Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T00:33:41.976Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Parental and Peer Influence on Church Attendance among Adolescent Anglicans in England and Wales

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 June 2020

Leslie J. Francis Open the ORCID record for Leslie J. Francis [Opens in a new window]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Drawing on data from a survey conducted among 7,059 students aged 13–15 in England and Wales, this study examines parental and peer influence on church attendance among 645 students who identified themselves as Anglicans (Church of England or Church in Wales). The data demonstrated that young Anglicans who practised their Anglican identity by attending church did so primarily because their parents were Anglican churchgoers. Moreover, young Anglican churchgoers were most likely to keep going to church if their churchgoing parents also talked with them about their faith. Among this age group of Anglicans, peer support seemed insignificant in comparison with parental support. The implication from these findings for an Anglican Church strategy for ministry among children and young people is that it may be wise to invest in the education and formation of churchgoing Anglican parents.

Keywords

Anglicanchurchgoingparentspeersyoung people
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Anglican Studies , Volume 18 , Issue 1 , May 2020 , pp. 61 - 73
Copyright
© The Journal of Anglican Studies Trust 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

1

Leslie J. Francis, Professor of Religions and Psychology, Centre for Educational Development, Appraisal and Research (CEDAR), University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK.

References

Argyle, M. (1958). Religious Behaviour (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul). doi.org/10.4324/9780203001271Google Scholar
Beit-Hallahmi, B., and Argyle, M. (1997). The Psychology of Religious Behaviour, Belief and Experience (London: Routledge).Google Scholar
Bellamy, J., Mou, S., & Castle, K. (2005). Survey of Church Attenders Aged 10 to 14 Years: NCLS Occasional Paper (Sydney, New South Wales: NCLS Research).Google Scholar
Brierley, P. (2002). Reaching and Keeping Tweenagers (London: Christian Research).Google Scholar
Care for the Family (2016). Faith in our Families (Cardiff: Care for the Family).Google Scholar
Churches Information for Mission (2001). Faith in Life: A Snapshot of Church Life in England at the Beginning of the Twenty-first Century (London: Churches Information for Mission).Google Scholar
Cronbach, L.J. (1951). ‘Coefficient Alpha and the Internal Structure of Tests’, Psychometrika, 16, pp. 297–334. doi.org/10.1007/BF02310555CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeVellis, R.F. (2003). Scale Development: Theory and Applications (London: Sage).Google Scholar
Eysenck, H.J., and Eysenck, S.B.G. (1975). Manual of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (Adult and Junior) (London: Hodder and Stoughton).Google Scholar
Eysenck, S.B.G., Eysenck, H.J., and Barrett, P. (1985). ‘A Revised Version of the Psychoticism Scale’, Personality and Individual Differences, 6, pp. 21–29. doi.org/10.1016/0191-8869(85)90026-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Francis, L.J. (1978). ‘Measurement Reapplied: Research into the Child’s Attitude towards Religion’, British Journal of Religious Education, 1, pp. 45–51. doi.org/10.1080/0141620780010202CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Francis, L.J. (1984). Teenagers and the Church: A Profile of Church-going Youth in the 1980s (London: Collins Liturgical Publications).Google Scholar
Francis, L.J. (1987). ‘The Decline in Attitude towards Religion among 8–15 Year Olds’, Educational Studies, 13, pp. 125–34. doi.org/10.1080/0305569870130202CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Francis, L.J. (1989). ‘Monitoring Changing Attitudes towards Christianity among Secondary School Pupils between 1974 and 1986’, British Journal of Educational Psychology, 59, pp. 86–91. doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8279.1989.tb03079.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Francis, L.J. (1992). ‘Is Psychoticism Really a Dimension of Personality Fundamental to Religiosity?’ Personality and Individual Differences, 13, pp. 645–52. doi.org/10.1016/0191-8869(92)90235-HCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Francis, L.J. (1996). ‘The Development of an Abbreviated Form of the Revised Junior Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (JEPQR-A) among 13- to 15-year-olds’, Personality and Individual Differences, 21, pp. 835–44. doi: 10.1016/S0191-8869(96)00159-6CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Francis, L.J. (1997). ‘The psychology of Gender Differences in Religion: A Review of Empirical Research’, Religion, 27, pp. 81–96. doi.org/10.1006/reli.1996.0066CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Francis, L.J., and Craig, C.L. (2006). ‘Tweenagers in the Church: An Empirical Perspective on Attitude Development’, Journal of Beliefs and Values, 27, pp. 95–109. doi.org/10.1080/13617670600594566CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Francis, L.J., and Gibson, H.M. (1993). ‘Parental Influence and Adolescent Religiosity: A Study of Church Attendance and Attitude toward Christianity among Adolescents 11 to 12 and 15 to 16 years old’, International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 3, pp. 241–53. doi.org/10.1207/s15327582ijpr0304_4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Francis, L. J., and Penny, G. (2014). ‘Gender Differences in Religion’, in Saroglou, V. (ed.), Religion, Personality and Social Behaviour (New York: Psychology Press), pp. 313–37.Google Scholar
Francis, L.J., Brown, L.B., and Philipchalk, R. (1992). ‘The Development of an Abbreviated Form of the Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQR-A): Its Use among Students in England, Canada, the USA and Australia’, Personality and Individual Differences, 13, pp. 443–49. doi.org/10.1016/0191-8869(92)90073-XCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Francis, L.J., Penny, G., and Powell, R. (2018). ‘Assessing Peer and Parental Influence on the Religious Attitudes and Attendance of Young Churchgoers: Exploring the Australian National Church Life Survey’, Journal of Beliefs and Values, 39, pp. 57–72. doi.org/10.1080/13617672.2016.1209923CrossRefGoogle Scholar
General Synod (2019). Growing Faith: Churches, Schools and Households (GS2121; London: Church of England).Google Scholar
Kay, W.K., and Francis, L.J. (1996). Drift from the Churches: Attitude toward Christianity during childhood and adolescence (Cardiff: University of Wales Press).Google Scholar
Lewis, C.A., and Francis, L.J. (2014). ‘Personality and Religion among Female University Students in France’, Psychology, Society and Education, 6.2, pp. 68–81. doi.org/10.25115/psye.v6i2.509Google Scholar
Mark, O. (2016). Passing on Faith (London: Theos).Google Scholar
Powell, R., Bellamy, J., Sterland, S., Jacka, K., Pepper, M., and Brady, M. (2012). Enriching Church Life: A Guide to Results from National Church Life Surveys for Local Churches (Adelaide, South Australia: Openbook, 2nd edn).Google Scholar