Predictors of Adolescent Images of God: _x000D_ Analysis by Race and Religious Tradition (2008)

Undergraduates: Niobra Peterson, none none none

Faculty Advisor: Lisa Pearce
Department: Sociology

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While much scholarly research is available on factors affecting images of God for children and adults, little research is available on predictors of God images for adolescents. The focus of this research is to look at whether there are variations in the way youth view God by race and/or by religious tradition. This study uses two waves of nationally representative survey data from the National Study of Youth and Religion. To examine these dynamics, I run a series of logistic regressions where my independent variables of interest are race and religious tradition. My dependent variable is whether youth view God as a “personal and involved” in their lives as compared to “uninvolved” or more like a “cosmic life force.” I expected to find differences in God image by race as well as religious tradition. Results, however, suggest that religious tradition is a more useful predictor of God image than race.