Handing Down the Faith: How Parents Pas Their Religion on to the Next Generation
The most important influence shaping the religious and spiritual lives of children, youth, and teenagers is their parents. A myriad of studies show that the parents of American youth play the leading role in shaping the character of their religious and spiritual lives, even well after they leave home and often for the rest of their lives. We know a lot about the importance of parents in faith transmission. However we know much less about the actual beliefs, feelings, and activities of the parents themselves, what Christian Smith and Amy Adamczyk call the "intergenerational transmission of religious faith and practice." To address that gap, this book reports the findings of a new national study of religious parents in the United States.
The findings and conclusions in Handing Down the Faith are based on over 200 in-depth, personal interviews with religious parents from many traditions and different parts of the country, and sophisticated analyses of two nationally representative surveys of American parents about their religious parenting.
“Parents wanting their children to practice the same religion as they do or to seek spirituality in other meaningful ways are values that many families cherish. Curiously, though, social scientists have paid less attention to how these values are transmitted than might have been expected. Smith and Adamczyk present valuable information from qualitative interviews and surveys that addresses this topic. This is sociology of religion at its most informative. Scholars, religious leaders, and parents will benefit from digging into the insights it provides.”
“In this fascinating study, Smith and Adamczyk—with nuance and a good deal of daring—show how raising young people with faith is not just a matter of parental resolve. Handing Down the Faith—the final and most religiously diverse book to emerge from the team behind the massive National Study of Youth and Religion (of special note: a section focusing on immigrant parents)—shows how cultural shifts have revolutionized the already outsized role parents play in their children’s faith. Smith and Adamczyk do not varnish their sociological conclusion: Going forward, it will be parents—not religious traditions or institutions—who influence our children’s faith. An urgent “must read” for anyone invested in the religious lives of young people.”
“Handing Down the Faith represents a comprehensive and compelling analysis of religious parenting. The rich data enlisted here, focused principally on interviews but also coupled with various surveys, are most impressive. This book provides a critical contribution to a vitally important area of scholarship.”
Publicity and Press
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Handing Down the Faith: Parents, Congregations, and Religious Socialization
Professor Adamczyk is coauthor of Handing Down the Faith: How Parents Pass Their Religion on to the Next Generation (Oxford, 2021). Drawing on key findings from the book, she will discuss how parents view the role of congregations and how they feel that their own experiences growing up shaped their perspectives on childrearing and religious socialization.
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Handing Down the Faith: The Parents' Perspective
Dr. Adamczyk discusses her research on how parents pass down religious beliefs to their children. Along with Christian Smith, she conducted a study titled Handing Down the Faith, which explores how parents view their role in religious socialization. Dr. Adamczyk explains that while there's a lot of research on how young people perceive religion, there was
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Adamczyk on parents and religion
Amy Adamczyk is Professor of Sociology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Her latest book, Handing Down the Faith: How Parents Pass Their Religion on to the Next Generation, is co-authored with Christian Smith, Professor of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame, and is soon to be released by Oxford University Press. I talked with Amy about the new book and about some of her other work. She’s incredibly productive and is always in the midst of a fascinating and socially relevant research project.
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How do Parents Successfully Pass on Religious Faith?
Religious adherence and practice in the United States is declining and has been for some years. With the rise of the “Nones” and Christian Smith’s identification of “moralistic therapeutic deism,” many religious parents wonder how to ensure that their children will keep the faith into adulthood. In her work as a sociologist and researcher, Amy Adamczyk has tackled many of the most difficult and controversial questions of our day.
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Dr. Amy Adamczyk on Why Parents Are the #1 Influence On Their Teens
Today we are posting an interview with Amy Adamczyk. Trained as a sociologist of religion, her research focuses on how different contexts (such as nations, counties, friendship groups), and personal religious beliefs shape people’s deviant, moral, and health-related attitudes and behaviors. We’ll be talking today primarily about the findings from her book Handing Down the Faith.
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What Science Says About Our Kids Keeping the Faith
Many Catholic parents wonder, will our kids stay Catholic? How likely is it that faith can be handed down to the next generation? Are certain parenting methods more or less effective in raising children who will practice faith when they are grown? What practices matter and how much influence do parents have? Dr. Adamczyk and Smith actually looked at the data and conducted hundreds of interviews with religious families to find out the answers to those questions.
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Handing Down the Faith
Dr. Christian Smith joins Dr. Mike Chupp on this week’s CMDA Matters podcast to discuss his new book, Handing Down the Faith.
Handing Down the Faith presents a new examination of how and why American religious parents seek to pass on religion to their children
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Parents Set the Pace for Their Adult Children’s Religious Life
Why are parents the most important figures shaping the religious lives and futures of their children in the United States? The primary and powerful role of parents in religious socialization may seem obvious to readers today. But that is because we are familiar with our current system, not because it is historically normal or inevitable.
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How parenting style affects success in passing on the faith
Dr. Amy Adamczyk was featured in an article by The Pillar exploring the causes behind religious disaffiliation among young people in the U.S., and how some religious parents successfully transmit their faith to the next generation. Drawing on her research as a sociology professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and co-author of Handing Down the Faith: How Parents Pass Their Religion on to the Next Generation, Adamczyk shared key insights about parenting styles, religious commitment, and the role of religious communities in shaping long-term belief.
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Adamczyk on the Influence of Parents in the Religious Lives of Their Children
Sociologists Amy Adamczyk and Christian Smith co-authored the book "Handing Down the Faith: How Parents Pass Their Religion on to the Next Generation," which explores the research results of more than 200 interview with US parents exploring intergenerational transmission of religious faith and practice between the generations.
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Parent like your religion depends on it
Amy Adamczyk was featured in an interview about her recent book Handing Down the Faith: How Parents Pass Their Religion on to the Next Generation, co-authored with Christian Smith and published by Oxford University Press. In the piece, Adamczyk shifts the focus from young people’s religious behavior to the often-overlooked role of parents, drawing on national survey data and more than 200 interviews to explore how religious beliefs are passed from one generation to the next.
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Want to pass your faith to your children? Here’s the key
Dr. Amy Adamczyk was featured in an article discussing key insights from her book Handing Down the Faith: How Parents Pass Their Religion on to the Next Generation, co-authored with Christian Smith. Highlighting the importance of authenticity, Adamczyk emphasizes that children are most influenced by parents who genuinely believe and model joyful, consistent religious practice—rather than applying pressure or relying on formal instruction alone.
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Parents take the lead in handing down and talking up the faith
Dr. Amy Adamczyk was interviewed by Religion Watch about her research on how parents pass on their religious (or nonreligious) beliefs to their children, as detailed in her co-authored book Handing Down the Faith: How Parents Pass Their Religion on to the Next Generation (Oxford University Press).
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Driving Home the Faith
Happy Feast of St. Andrew! Today, John Jay College of Criminal Justice Sociology Professor Amy Adamczyk talks with Fr. Rob about what her research shows about how parents pass down (or fail to pass down) their faith to the children; Deacon and psychologist Ed Shoener explains depression, and more – plus traffic and weather to get you home safe.