Melinda Lundquist Denton
Biographic Data
| ID | 166587 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Melinda Lundquist Denton |
| GIVEN NAMES | Melinda Lundquist |
| FAMILY NAME | Denton |
| SIGNATURE | DENTON M L |
| AFFILIATIONS | Clemson University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 137 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2002 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2018 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
What God has Joined Together: Family Formation and Religion among Young Adults
This study considers how family transitions influence future religiosity among young adults and demonstrates that both marriage and parenthood can serve to reinforce religious commitment among those who are religiously engaged. Drawing on data from the National Study of Youth and Religion, we look at religious change between Wave 3 (18-24 years old) and Wave 4 (23-28 years old) and how this varies across six family statuses: Married with Children…
Religious Attachment and the Sense of Life Purpose among Emerging Adults
The salubrious association between religious involvement and well-being is evident among the general population of religious individuals. In particular, the sense of attachment to a deity is linked to promoting healthy behavior and positive well-being. The link between religious attachment and well-being is particularly salient for emerging adults during a life stage where they are developing their own sense of self while also renegotiating relig…
The Dynamics and Correlates of Religious Service Attendance in Adolescence
This study examines changes in religious service attendance over time for a contemporary cohort of adolescents moving from middle to late adolescence. We use two waves of a nationally representative panel survey of youth from the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR) to examine the dynamics of religious involvement during adolescence. We then follow with an analysis of how demographic characteristics, family background, and life course tran…
Religion and Marriage Timing: A Replication and Extension
Previous studies have revealed denominational subculture variations in marriage timing in the U.S. with conservative Protestants marrying at a much younger age than Catholics and the unaffiliated. However, the effects of other religious factors, such as worship service attendance and religious salience, remain overlooked. Informed by a theoretical framework that integrates the denominational subculture variation thesis and the gendered religiosit…
Family Structure, Family Disruption, and Profiles of Adolescent Religiosity
Youth in the United States are experiencing increasing numbers of family transitions as parents move in and out of marriages and cohabiting relationships. Using three waves of survey data from the National Study of Youth and Religion, I examine the relationship between family structure, parental breakup, and adolescent religiosity. A person-centered measure of the religiosity of adolescents is used to identify youth as Abiders, Adapters, Assenter…
A Faith of Their Own: Stability and change in the religiosity of America's adolescents
Although cultural presumptions suggest that American teenagers and young adults turn away from religion, this volume demonstrates that religion is in fact an influential force in the lives of most American adolescents.
Finding Faith: The Spiritual Quest of the Post-Boomer Generation by Richard Flory and Donald E. Miller
American Religions and the Family: How Faith Traditions Cope with Modernization and Democracy ‐ Edited by Don S. Browning and David A. Clairmont
Adolescent Religion and Life Outcomes
This chapter explores the associations between religiosity and youth outcomes. It addresses the question of causality and selection effects, seeking to clarify whether and to what extent religiosity is associated with more positive adolescent life outcomes. It is shown that religious faith and practice can and does shape teenagers’ lives in positive and constructive ways. The story of Antwan, a 16-year-old African American Southern California boy…
Mapping the Big Picture
This chapter presents data from the National Survey of Youth and Religion. Among the survey’s findings are that three quarters of U.S. teens between 13 and 17 years old are Christians. About one-half are Protestant, and one-quarter are Catholic. Teenagers who are pagan or Wiccan represent less than one-third of 1 percent of U.S. teens. The Protestant denominations of the congregations teens attend, religious self-identities of the parents of teen…
God, Religion, Whatever: On Moralistic Therapeutic Deism
This chapter explores American adolescents’ thoughts, beliefs, and feelings about and experiences of religious faith and spirituality, drawing from interviews of 267 teens in 45 states. In most cases, teenage religion and spirituality in the US can be seen as a reflection of the world of adult religion, especially parental religion. Few teenagers are rejecting or reacting against the adult religion into which they are being socialized. Rather, mo…
Spiritual Seekers, the Disengaged, and Religiously Devoted Teens
This chapter examines three specific groups of American teenagers: “religious seekers” who claim to be “spiritual but not religious”, teenagers who identify themselves as nonreligious and who never attend religious services, and teens who are highly religiously active and devoted. It is shown that most American teenagers espouse rather inclusive, pluralistic, and individualistic views about religious truth, identity boundaries, and need for relig…
American Adolescent Religion in Social Context
This chapter explores some of the major social forces and factors that shape the religious and spiritual lives of American teenagers. It is argued that understanding the religion and spirituality of contemporary American adolescents means framing that understanding within the larger social and institutional contexts of therapeutic individualism, mass-consumer capitalism, the digital communication revolution, residual positivism and empiricism, th…
