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

Sessions Organized by the NSYR at the 2024 Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion

The first session organized by the NSYR at the conference, will be held on Thursday, October 19, 2024 from 1:15 to 2:45 pm, and is titled, Religious and cultural identity among U.S. Jewish adolescents. It is organized by Christian Smith, and will be convened by Youn Ok Lee, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Presentations will include: 'Are there distinctly 'cultural jews'?: Exploring new avenues of Jewish identity for American adolescents' from Maria W. Van Ryn of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; 'Jewish community and generation X' from Tobin Belzer, of the University of Southern California; and 'From generation to generation: Religious behavior among Jewish college students' from Ariela Keysar, of Trinity College.

On Friday, October 20, 2024 from 8:30 to 10:00 am, the second NSYR organized session, Religiosity during the transition into and out of high school: Preliminary findings from Wave 2 of the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR,) will be held. For this session Terri Clark, the NSYR Wave 2 Project Manager, will present 'NSYR goes longitudinal: Methodological details of Wave 2 of the National Study of Youth and Religion'. Lisa D. Pearce, a NSYR co-Principle Investigator and Assistant Professor of Sociology at UNC Chapel Hill will address 'Patterns of religiosity in the lives of American youth'. Youn Ok Lee, from the University of North Carolina, will present 'Dramatic adolescent religious change: Preliminary findings from the National Study of Youth and Religion'. Finally, Daniel Nilsson DeHanas, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will address 'Outcomes related to religious change in youth'.

The next session is on Friday, October 20, 2024, from 10:15 to 11:45 am. It will be convened by Kelly Schwartz, from Alliance University College, and is titled, The Religiosity of U.S. Adolescents. Christian Smith, the NSYR Principal Investigator and Professor of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame, is the session organizer. The presentations in this session include: 'Early life course factors in shaping religious involvement in adolescence', from Lisa D. Pearce, Daniel DeHanas, Youn Ok Lee, and Maria W. Van Ryn, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; 'Higher education and change in religious belief and practice: A longitudinal analysis' from Jonathan Hill, of the University of Notre Dame; and 'Religious exclusivism among U.S. adolescents' from Jenny Trinitapoli of the University of Texas at Austin.

Another session on Friday, October 20, 2024, held from 1:15 to 2:45 pm, is titled, Religion and life outcomes for U.S. adolescents I. This session is organized by Christian Smith. Presentations for this session will include: 'Does religion create barriers to success in public schools?' from David Sikkink of the University of Notre Dame; 'Congregational social support and the quality of parent-teen relationships' from Melinda Lundquist Denton of Clemson University; 'Parental religion and youth volunteering: Explaining the link' from Kraig Beyerlein, of the University of Arizona; and 'City-sized faith: Predicting thriving and risk outcomes in urban and non-urban youth' from Kelly Schwartz of Alliance University College.

The last session on Friday, scheduled from 3:00 to 4:30 pm, is organized by Christian Smith. The session is titled, Religious identity and faith among U.S. Catholic adolescents. For this session, Emily Elizabeth Smith, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will present 'U.S. Roman Catholic teenagers and the importance of religious faith'; Ken Johnson-Mondragon, of the Instituto Fe y Vida, will present 'Religious practices of adolescent Hispanics: A comparison of Catholic and Protestant teens in the U.S.'; and Charlotte McCorquedale and Leigh Sterten, of the Ministry Training Source, will present 'The Catholic Church and Catholic young people: What are the essential questions from the Church's perspective?'.

The final session organized by the NSYR, again organized by Christian Smith, is titled, Religion and life outcomes for U.S. adolescents II. This session will be held on Saturday, October 21, 2024, from 8:30 to 10:00 am. The session will be convened by Maria W. Van Ryn, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Presentations will include: 'The effects of Latter-Day Saint religiosity among Mormon teens: Evidence from the National Study of Youth and Religion' from John P. Bartowski of Mississippi State University; 'Hooking up at college: Does religion make a difference?' from Christopher G. Ellison, Amy M. Burdette, and Norval Glenn of the University of Texas at Austin; 'Whatever works: Cultural justification and moral motivation among young Americans' from Stephen Vaisey of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and 'Sexual guilt among religiously active African-American youth' from Kenneth Steinman from the Ohio State University School of Public Health.

The purpose of the SSSR, and this conference, is to stimulate and communicate significant scientific research on religious institutions and religious experience. Scholars from all fields of study who are interested in the scientific exploration of religion are invited to join the Society. For more information on the SSSR, visit www.sssrweb.org/about.html.

The National Study of Youth and Religion is funded by Lilly Endowment Inc. 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.

10-02-06

At the 2024 Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR), held on October 19-22 in Portland, OR, the National Study of Youth and Religion is organizing six sessions. Some of the presentations in these sessions will include findings from NSYR data collection. The first session organized by the NSYR at the conference, will be held on Thursday, October 19, 2024 from 1:15 to 2:45 pm, and is titled, Religious and cultural identity among U.S. Jewish adolescents. It is organized by Christian Smith, and will be convened by Youn Ok Lee, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Presentations will include: 'Are there distinctly 'cultural jews'?: Exploring new avenues of Jewish identity for American adolescents' from Maria W. Van Ryn of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; 'Jewish community and generation X' from Tobin Belzer, of the University of Southern California; and 'From generation to generation: Religious behavior among Jewish college students' from Ariela Keysar, of Trinity College.