National Study of Youth and Religion | National Study for Youth and Religion

NSYR Releases Third Report

Click here to view the report Religion in the Lives of American Adolescents: A Review of the Literature. [PDF]

This report focuses on recent academic research on religious correlations and influences during adolescence and reports findings from quality studies published mostly in academic journal articles or book chapters. Its focus is on relatively recent research whose connection with contemporary adolescents is more reliable than research dating even as late as the mid-1980s, whose subjects are now more than 30 years of age.

Authors of the report are Mark Regnerus, Christian Smith and Melissa Fritsch. Regnerus is assistant professor of sociology at the University of Texas at Austin. Smith is professor and associate chair of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Fritsch is department assistant at the Center for Social Research at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Religion in the Lives of American Adolescents: A Review of the Literature is available as a free download on the NSYR website, youthandreligion.org. Printed copies of the report are available for $4. To order, please make checks payable to the Odum Institute and mail to: National Study of Youth and Religion, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB# 3057, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3057.

The National Study of Youth and Religion is a four-year research project funded by Lilly Endowment Inc. It began in August 2024 and will continue until August 2024. The purpose of the project is to research the shape and influence of religion and spirituality in the lives of U.S. adolescents; to identify effective practices in the religious, moral and social formation of the lives of youth; to describe the extent to which youth participate in and benefit from the programs and opportunities that religious communities are offering to their youth; and to foster an informed national discussion about the influence of religion in youth's lives to encourage sustained reflection about and rethinking of our cultural and institutional practices with regard to youth and religion.

02-22-03

Sociologists with the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR) announce the release of Religion in the Lives of American Adolescents: A Review of the Literature. This is the third background report published by the NSYR, which is based at the Odum Institute for Research in Social Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The NSYR is under the direction of Dr. Christian Smith, professor of sociology. This report focuses on recent academic research on religious correlations and influences during adolescence and reports findings from quality studies published mostly in academic journal articles or book chapters. Its focus is on relatively recent research whose connection with contemporary adolescents is more reliable than research dating even as late as the mid-1980s, whose subjects are now more than 30 years of age. Authors of the report are Mark Regnerus, Christian Smith and Melissa Fritsch. Regnerus is assistant professor of sociology at the University of Texas at Austin. Smith is professor and associate chair of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Fritsch is department assistant at the Center for Social Research at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich. Religion in the Lives of American Adolescents: A Review of the Literature is available as a free download on the NSYR website, youthandreligion.org. Printed copies of the report are available for $4. To order, please make checks payable to the Odum Institute and mail to: National Study of Youth and Religion, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB# 3057, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3057. The National Study of Youth and Religion is a four-year research project funded by Lilly Endowment Inc. It began in August 2024 and will continue until August 2024. The purpose of the project is to research the shape and influence of religion and spirituality in the lives of U.S. adolescents; to identify effective practices in the religious, moral and social formation of the lives of youth; to describe the extent to which youth participate in and benefit from the programs and opportunities that religious communities are offering to their youth; and to foster an informed national discussion about the influence of religion in youth's lives to encourage sustained reflection about and rethinking of our cultural and institutional practices with regard to youth and religion.