Growing Up With God

Emma Green highlights some surprising findings about how childhood influences churchgoing as an adult:

[B]irth order seems to matter: middle children are more likely than their older or younger siblings to lose their attachment to religion as they get older. Perhaps this is because of underlying personality differences. Compared with their brothers and sisters, these kids were rated more “rebellious” as well as less “agreeable” and “conscientious”—two traits the authors associated with religiosity. In another twist, although those with bachelor’s degrees have historically had lower levels of religious affiliation, a study published this year found that this isn’t true for people born after the 1950s. In fact, college grads born in the 1970s are more likely than nongrads of the same age to identify with a particular faith. Maybe there’s something about contemporary campus life that makes people more, not less, likely to gravitate toward traditional institutions—or maybe college grads have simply learned that religion is pretty good for you.