scholarly journals How Religion, Social Class, and Race Intersect in the Shaping of Young Women’s Understandings of Sex, Reproduction, and Contraception

Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 5
Author(s):  
Laura M. Krull ◽  
Lisa D. Pearce ◽  
Elyse A. Jennings

Using a complex religion framework, this study examines how and why three dimensions of religiosity—biblical literalism, personal religiosity, and religious service attendance—are related to young women’s reproductive and contraceptive knowledge differently by social class and race. We triangulate the analysis of survey data from the Relationship Dynamics and Social Life (RDSL) study and semi-structured interview data from the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR) to identify and explain patterns. From the quantitative data, we find that all three dimensions of religiosity link to young women’s understandings of sex, reproduction, and contraception in unique ways according to parental education and racial identity. There is a lack of knowledge about female reproductive biology for young women of higher SES with conservative Christian beliefs (regardless of race), but personal religiosity and religious service attendance are related to more accurate contraceptive knowledge for young black women and less accurate knowledge for young White women. From the qualitative data, we find that class and race differences in the meaning of religion and how it informs sexual behavior help explain results from the quantitative data. Our results demonstrate the importance of taking a complex religion approach to studying religion and sex-related outcomes.

2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 325-345 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vern L. Bengtson ◽  
Casey E. Copen ◽  
Norella M. Putney ◽  
Merril Silverstein

The longitudinal study of religious transmission or influence across generations is an important but underexamined area of research, particularly in terms of the religious influence of grandparents. How much influence do grandparents have on grandchildren's religious beliefs and practices, and has this changed over the past 30 years? As grandparents have become increasingly important in multigenerational families, do they exert an influence on their grandchildren's religiosity that is distinct from that of parents? Drawing on the Longitudinal Study of Generations (LSOG), this article uses grandparent—parent—grandchild triads and a generational sequential design to examine the transmission of three dimensions of religiosity — religious service attendance, religiousness and religious ideology — across generations from 1971 to 2000. Results indicate that in 1971 grandparents significantly influenced grandchildren's religious service attendance and religiousness, but these effects had weakened by 2000. The opposite pattern occurred for the transmission of conservative religious beliefs where there was a significant grandparent on grandchild effect in 2000, but not in 1971. Grandparents were also found to influence all three dimensions of grandchildren's religiosity independent of that of parents, suggesting that religious beliefs and practices formed within nuclear and extended families persist into adulthood with parents and grandparents simultaneously serving as independent and joint agents of religious socialization. In these analyses it was found that the influence of grandmothers on granddaughters' religiosity was especially pronounced. In general, the study shows a significant degree of religious influence across three generations in the family, and offers an expanded view of religious socialization by considering grandparents as active contributors to the religiosity of young adults.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 237802312098511
Author(s):  
Samuel Stroope ◽  
Heather M. Rackin ◽  
Paul Froese

Previous research has shown that Christian nationalism is linked to nativism and immigrant animus, while religious service attendance is associated with pro-immigrant views. The findings highlight the importance of distinguishing between religious ideologies and practices when considering how religion affects politics. Using a national sample of U.S. adults, we analyze immigrant views by measuring levels of agreement or disagreement that undocumented immigrants from Mexico are “mostly dangerous criminals.” We find that Christian nationalism is inversely related to pro-immigrant views for both the religiously active and inactive. However, strongly pro-immigrant views are less likely and anti-immigrant views are more likely among strong Christian nationalists who are religiously inactive compared with strong Christian nationalists who are religiously active. These results illustrate how religious nationalism can weaken tolerance and heighten intolerance most noticeably when untethered from religious communities.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. e0207778 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shanshan Li ◽  
Laura D. Kubzansky ◽  
Tyler J. VanderWeele

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacquelyn L. Meyers ◽  
Jessica E. Salvatore ◽  
Fazil Aliev ◽  
Emma C. Johnson ◽  
Vivia V. McCutcheon ◽  
...  

Abstract Cannabis use and disorders (CUD) are influenced by multiple genetic variants of small effect and by the psychosocial environment. However, this information has not been effectively incorporated into studies of gene–environment interaction (GxE). Polygenic risk scores (PRS) that aggregate the effects of genetic variants can aid in identifying the links between genetic risk and psychosocial factors. Using data from the Pasman et al. GWAS of cannabis use (meta-analysis of data from the International Cannabis Consortium and UK Biobank), we constructed PRS in the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA) participants of European (N: 7591) and African (N: 3359) ancestry. The primary analyses included only individuals of European ancestry, reflecting the ancestral composition of the discovery GWAS from which the PRS was derived. Secondary analyses included the African ancestry sample. Associations of PRS with cannabis use and DSM-5 CUD symptom count (CUDsx) and interactions with trauma exposure and frequency of religious service attendance were examined. Models were adjusted for sex, birth cohort, genotype array, and ancestry. Robustness models were adjusted for cross-term interactions. Higher PRS were associated with a greater likelihood of cannabis use and with CUDsx among participants of European ancestry (p < 0.05 and p < 0.1 thresholds, respectively). PRS only influenced cannabis use among those exposed to trauma (R2: 0.011 among the trauma exposed vs. R2: 0.002 in unexposed). PRS less consistently influenced cannabis use among those who attend religious services less frequently; PRS × religious service attendance effects were attenuated when cross-term interactions with ancestry and sex were included in the model. Polygenic liability to cannabis use was related to cannabis use and, less robustly, progression to symptoms of CUD. This study provides the first evidence of PRS × trauma for cannabis use and demonstrates that ignoring important aspects of the psychosocial environment may mask genetic influences on polygenic traits.


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