Catholic identity: Social and religious influences

Andrea Sue Williams, Purdue University

Abstract

The primary purpose of the present study was to delineate the social and religious factors that influence persons' Catholic identities. Increased concern over the future of the Catholic Church, as well as research suggesting that Americans are becoming less tied to social organizations such as religious groups, prompted this study's exploration of what leads some Catholics to have strong Catholic identities and others to have weak Catholic identities. Using a theoretical framework that combines the work of Peter Berger and Morris Rosenberg, sixteen hypotheses were developed. Each hypothesis was tested using data from a national telephone poll of Catholics. In addition, the relative importance of factors identified by the sixteen hypotheses were examined when controlling for the impact of birth cohort. Findings indicate that the importance persons place on their ethnic background greatly affects the likelihood that they will embrace strong Catholic identities. The birth cohort to which Catholics belong was also found to be very important in influencing persons' Catholic identities. Other factors, including the extent to which persons were close to their mothers, if their mothers were Catholic, and the frequency with which Catholics' fathers attended religious services when they were young, were found to be powerful predictors of Catholic identity. These and other findings are discussed in terms of policy implications for the Catholic Church.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Davidson, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Sociology|Religion

COinS