| CHAPEL HILL, NC — Spring is the time for parents to think about summer-camp opportunities for their teenagers.
“Church camp” is a popular option, researchers have found.
Nearly 40 percent of U.S. teens between 13 and 17 have attended at least one summer camp run by a religious organization that includes religious teachings, songs and activities in its program, according to the National Study of Youth and Religion.
Researchers found large differences in religious-camp attendance across religious traditions, even when controlling for family income. Sons and daughters of Mormon parents are most likely to have attended (78 percent), followed by those of conservative Protestant, mainline Protestant and Jewish parents (53, 48 and 43 percent, respectively). Catholic teens are much less likely to have attended religious camps (24 percent).
The National Study of Youth and Religion is funded by the Lilly Endowment and conducted by researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC).
Religious camp attendance also varies by degree of family religiosity. Participants tend to be children of parents who attend religious services regularly and believe faith is very important.
Family income also is a factor. Teens from families with higher household incomes are more likely to have attended religious camps. For example, 35 percent of teens in families with less than $50,000 in annual income in which parents attend religious services weekly have attended religious summer camp at least once. The rate is 51 percent among similar families with annual household incomes of more than $50,000.
Among parents who attend religious services more than once a week, the percentages are even higher — 54 percent for lower-income families and 66 percent for those with higher incomes.
But ability to pay is only one of many factors. “Income appears to make some difference, but does not explain everything,” said Christian Smith, the study’s principal investigator. “There is clearly also an interesting difference among different religious traditions. ... Some religious traditions also appear to have developed better organizational infrastructures ... (and more) camps.”
Smith is a professor and associate chair of sociology at UNC.
“It is interesting to note that, even among teens in non-Christian and non-Jewish religious traditions, nearly one-quarter (24 percent) have attended a religious summer camp,” Smith said. “That number is even higher (29 percent) among minority-religion teens whose family incomes are greater than $50,000 a year. So it’s not just Christian, Jewish, and Mormon teens who attend religious summer camps.”
Smith also pointed out that 16 percent of U.S. teens from non-religious families have attended a church-related summer camp.
Does attendance strengthen the participants’ faith?
The data reveal a simple correlation between attendance and the strength of teenagers’ religious faith, but researchers were unable to say to what extent attendance itself increases teenagers’ religious commitment, or to what extent those who attend religious camps are those who already take religion seriously.
“Most likely, those influences work in both directions,” Smith said. “Even so, going to religious summer camps appears to be one of a broader set of intentional practices that parents can pursue to help build up the religious faith of their teens.”
A random sample of more than 3,350 teens and their parents participated in the National Study of Youth and Religion, which was conducted by telephone. The purposes of the project are to assess the influence of religion and spirituality in the lives of U.S. adolescents; to identify practices that stimulate religious, moral and social development in youth; to describe the extent of youth participation in opportunities offered by religious communities; and to promote discussion of the influence of religion in the lives of young people.
For more information, visit the study Web site at www.youthandreligion.org |
