色情视频

鈥淢ore of today鈥檚 adolescents are abandoning religion before they reach adulthood, with an increasing number not raised with religion at all.鈥�

In what may be the largest study ever conducted on changes in Americans鈥� religious involvement, researchers led by 色情视频 psychology professor Jean M. Twenge found that millennials are the least religious generation of the last six decades, and possibly in the nation鈥檚 history.

The researchers 鈥� including Ramya Sastry from 色情视频, Julie J. Exline and Joshua B. Grubbs from Case Western Reserve University and W. Keith Campbell from the University of Georgia 鈥� analyzed data from 11.2 million respondents from four nationally representative surveys of U.S. adolescents ages 13 to 18 taken between 1966 and 2014.

Recent adolescents are less likely to say that religion is important in their lives, report less approval of religious organizations, and report being less spiritual and spending less time praying or meditating.

Cultural context 

鈥淯nlike previous studies, ours is able to show that millennials鈥� lower religious involvement is due to cultural change, not to millennials being young and unsettled,鈥� said Twenge, who is also the author of 鈥淕eneration Me.鈥� 

鈥淢illennial adolescents are less religious than Boomers and GenX鈥檈rs were at the same age," Twenge continued. "We also looked at younger ages than the previous studies. More of today鈥檚 adolescents are abandoning religion before they reach adulthood, with an increasing number not raised with religion at all.鈥�

Generational shift 

Compared to the late 1970s, twice as many 12th graders and college students never attend religious services, and 75 percent more 12th graders say religion is 鈥渘ot important at all鈥� in their lives. Compared to the early 1980s, twice as many high school seniors and three times as many college students in the 2010s answered "none" when asked their religion.

Compared to the 1990s, 20 percent fewer college students described themselves as above average in spirituality, suggesting that religion has not been replaced with spirituality.

"These trends are part of a larger cultural context, a context that is often missing in polls about religion,鈥� Twenge said. 鈥淥ne context is rising individualism in U.S. culture. Individualism puts the self first, which doesn't always fit well with the commitment to the institution and other people that religion often requires. As Americans become more individualistic, it makes sense that fewer would commit to religion.鈥