On Catholic Teens
This chapter explores the question of why U.S. Catholic teenagers seem less religiously engaged than their teenage counterparts in other U.S. Christian traditions. Several reasons were identified to explain the lack of religious engagement of Catholic teens. One is that Catholic teenagers significantly reflect the relative religious laxity of their parents. Thus, the evident “problem” of Catholic teens can be viewed in part as a larger challenge …
Conclusion
The concluding chapter summarizes and elaborates the findings in this volume. Some recurrent themes have emerged from the analyses in this book. Among these is that religion has a significant presence in the lives of many U.S. teens today. Most U.S. teens are content to follow their parents’ religious footsteps, and most feel quite positive about religion. The religiodemographic diversity represented by U.S. adolescents is no more varied today th…
Two Baptist Girls
This chapter presents the stories of two white 16-year-old Baptist girls, who shared their views about various topics including their families, school, religion, and sex. Their stories provide a human face to the statistics presented in this book, and highlight the central themes that emerged from interviews with various American teenagers. Among these are that American teens experience and represent in their lives various religious and spiritual…
Concluding Unscientific Postscript
This chapter discusses some of the possible implications of the National Study of Youth and Religion’s survey for communities of faith. Religious communities should stop presuming that U.S. teenagers are actively alienated by religion, are dropping out of their religious congregations in large numbers, cannot relate to adults in their congregations, and need some radically new “postmodern” type of program or ministry. Instead, parents, pastors, m…
Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers
This book aims to provide new insights on the religious and spiritual lives of American teenagers. It presents the main findings of the National Study of Youth and Religion, a research project on the religious and spiritual lives of American adolescents conducted at the University of North Carolina from 2001 to 2005. The survey captured a broad range of differences among U.S. teens in religion, age, race, sex, socioeconomic status, rural-suburban…
Mapping American Adolescent Subjective Religiosity and Attitudes of Alienation toward Religion: A Research Report
Sociolo~sts know surprisingly little about the reli~~us attitudes and practices of adolescents in the Un/t.ed States. This article be~rts to redress that laek of knowledge by examining descriptive findings on adolescent religiosi~ and attitudes toward religion from two recent, reputable national surveys of American :youth. We present descriptive statistics on three fundamental aspects of subjective youth reli~osiO (importance of reli~on, frequenc…
Remaking the Godly Marriage: Gender Negotiation in Evangelical Families
Remaking the Godly Marriage provides a careful and insightful portrait of gender in contemporary conservative evangelicalism that would serve as an accessible text for seminars on gender and religion or contemporary evangelicalism. Most significantly, Bartkowski's focus on how identity and responsibilities are carefully negotiated between men and women takes seriously the sociological claim that gender is relational and thereby fills a gap in the…
Mapping American Adolescent Religious Participation
Sociologists know surprisingly little about the religious lives of adolescents in the United States. This article begins to redress that unfortunate lack of knowledge by examining descriptive findings on adolescent religious participation from three recent, reputable national surveys of American youth. We present descriptive statistics on three fundamental aspects of youth religious participation: religious affiliation, religious service attendan…
Mapping American Adolescent Religious Participation
Sociologists know surprisingly little about the religious lives of adolescents in the United States. This article begins to redress that unfortunate lack of knowledge by examining descriptive findings on adolescent religious participation from three recent, reputable national surveys of American youth. We present descriptive statistics on three fundamental aspects of youth religious participation: religious affiliation, religious service attendan…
Mapping American Adolescent Subjective Religiosity and Attitudes of Alienation toward Religion: A Research Report
Sociolo~sts know surprisingly little about the reli~~us attitudes and practices of adolescents in the Un/t.ed States. This article be~rts to redress that laek of knowledge by examining descriptive findings on adolescent religiosi~ and attitudes toward religion from two recent, reputable national surveys of American :youth. We present descriptive statistics on three fundamental aspects of subjective youth reli~osiO (importance of reli~on, frequenc…
The Dynamics and Correlates of Religious Service Attendance in Adolescence
This study examines changes in religious service attendance over time for a contemporary cohort of adolescents moving from middle to late adolescence. We use two waves of a nationally representative panel survey of youth from the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR) to examine the dynamics of religious involvement during adolescence. We then follow with an analysis of how demographic characteristics, family background, and life course tran…
Family Structure, Family Disruption, and Profiles of Adolescent Religiosity
