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Young Grandchildren and Their Grandparents Continuity and Change Across Four Birth Cohorts

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Abstract

Religiosity is a trait deeply embedded within families and transmitted across generations through formal training, informal instruction, and behavioral modeling. This chapter examines the extent to which religiosity is stable across generations, specifically in order to understand how grandparents influence the religious orientations of their adolescent and young adult grandchildren. Drawing on the Longitudinal Study of Generations, a four-decade study of multi-generational families, the authors analyzed lineages consisting of grandchildren participating in 2000 (Mage = 23, N = 554), parents participating in 1988 (Mage = 38, N = 341) and grandparents participating in 1971 (Mage = 45; N = 257). Estimating a three-level hierarchical linear model, results indicate that grandparents and parents independently transmitted their religious orientations to grandchildren. However, parental divorce tempered the strength of transmission from grandparents. The authors conclude that religion still forms a common thread that stretches across multiple generations in the family, although divorce serves as a significant mitigating factor.

Keywords

  • Religion
  • Generations
  • Grandparents
  • Grandchildren
  • Divorce
  • Family
  • Life course
  • Parent
  • Linked lives

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA

    Merril Silverstein

  2. School of Social Work, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Vern L. Bengtson

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Merril Silverstein .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology and Criminology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA

    Duane F. Alwin

  2. Department of Sociology and Criminology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA

    Diane H. Felmlee

  3. Department of Sociology and Criminology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA

    Derek A. Kreager

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© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG

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Silverstein, M., Bengtson, V.L. (2018). Linked Religious Lives Across Generational Time in Family Lineages: Grandparents as Agents of Transmission. In: Alwin, D., Felmlee, D., Kreager, D. (eds) Social Networks and the Life Course. Frontiers in Sociology and Social Research, vol 2. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71544-5_19

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  • DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71544-5_19

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