Kids of weekly churchgoers more likely to attend church as adults

Amid ongoing discussions about religious participation among younger generations, a new study has found that children whose parents attended church weekly were more than twice as likely to attend church regularly as adults. 

The study, “Passing the Torch: How Faith Moves Across Generations,” released in June by the Institute for Family Studies and Communio, draws on data from four national studies involving thousands of Americans raised in religious households. Researchers examined which factors most effectively help children retain their faith into adulthood.

“[P]arents play the single most important role in passing on faith to the next generation,” researchers said. 

According to the study, children raised by parents who attended church weekly were more than twice as likely to attend church regularly as adults. Researchers found that 26% of adults whose parents attended church every week continued the practice in their 30s and 40s, compared to just 12% of those whose parents did not attend weekly.

The study also found that when parents considered religion “very important in their lives,” nearly two-thirds of their children were likely to say the same as adults.

Daily prayer habits appeared to have a lasting impact as well. Parents who prayed every day had a 47% chance of raising children who maintained a regular prayer life in adulthood, compared to less than one-third among parents who did not pray daily.

“The reality is the married home is the most impactful small group,” Communio founder and CEO J.P. De Gance said in a statement provided to The Christian Post. 

“When parents are engaged in the discipleship of their children, this is where faith most often takes deep root,” De Gance added. “This report reinforces important biblical truths and provides some great actionable steps for both parents and pastors to restore Christian faith in their homes and across society.”

Researchers found that family spiritual practices beyond weekly church attendance also contributed to long-term faith retention. Activities such as praying together and saying grace before meals were associated with higher levels of religious commitment later in life.

“Families that engage in these practices are more likely to raise children who remain faithful into adulthood, as reflected across multiple measures,” the report found. 

“Children who participate in these practices with their parents are more likely to go to church, say religion is very important to them, pray regularly, identify as Christian, and report belief in the divinity of Jesus Christ by the time they reach their mid-to-late 20s.”

The study also found that faith conversations between parents and children can have multigenerational effects. Adults who regularly discussed faith with both parents during childhood were more likely to have similar conversations with their own children. 

While the report noted that mothers “disproportionately” carry the responsibility for children’s faith formation, even in households where both parents identify as devout, it stressed that intergenerational transmission of religion is strongest when both parents are actively involved. 

Among children who attended church with both parents, 41% maintained that commitment into adulthood, significantly higher than in homes where only one parent regularly attended church with them.

Marriage stability was also cited as an important factor. Parents who reported they were “completely satisfied in their marriages reported having nearly five faith conversations with their children per week, compared to less than four when parents were ‘not very’ or ‘not at all’ satisfied.”

Longitudinal data also showed that children whose parents reported they were “very happy” in their marriages had a 46% probability of praying daily in adulthood, in contrast to 41% raised by parents who had less happy marriages.

Adults who reported having strong relationships with both parents during childhood were substantially more likely to retain Christian beliefs and practices in adulthood, the report stated. 

Compared to those who had a bad or distant relationship with their parents, individuals who had a good relationship with both of their parents had 76% greater probability of going to church every week, 66% higher odds of praying daily, 87% higher likelihood of considering religion highly important, and 97% higher chances of having faith in God

“Faith isn’t something kids are going to get from the culture,” said Jesse Smith, an assistant professor at The Ohio State University and the report’s co-author, in a statement provided to CP. 

“Our study shows that parents are the most important figures for their children’s spiritual formation,” Smith explained. “They’re the key role models, teachers, and tone-setters for giving kids the foundation in faith they’ll take with them into adulthood.”

The analysis comes amid discussions about church attendance and religious identity among young people. 

Earlier this year, YouGov retracted Bible Society’s “Quiet Revival” data, which reportedly found a rise in church attendance among young people in parts of the U.K.

YouGov, which carried out the research in 2024 for the Bible Society, announced in March that, after re-analyzing its data collection, it had discovered that the data sample for “The Quiet Revival” report contained “a number of respondents who we can now identify as fraudulent.”

Following the retraction, Humanists UK, a national charity that promotes secular humanism, published an analysis of the British Social Attitudes Survey 2024. The analysis asserted that “non-religious identity is not a phase young people pass through — it is a settled and stable worldview.”

A Bible Society spokesperson, however, cautioned against concluding that young people who identify as non-religious lack spiritual beliefs, noting that this is an area of study in development.

The spokesperson referenced the Bible Society’s latest report, “The Quiet Revival one year on: what’s the story?,” which he said provides counter-evidence to Humanist UK’s claims.

According to the report, “measuring national church attendance accurately and consistently is incredibly complex” due to the lack of a comprehensive census of church attendance in England and Wales and the fact that few denominations and expressions regularly count attendance.