Youth in the United States are experiencing increasing numbers of family transitions as parents move in and out of marriages and cohabiting relationships. Using three waves of survey data from the National Study of Youth and Religion, I examine the relationship between family structure, parental breakup, and adolescent religiosity. A person-centered measure of the religiosity of adolescents is used to identify youth as Abiders, Adapters, Assenter…
Religious Attachment and the Sense of Life Purpose among Emerging Adults
The salubrious association between religious involvement and well-being is evident among the general population of religious individuals. In particular, the sense of attachment to a deity is linked to promoting healthy behavior and positive well-being. The link between religious attachment and well-being is particularly salient for emerging adults during a life stage where they are developing their own sense of self while also renegotiating relig…
What God has Joined Together: Family Formation and Religion among Young Adults
This study considers how family transitions influence future religiosity among young adults and demonstrates that both marriage and parenthood can serve to reinforce religious commitment among those who are religiously engaged. Drawing on data from the National Study of Youth and Religion, we look at religious change between Wave 3 (18-24 years old) and Wave 4 (23-28 years old) and how this varies across six family statuses: Married with Children…
Religion and Marriage Timing: A Replication and Extension
Previous studies have revealed denominational subculture variations in marriage timing in the U.S. with conservative Protestants marrying at a much younger age than Catholics and the unaffiliated. However, the effects of other religious factors, such as worship service attendance and religious salience, remain overlooked. Informed by a theoretical framework that integrates the denominational subculture variation thesis and the gendered religiosit…
Remaking the Godly Marriage: Gender Negotiation in Evangelical Families
Remaking the Godly Marriage provides a careful and insightful portrait of gender in contemporary conservative evangelicalism that would serve as an accessible text for seminars on gender and religion or contemporary evangelicalism. Most significantly, Bartkowski's focus on how identity and responsibilities are carefully negotiated between men and women takes seriously the sociological claim that gender is relational and thereby fills a gap in the…
Mapping American Adolescent Religious Participation
Sociologists know surprisingly little about the religious lives of adolescents in the United States. This article begins to redress that unfortunate lack of knowledge by examining descriptive findings on adolescent religious participation from three recent, reputable national surveys of American youth. We present descriptive statistics on three fundamental aspects of youth religious participation: religious affiliation, religious service attendan…
Mapping American Adolescent Subjective Religiosity and Attitudes of Alienation toward Religion: A Research Report
Sociolo~sts know surprisingly little about the reli~~us attitudes and practices of adolescents in the Un/t.ed States. This article be~rts to redress that laek of knowledge by examining descriptive findings on adolescent religiosi~ and attitudes toward religion from two recent, reputable national surveys of American :youth. We present descriptive statistics on three fundamental aspects of subjective youth reli~osiO (importance of reli~on, frequenc…
Adolescent Religion and Life Outcomes
This chapter explores the associations between religiosity and youth outcomes. It addresses the question of causality and selection effects, seeking to clarify whether and to what extent religiosity is associated with more positive adolescent life outcomes. It is shown that religious faith and practice can and does shape teenagers’ lives in positive and constructive ways. The story of Antwan, a 16-year-old African American Southern California boy…
Mapping the Big Picture
This chapter presents data from the National Survey of Youth and Religion. Among the survey’s findings are that three quarters of U.S. teens between 13 and 17 years old are Christians. About one-half are Protestant, and one-quarter are Catholic. Teenagers who are pagan or Wiccan represent less than one-third of 1 percent of U.S. teens. The Protestant denominations of the congregations teens attend, religious self-identities of the parents of teen…
God, Religion, Whatever: On Moralistic Therapeutic Deism
This chapter explores American adolescents’ thoughts, beliefs, and feelings about and experiences of religious faith and spirituality, drawing from interviews of 267 teens in 45 states. In most cases, teenage religion and spirituality in the US can be seen as a reflection of the world of adult religion, especially parental religion. Few teenagers are rejecting or reacting against the adult religion into which they are being socialized. Rather, mo…
Spiritual Seekers, the Disengaged, and Religiously Devoted Teens
This chapter examines three specific groups of American teenagers: “religious seekers” who claim to be “spiritual but not religious”, teenagers who identify themselves as nonreligious and who never attend religious services, and teens who are highly religiously active and devoted. It is shown that most American teenagers espouse rather inclusive, pluralistic, and individualistic views about religious truth, identity boundaries, and need for relig…
American Adolescent Religion in Social Context
This chapter explores some of the major social forces and factors that shape the religious and spiritual lives of American teenagers. It is argued that understanding the religion and spirituality of contemporary American adolescents means framing that understanding within the larger social and institutional contexts of therapeutic individualism, mass-consumer capitalism, the digital communication revolution, residual positivism and empiricism, th…
