Beliefs About Evolution and Educational Attainment

Abstract

Using panel data from the National Study of Youth and Religion, we examine the effect of beliefs about evolution in high school on several postsecondary educational outcomes. Results indicate that net of a host of background factors and potential alternative explanatory factors, there are significant associations between beliefs about evolution and pursuing or obtaining a bachelor's degree, such that pure creationists (i.e., creationists who do not allow for the possibility that God used evolution to create the world) are less likely than naturalists to be on this trajectory. Further, when they do attend college, pure creationists and flexible creationists (i.e., creationists who allow for the possibility that God used evolution) both attend less selective colleges than naturalists, and pure creationists are less likely than naturalists to major in biology. These results suggest that evolution is a morally salient issue for many that influences their educational trajectories, highlighting the role that cultural schemas can play in shaping socioeconomic status.

It All Depends on What You Want to Believe: How Young Adults Navigate Religion and Science

“…Similarly, we do not explore the mechanisms that may have shaped these beliefs nor how they may change over time. For example, respondents with college experience may construct the relationship between religion and science differently, given the exposure to extended science education, than those who do not pursue post-secondary schooling (Longest and Uecker 2018). Our goal, in part, was to provide an initial analyses of the complex understandings young people have of the relationship between religion and science in order to provide a baseline for future studies to investigate the extent to which factors, such as education, may influence where young people land on these themes as well as the stability of their beliefs.…”

“…For example, Longest and Uecker (2017) showed how young adults’ views on religion and science significantly impacted their future religious commitments. Young peoples’ perspective on the origins of the world has been shown to even steer them into particular academic trajectories, which may relate to future socioeconomic status (Longest and Uecker 2018). Among adults, those who reject evolutionary accounts tend to express lower levels of support for science funding (Freeman and Houston 2011) and higher levels of support for teaching evolution and creation in public schools (Berkman et al 2008).…”