The attitudinal dimension of religiosity : an empirical study among 13- to 15-year-old students

• Main Author: Penny, Gemma
• Published: University of Warwick 2014
• Subjects: 370; BV Practical Theology
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.635606

This thesis adds a new contribution to the tradition of empirical theology, concerned with individual differences in young people’s attitudes toward religion and values. This thesis explores the correlates of attitude toward Christianity (assessed by the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity) among 5,199 13- to 15-year-old students in England and Wales who participated in the Young People’s Values Survey during 2002 to 2010.The Young People’s Values Survey was designed to draw together two independent strands of research within the tradition of empirical theology, the first concerned with charting the correlates of individual differences in attitude toward religion (operationalised originally by the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity), and the second concerned with individual differences in young people’s religion and values (operationalised originally by the Teenage Religion and Values Survey). This thesis reports on findings generated from the Young People’s Values Survey, the first study within the Teenage Religion and Values Survey series to include the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity. This thesis comprises main two parts. Part one locates this study within the tradition of empirical theology by collating, reviewing and assessing the two bodies of knowledge (or strands of research) on which it builds. Part two presents new empirical analyses exploring the correlates of young people’s attitudes toward Christianity during the first decade of the twenty-first century. These analyses explore first, the psychometric properties of the short-form Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity and second, the relationship between attitude toward Christianity and: sex differences, purpose in life, suicidal ideation, immortality beliefs (belief in life after death), and implicit religion (attachment to Christian rites of passage). This thesis concludes by discussing how the findings of this study may shape future empirical research within the tradition of empirical theology concerned with assessing young people’s attitudes toward religion and values.