Family Religious Context and Educational Aspirations of Youth

Lisa D. Pearce, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Jessica H. Hardie, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

In this paper, we investigate how family religious context relates to educational aspirations and achievement in late adolescence. We theorize how parent religious affiliation and involvement work through adolescent religious involvement to shape aspirations and achievement and how these processes might vary by gender. Using longitudinal survey data from the National Study of Youth and Religion, we examine how parent and youth religious characteristics are related to aspirations for attending college, high school graduation, college enrollment, and prestige of secondary institution.