Growing Up in a Diverse Society: Adolescents’ Interest in Parental Religious Socialization Messages

ABSTRACT

Because Western societies are becoming increasingly religiously diverse, the sociocultural context in which young adolescents currently grow up differs from that of their parents. This raises the question to what extent adolescents are interested in communicating with their parents about religion. In a cross-sectional study of 498 Belgian adolescents ages 12–18-years (mean age = 14.94, SD = 1.34), we examined how adolescent interest in communicating with parents about religion was related to the link between parental religious socialization messages and adolescent religious out-group attitudes. Testing two models, we aimed to understand whether (a) adolescent interest in communicating with parents about religion mediated the link between parental religious socialization and adolescent religious out-group attitudes or (b) parental religious socialization mediated the link between adolescent interest in communicating with parents about religion and adolescent religious out-group attitudes. Results revealed a dynamic interplay between study variables, and highlighted the importance of considering adolescent interest in communicating with parents about religion.

Funding

This research was in part supported by a grant from the Marie Curie Actions of the European Commission and the UCLouvain Co-Fund awarded to the first author.

Additional information

Funding

This research was in part supported by a grant from the Marie Curie Actions of the European Commission and the UCLouvain Co-Fund awarded to the first author.