An Empirical Study on the Intergenerational Transmission of Religiosity & Other Personal Beliefs

Abstract

This thesis contains three studies which explore the intergenerational transmissions of religiosity, patience and life priorities.Several key findings have been established. Regression analyses performed on family-level survey data from the U.S. and Singapore revealed that intergenerational transmissions of religiosity, patience and life priorities are, in general, socioeconomic class-specific. Parents of the higher socioeconomic class transmit more of their religious capital, patience capital and life priorities to their children than do parents of the lower socioeconomic class. By considering the beliefs, attitudes and behaviors of both parents, the latter two studies on patience and life priorities have managed to clarify the mechanisms through which children's patience and life priorities are influenced, and further highlighted the differences between fathers and mothers in their abilities to influence their children.