https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2946-9980
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ABSTRACT
This study employs multi-level linear statistical modelling to examine the power of school-level and individual-level factors to predict individual differences in scores recorded on the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity by 6,036 students (who self-identified as either Christian or no religion) in year-seven, year-eight, year-nine, year-ten, and year-eleven classes within 10 Christian ethos secondary schools. The data demonstrate the complex relationships between school admission policies, parental church attendance (PCA), and the students’ age and sex. Overall PCA emerges as a decisive factor in promoting a positive attitude toward Christianity among students. Christian ethos schools may wish to give greater attention to the importance of parental religiosity in maintaining the Christian ethos of these schools.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. Attempts to fit Model 5 led to some uncertainty because iterations failed to converge, even though parameters were estimated. This was probably because adding the new variable reduced slope variance to virtually zero. Fitting a random intercepts model (which fixed slopes between schools) allowed convergence and gave model fit indices and parameter values that were virtually identical to the random coefficient model, so the latter have been presented in .
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Leslie J. Francis
Leslie J. Francis is Professor of Religions and Education and Director of the Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit, University of Warwick, Coventry, England.
Andrew Village
Andrew Village is Professor Practical and Empirical Theology, School of Humanities, Religion and Philosophy, York St John University, York, England.