Religiosity and Delinquency

Abstract

This article explores the contradictory findings that have characterized the relationship between religion and delinquency. The data are based on interviews with 600 adolescents attending public school in the Atlanta, Georgia area. A wide variety of religious and delinquency measures were used, allowing a complete examinatirm of the relationship. The existence of a weak to moderate negative zero-order relationship was verified. Religious salience, belief in the power of personal prayer, and orthodoxy were found to be related w e strongly to delithan the most often-used variable, church attendance. Most important, in spite of the relatively strong zero-order relationship between a number of religiosity and delinquency measures, within a multivariate context religion0 contribution as an independent variable was not statistically significant. Possible explanations for this finding are discussed.The relationship between religiosity and delinquency has long been a subject of interest among sociologists, criminologists, and church professionals. At the outset, strong theoretical arguments were developed suggesting that religion promotes social control and encourages the development of moral values and the acceptance of societal norms and values (Davis, 1948: 371-373; Erikson, 1966: 3-19; Fitzpatrick, 1967: 315-330). Despite this orientation, conflicting empirical results have characterized the research in this area. While a number of studies indicated that involvement in formal religious activities was related to not engaging in delinquent activity (Travers and Davis, 1961;Miller, 1965;Rhodes and Reiss, 1970), others, including Kvaraceus (1944) and Hirschi and Stark (1969), reported that religiosity and delinquency are AUTHORS NOTE: We wish to thank Harwin L. Voss for his helpful comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript.

The moderating effects of religiosity on the relationship between stressful life events and delinquent behavior

“…Religiosity-Overall, research has shown that religiosity is negatively related to delinquency (Baier & Wright, 2001;Benda & Toombs, 2000;Johnson et al, 2001;Pearce & Haynie, 2004;Regnerus & Elder, 2003;Stark, 1996), although this finding is not universal (Cochran et al, 1994;Cretacci, 2003;Elifson, Petersen, & Hadaway, 1983;Hirschi & Stark, 1969). In general, studies have shown that individuals who are more religious commit fewer offenses.…”

religiosity and perceptions of crime seriousness by jewish and muslim respondents in israel

“…Although these inverse relationships are statistically significant, the strength of the relation is often only moderate (Abrams and Della Fave 1976;Cochran 1989;Elifson et al 1983;Evans et al 1995;Peek et al 1985;Sloane and Potvin 1986). 1 Moreover, the prevalent opinion is that this relationship is in fact contextually dependent, because generally ''at least some aspects of religion inhibit at least some kinds of illegal behavior at least under some conditions'' (Grasmick et al 1991:251).…”

“…The relationship between religiosity and crime has been a topic of research for social scientists and religious practitioners for more than 40 years (Elifson et al 1983). Generally, many sociological and criminological theories (e.g., of functionalism, social control, and differential association) predict that religiosity will contribute to social conformity, deterring criminal behavior (Tittle and Welch 1983).…”

Religious Affiliation, Religiosity, and Impulsive and Intentional Deviance

“…Church attendance is the most common measure of religiosity utilized in these investigations (Tittle and Welch 1983), though other measures of religiosity may have a stronger relationship with deviance than church attendance (see Elifson, Petersen and Hadaway 1983). Additionally, the use of bivariate statistics tends to obfuscate the religiosity-deviance association.…”