TRACING THE RELIGIOUS LIFE COURSE: INTER- AND INTRAGENERATIONAL SOURCES OF LATER-LIFE RELIGIOSITY IN BABY BOOMERS

The development of religiosity in later life has its origins in earlier phases of the life course, yet few studies have investigated the contribution of early religious exposure to religious beliefs and behaviors in old age. This investigation uses multigenerational data from the Longitudinal Study of Generations taken from 385 baby boom children, 16-26 years of age, and their parents in 1971, and follows the children’s religious orientations into midlife and old age. Guided by intergenerational transmission and path dependency perspectives, we found that parents’ religious intensity in 1971 strengthened their children’s cognitive and behavioral religiosity in later life as mediated by children’s early and midlife religiosity. Our results demonstrate both intergenerational transmission followed by temporal stability in religious belief and practice. Evidence suggests that parental influence creates religious momentum in their children that carries from adolescence/young adulthood through the unfolding of their lives into old age.