Individual-level changes in religious/spiritual beliefs and behaviors over three decades in the parental generation of the ALSPAC cohort, UK

Figures & data

Table 1. Repeated ALSPAC RSBB variables in the parent generation used in the present study.

Question	Responses	ALSPAC Variable name (mothers; partners)
		Preg-nancy	5 years post-partum	6 years post-partum	9 years post-partum	28 years post-partum
Do you believe in God or in some divine power?	Yes; Not sure; No	d810; pb150	k6240; ph6240	l7040; pj7040	p4040; pm4040	Y3000; FC3000
Do you feel that God (or some divine power) has helped you at any time?	Yes; Not sure; No	d811; pb151	k6241; ph6241	l7041; pj7041	p4041; pm4041	Y3010; FC3010
Would you appeal to God for help if you were in trouble?	Yes; Not sure; No	d812; pb152	k6242; ph6242	l7042; pj7042	p4042; pm4042	Y3020; FC3020
Do you “pray” even if not in trouble?	Yes; No^a	–	–	l7043; pj7043	p4043; pm4043	Y3030; FC3030
What sort of religious faith would you say you had?	None; Christian^b; Other	d813; pb153	k6243; ph6243	l7044; pj7044	p4044; pm4044	Y3040; FC3040
How long have you had this particular faith?	All life; > 5 years; ≤ 5 years	d815; pb154	k6246; ph6246	l7047; ph7047	p4047; pm4047	Y3050; FC3050
Are you bringing up your child in this faith?^c	Yes; No	–	–	l7048; pj7048	p4048; pm4048	Y3070; FC3070
Do you go to a place of worship?	Regular attendance; Occasional/non-attendance^d	d816; pb155	k6247; ph6247	l7049; pj7049	p4049; pm4049	Y3080; FC3080
Do you obtain help and support from leaders of your religious group?	Yes; No^e	d817; pb156	k6248; ph6248	l7050; pj7050	p4050; pm4050	Y3090; FC3090
Do you obtain help and support from other members of your religious group?	Yes; No^e	d818; pb157	k6249; ph6249	l7051; pj7051	p4051; pm4051	Y3091; FC3091
Do you obtain help and support from members of other religious groups?	Yes; No	d819; pb158	k6250; ph6250	l7052; pj7052	p4052; pm4052	Y3093; FC3093

^a In the 28 years data collection, a “not sure” option was added to this question.

^b In addition to grouping all Christian denominations together, we will also split this group into “Church of England,” “Roman Catholic” and “Other Christian” to explore whether there are changes in self-reported Christian religious affiliation over time.

^c In the 28 years data collection, the question changed to past tense: “Did you bring your children up in your current faith/belief (including none)?”

^d At all time-points this question had the following response options “Yes, at least once a week,” “Yes, at least once a month,” “Yes, at least once a year” and “Not at all.” However, at 5 years an “Occasional worship” category was added (although it was not chosen by many), at 6 years an “only for special occasions” response was added (this was chosen by many), and at 28 years an “occasionally” response was added (this was chosen by many).

^e In the 28 years data collection, a “not applicable” option was added to this question.

Table 2. Summary of RSBB trajectories explored in the illustrative analysis examining change in RSBB between pregnancy and 9 years post-partum.

		Belief in God/a divine power in pregnancy
		Yes	Not sure	No
Belief in God/a divine power 9 years post-partum	Yes	ConsBel =	NewBel +	NewBel + +
	Not sure	NewNon –	ConsNon =	ConsNon +
	No	NewNon – –	ConsNon –	ConsNon =

Note: The first method of coding is in bold on the first line (ConsBel = consistent believers; ConsNon = consistent non-believers; NewBel = new believers; NewNon = new non-believers), while the second method is in regular font on the lower line (“ = ” = no change; “+” = slight increase; “+ +” = major increase; “–” = slight decrease; “– –” = major decrease).

Figure 1. Change in belief in God/a divine power from pregnancy to 28 years post-partum for mothers (n = 3653). These and all subsequent Sankey plots begin with the first time-point (here, pregnancy), then for each variable category show how these participants answered at the next time-point (e.g., 5 years post-partum), and so on forward through time. For instance, in the figure here the majority (80%) of participants who answered “yes” in pregnancy also answered “yes” 5 years post-partum (the line between “yes” in pregnancy and “yes” 5 years post-partum), just under 20% changed from “yes” in pregnancy to “not sure” 5 years post-partum (the line between “yes” in pregnancy and “not sure” 5 years post-partum), and a small number (2%) changed from “yes” in pregnancy to “no” 5 years post-partum (the line between “yes” in pregnancy and “no” 5 years post-partum).

Figure 2. Change in religious affiliation (all Christians grouped together) from pregnancy to 28 years post-partum for mothers (n = 3469).

Figure 3. Change in religious affiliation (Christians split into “Church of England,” “Roman Catholic” and “Other Christian”) from pregnancy to 28 years post-partum for mothers (n = 3469).

Figure 4. Change in religious attendance (frequency attend a place of worship) from pregnancy to 28 years post-partum for mothers (n = 3473).

Figure 5. Change in the religiosity latent classes from pregnancy to 28 years post-partum for mothers (n = 3381).

Table 3. Descriptive statistics for the two methods to illustrate how this longitudinal RSBB data could be analyzed (n = 7213).

	N (%)
Method 1
Consistent non-believers	2865 (39.7%)
Consistent believers	2906 (40.3%)
New believers	587 (8.1%)
New non-believers	855 (11.9%)
Method 2
No change	5088 (70.5%)
Small increase	748 (10.4%)
Large increase	57 (0.8%)
Small decrease	1212 (16.8%)
Large decrease	108 (1.5%)

Note: These derived variables are based on “belief in God/a divine power” from pregnancy and 9 years post-partum for mothers (for details on coding, see Table 2).

Data availability statement

ALSPAC data access is through a system of managed open access. Information about access to ALSPAC data is given on the ALSPAC website (http://www.bristol.ac.uk/alspac/researchers/access/) and in the ALSPAC data management plan (http://www.bristol.ac.uk/alspac/researchers/data-access/documents/alspac-data-management-plan.pdf). Data used for this submission will be made available on request to the Executive ([email protected]). The datasets presented in this article are linked to ALSPAC project number B3911, please quote this project number during your application. Analysis code is openly-available on the lead author’s GitHub page: https://github.com/djsmith-90/AnalysisCode_LongitudinalRSBB_B3911.