Toward Disestablishment: New Patterns of Social Class, Denomination and Religiosity among Youth?

In the past especially mainline Protestant denominations profited from a positive relationship between social class and religiosity, mainly church attendance. Recent studies suggest that it is the affluent young adults with mainline denominational preferences who display low levels of church involvement, suggesting a trend toward disestablishment or eventual weakening of the position of the mainline bodies. Employing a national sample of adolescents, we find a significant interaction between denomination and occupation in predicting the personal-experiential dimension of religiosity among non-southern adolescents. Furthermore, an examination of the means on three dimensions of religiosity indicates that mainline, white-collar youths exhibit low levels of religiosity. Future research should examine these relationships over time, since the religious climate can change, and future studies should consider the processes by which disaffiliation or loss of interest in religion can occur.