Examining the Influence of Religious Affiliation on Attitudes Toward Political and Social Involvement (WITHDRAWN)

Background and Purpose

Pew Research Center recently established that Millennials are far less religious than previous generations.  In fact, results from the 2014 Freshman Survey found that more students than ever (27.5%) selected “none” as their religious preference; an increase of more than 12 percentage points from when the question was first asked in 1971.  While trends toward a more secular America appears to be on the rise, little is known about this growing demographic in regards to how they fare in higher education. In particular, how engaged is this demographic politically and civically, and can we do a better job of integrating religiously unaffiliated students into existing social justice campaigns on college campuses and beyond?

While extant research indicates that students who participate in civic learning opportunities are more likely to persist in college and complete their degrees, obtain skills valued by employers, and develop habits of social responsibility and civic participation; little is understood around the relationship between religion and attitudes toward social and political participation. The limited research that exists suggests that religious students are involved in their communities at higher rates than non-religious students.

This study addresses the following research questions:

1)    How does religious affiliation predict the extent to which a college senior values political and social involvement as a personal goal (i.e. social agency)?

2)    How does the college experience influence attitudes toward political and social involvement among religiously affiliated and religiously unaffiliated students? 

Methods

This study analyzes data derived from a nationally representative sample of college students who took part in the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) 2006 Freshman Survey (TFS) and the 2010 College Senior Survey (CSS). Specifically, this study seeks to examine social agency among religiously affiliated (n=10,931) and religiously unaffiliated (n=3,159) college seniors. Analysis of variance and regression techniques were employed using SPSS to identify the degree to which religion was associated with civic and political participation among college seniors. Additional predictors including social agency at freshman year (pretest), gender, college GPA, and social and intellectual self-confidence were added to the model, with an adjusted R-squared of .329.

Results

There appears to be an overall trend of lower self-reported social agency among students who do not identify as being affiliated with a particular religion. Religiously unaffiliated students were 7.5 percentage points more likely to rate themselves as “Low” in social agency when compared to religiously affiliated students (p <.000). Additionally, religiously affiliated students appear to make greater gains in social agency from freshman to senior year when compared to religiously unaffiliated students (p <.000). 

Conclusion and Implications

While religiously unaffiliated students now represent approximately 30% of college students nationally, they may embrace fewer opportunities to engage civically and politically. Outcomes of this study can help to advance the understanding of how social work educators, administrators, and student advocates can better engage this growing demographic to ensure that religiously unaffiliated students are presented with every opportunity to integrate and thrive within an inclusive academic environment.