging the process of recruiting and interviewing subject families. The aim of the proposed project is to fully analyze the rich data set using a comparative and mixed methods approach, and to publish the results for a wide range of readership. Initial analyses provide promising, expected as well as unexpected answers to our research question of passing on religions and values, which, however, need to be explored further in depth and comparatively. Moreover, first analysis has raised additional research questions. These will also be examined in the proposed project, resulting in a solid advance in knowledge in the areas under investigation beyond the aims of the project under way. The research project intends to concentrate on the transmission of religion in family socialization and examines both the familial and societal conditions that impinge on the continuity or discontinuity of religious change across generations. The main research questions result from the original project, but have also been expanded and concretized in the course of the analysis: • How are religion and non-religion transmitted from generation to generation? How has the transmission of religion changed across generations and within families? How does the transmission, transformation or abandonment of religiosity and pro-social values take place in processes of socialization over generations? • How have the meaning and practice of religion and non-religion changed across generations and within families, and in which way is this linked to the changing societal context? • Which factors and mechanisms in a family promote the transmission or discontinuation of religiosity (e.g. family relationships, nurturing styles, trust, equality, attentiveness, tolerance, religious profile, and conservatism or liberalism)?