title: Religion in America--1972-2006: religious affiliation, attendance, and strength of faith.
abstract: The present study used data from the General Social Survey, collected between 1972 and 2006 (N = 45,463) to analyze changes over time in three aspects of religion among American adults: religious affiliation, frequency of attending religious services, and strength of faith. The last two measures were analyzed only for survey participants who had a religious affiliation. Ordinary least-squares regression confirmed a significant decrease in religious affiliation over time, after controlling for socio-demographic variables that are known to be associated with religion. A significant decrease in attending religious services was found among those survey participants who were religiously affiliated. As expected, participants who were African American, female, older, and from the South were more religious according to all three measures. No effect of birth-cohort was found for any religious measure. The results are discussed in the context of Stark and Bainbridge's 1996 theory of religion.
authors: The Spears Research Institute, HealthCare Chaplaincy, New York, NY 10022, USA. kflannelly@healthcarechaplaincy.org
authors: Kevin J
authors: KJ
authors: Flannelly
authors: Kathleen
authors: K
authors: Galek
authors: Jackson
authors: J
authors: Kytle
authors: Nava R
authors: NR
authors: Silton
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D002835:Christianity / Q000523:psychology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D012737:Sex Factors; D012933:Social Identification; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult