Aging and Religious Disaffiliation

Abstract

Patterns of lifetime church attendance and participation in voluntary associations among skid-row men and two samples of “normal” respondents are contrasted with models of aging and affiliation derived from previous research. All samples manifested substantial religious disaffiliation during adult life, with the model based in “disengagement theory” receiving the greatest support. With advancing age, church attendance becomes increasingly less important as a source of voluntary affiliation among both well-to-do and poor men. Comparison of results from cross-sectional and retrospective data suggest that currently accepted generalizations about lifetime patterns of aging and church attendance are open to serious question. Developmental patterns must be distinguished from variations due to societal change, and cross-sectional data do not permit this distinction.