On Catholic Teens
This chapter explores the question of why U.S. Catholic teenagers seem less religiously engaged than their teenage counterparts in other U.S. Christian traditions. Several reasons were identified to explain the lack of religious engagement of Catholic teens. One is that Catholic teenagers significantly reflect the relative religious laxity of their parents. Thus, the evident “problem” of Catholic teens can be viewed in part as a larger challenge …
Conclusion
The concluding chapter summarizes and elaborates the findings in this volume. Some recurrent themes have emerged from the analyses in this book. Among these is that religion has a significant presence in the lives of many U.S. teens today. Most U.S. teens are content to follow their parents’ religious footsteps, and most feel quite positive about religion. The religiodemographic diversity represented by U.S. adolescents is no more varied today th…
Two Baptist Girls
This chapter presents the stories of two white 16-year-old Baptist girls, who shared their views about various topics including their families, school, religion, and sex. Their stories provide a human face to the statistics presented in this book, and highlight the central themes that emerged from interviews with various American teenagers. Among these are that American teens experience and represent in their lives various religious and spiritual…
Concluding Unscientific Postscript
This chapter discusses some of the possible implications of the National Study of Youth and Religion’s survey for communities of faith. Religious communities should stop presuming that U.S. teenagers are actively alienated by religion, are dropping out of their religious congregations in large numbers, cannot relate to adults in their congregations, and need some radically new “postmodern” type of program or ministry. Instead, parents, pastors, m…
Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers
This book aims to provide new insights on the religious and spiritual lives of American teenagers. It presents the main findings of the National Study of Youth and Religion, a research project on the religious and spiritual lives of American adolescents conducted at the University of North Carolina from 2001 to 2005. The survey captured a broad range of differences among U.S. teens in religion, age, race, sex, socioeconomic status, rural-suburban…
American Religions and the Family: How Faith Traditions Cope with Modernization and Democracy ‐ Edited by Don S. Browning and David A. Clairmont
Finding Faith: The Spiritual Quest of the Post-Boomer Generation by Richard Flory and Donald E. Miller
A Faith of Their Own: Stability and change in the religiosity of America's adolescents
Although cultural presumptions suggest that American teenagers and young adults turn away from religion, this volume demonstrates that religion is in fact an influential force in the lives of most American adolescents.
Family Structure, Family Disruption, and Profiles of Adolescent Religiosity
Youth in the United States are experiencing increasing numbers of family transitions as parents move in and out of marriages and cohabiting relationships. Using three waves of survey data from the National Study of Youth and Religion, I examine the relationship between family structure, parental breakup, and adolescent religiosity. A person-centered measure of the religiosity of adolescents is used to identify youth as Abiders, Adapters, Assenter…
Religion and Marriage Timing: A Replication and Extension
Previous studies have revealed denominational subculture variations in marriage timing in the U.S. with conservative Protestants marrying at a much younger age than Catholics and the unaffiliated. However, the effects of other religious factors, such as worship service attendance and religious salience, remain overlooked. Informed by a theoretical framework that integrates the denominational subculture variation thesis and the gendered religiosit…
The Dynamics and Correlates of Religious Service Attendance in Adolescence
This study examines changes in religious service attendance over time for a contemporary cohort of adolescents moving from middle to late adolescence. We use two waves of a nationally representative panel survey of youth from the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR) to examine the dynamics of religious involvement during adolescence. We then follow with an analysis of how demographic characteristics, family background, and life course tran…
Religious Attachment and the Sense of Life Purpose among Emerging Adults
The salubrious association between religious involvement and well-being is evident among the general population of religious individuals. In particular, the sense of attachment to a deity is linked to promoting healthy behavior and positive well-being. The link between religious attachment and well-being is particularly salient for emerging adults during a life stage where they are developing their own sense of self while also renegotiating relig…
What God has Joined Together: Family Formation and Religion among Young Adults
This study considers how family transitions influence future religiosity among young adults and demonstrates that both marriage and parenthood can serve to reinforce religious commitment among those who are religiously engaged. Drawing on data from the National Study of Youth and Religion, we look at religious change between Wave 3 (18-24 years old) and Wave 4 (23-28 years old) and how this varies across six family statuses: Married with Children…
Sociology (18 works) · Psychology (17 works) · Religion and Society Interactions (17 works) · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology (16 works) · Social Psychology (14 works) · Religion, Society, and Development (13 works) · Gender Studies (12 works) · Political science (11 works) · Religiosity (9 works) · Law (8 works)