A couple of third (35%) of U.S. mother and father with youngsters underneath 18 say it’s extraordinarily or crucial to them that their youngsters have related spiritual beliefs to their very own as adults, in keeping with a recent Pew Research Center survey. However attitudes on this query fluctuate by the spiritual affiliation of the mother and father.
White evangelical Protestant mother and father are twice as doubtless as U.S. mother and father general (70% vs. 35%) to say it’s extraordinarily or crucial that their youngsters develop as much as have spiritual beliefs which can be just like their very own. Some 53% of Black Protestant mother and father additionally specific this view. Fewer Catholic (35%) and White non-evangelical Protestant mother and father (29%) say that is extraordinarily or crucial to them. And solely 8% of religiously unaffiliated mother and father – those that describe their spiritual views as atheist, agnostic or “nothing particularly” – say the identical.
The survey was performed amongst Individuals of all spiritual backgrounds, together with Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus, but it surely didn’t acquire sufficient respondents from non-Christian teams to report individually on their responses. (Learn extra about why the Middle sometimes can’t report the views of smaller U.S. religious groups.)
This Pew Analysis Middle evaluation examines spiritual variations in U.S. mother and father’ approaches to parenting. It’s based mostly on 3,757 mother and father with youngsters underneath 18. The information was collected as half of a bigger survey of oldsters with youngsters youthful than 18 performed Sept. 20-Oct. 2, 2022. A lot of the mother and father who took half are members of the Middle’s American Tendencies Panel (ATP), an internet survey panel that’s recruited by way of nationwide, random sampling of residential addresses. This survey additionally included an oversample of Black, Hispanic and Asian mother and father from Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel, one other probability-based on-line survey internet panel recruited primarily by way of nationwide, random sampling of residential addresses.
Tackle-based sampling ensures that just about all U.S. adults have an opportunity of choice. The survey is weighted to be consultant of the U.S. grownup inhabitants by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, schooling and different classes. Learn extra concerning the ATP’s methodology.
Learn extra concerning the questions used in this survey and the survey’s methodology.
Views on this query additionally differ by how often mother and father attend spiritual providers. Dad and mom who attend spiritual providers weekly or extra usually are greater than thrice as doubtless as those that attend much less usually to say it’s necessary to lift youngsters who will share their spiritual views (76% vs. 21%).
General, mother and father usually tend to say it’s necessary that their youngsters share their spiritual beliefs as adults than to say the identical about their youngsters’ political beliefs. Simply 16% of oldsters say it’s extraordinarily or crucial that their youngsters develop as much as have political beliefs which can be just like their very own.
“I used to be raised in a really spiritual household, and I need my youngsters to share the identical religion.”
Mom, age 42
Spiritual variations additionally seem on different questions associated to folks’ hopes for his or her youngsters, in keeping with the Middle survey, which was performed within the fall of 2022 amongst 3,757 U.S. mother and father with youngsters underneath 18.
For instance, 81% of oldsters general say it’s extraordinarily or crucial for his or her youngsters to develop as much as change into individuals who assist others in want. White evangelical Protestant mother and father are particularly more likely to say this (89%). Barely smaller majorities of oldsters from different spiritual backgrounds, together with 81% of Catholics and 76% of the religiously unaffiliated, maintain this view.
Most mother and father (80%) additionally say it’s extraordinarily or crucial for his or her youngsters to develop as much as be accepting of people who find themselves completely different from them. On this query, mother and father with no spiritual affiliation (85%) are barely extra doubtless than Catholics (79%) and Protestants (76%) to see this trait as necessary.
Dad and mom general are about evenly break up on whether or not they’re making an attempt to lift their youngsters equally (43%) or in a different way (44%) from how they had been raised themselves. When requested in an open-ended query within the fall 2022 survey about particular methods they’re elevating their youngsters, many mother and father pointed to values and faith. Amongst mother and father who mentioned they’re elevating their youngsters equally to their very own upbringing, 63% pointed to values and faith, however solely 13% of oldsters who’re making an attempt a special parenting strategy cited these components.
“I’m not taking my child to the church, and I’m making an attempt to show my child to be open and pleasant to individuals ‘completely different’ than her.”
Mom, age 44
A considerable share (17%) of oldsters who’re elevating their youngsters equally to how they had been raised talked about faith, particularly. These mother and father usually pointed to concepts similar to passing alongside their spiritual beliefs and prioritizing religion, simply as their mother and father had carried out for them.
For instance, one 42-year-old mom mentioned, “I used to be raised in a really spiritual household, and I need my youngsters to share the identical religion.” And a 41-year-old father mentioned, “I’m elevating my youngsters with a powerful Christian basis. I try to reside my life for instance of excellent, godly values for my youngsters. I impart in them the significance of affection, household and fellowship.”
Amongst mother and father who mentioned they’re making an attempt to lift their youngsters in a different way from how they had been raised, by comparability, 7% particularly talked about faith of their open-ended solutions. Some mentioned they’re incorporating faith into their little one’s upbringing when it had been absent from their very own.
Others mentioned the alternative – that they’re deliberately elevating their youngsters with much less spiritual involvement than they grew up with. One 44-year-old mom mentioned, “I’m not taking my child to the church, and I’m making an attempt to show my child to be open and pleasant to individuals ‘completely different’ than her.”
