Youth Religious Involvement and Adult Community Participation: Do Levels of Youth Religious Involvement Matter?

Abstract

The potential role that a religious background plays in determining adult levels of community participation in Canada has, to date, received limited research attention. The present study examines this relationship by testing whether involvement in a religious organization as a youth positively predicts four measures of adult community participation: informal volunteering, formal volunteering, participation in voluntary organizations, and community association membership. Drawing on data from the 2000 National Survey of Giving, Volunteering, and Participating (NSGVP), the findings show that involvement in a religious organization as a youth positively predicts all four adult community participation measures. The analysis also shows that, unlike other youth activities, the number of Canadian youths involved in religious organizations has declined in recent decades. The implications of this decline, combined with the evidence that religious involvement as a youth appears to be a good predictor of adult community participation, are discussed.