Mapping America: “Ever Received a High School Degree” by Structure of Family of Origin and Current Religious Attendance
by Patrick F. Fagan, Ph.D. and Scott Talkington, Ph.D.
Dr. Fagan is senior fellow and director of the Marriage and Religion Research Institute (MARRI) at Family Research Council.
The 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth shows that students who now worship weekly and who grew up with two married parents are most likely to have received a high school degree.
Examining current religious attendance and structure of family of origin, 93 percent of students who grew up in intact married families and who attend weekly religious services have received a high school degree. Only 68 percent of students from all other family structures who never attend religious services received a high school degree. Eighty-nine percent of those who never worship but grew up in intact families and 81 percent of those who attend religious services weekly but come from other family structures received high school degrees.
Examining current religious attendance only, 87 percent of students who attend weekly religious services received a high school degree. In contrast, only 70 percent of those who never worship received a high school degree. Between these two extremes are those who attend at least monthly (81 percent) and those who attend less than monthly (76 percent).
Examining structure of family of origin, 91 percent of individuals who grew up with married biological parents received a high school degree. They are followed by those who grew up in a married stepfamily (80 percent), those who grew up with a single, divorced parent (76 percent), those who grew up in a cohabiting stepfamily (68 percent), those who grew up with an always-single parent (63 percent), and those who grew up in an intact cohabiting family (60 percent).
Related Insights from Other Studies:
Nan Marie Astone and Sarah S. McLanahan, then of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, found that children from single-parent and stepfamilies completed high school at lower rates than children from intact married families.
Another study found that two parent families were conducive to children’s academic achievement.
Another study affirms the importance of religious attendance for education. One study found that the more frequently youths attended religious activities, the more likely they were to give recognition to good grades, spend more time on homework, and have a positive attitude toward academics.
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Great post. Thanks for sharing.
In 37 years of teaching, every student, I encountered, with same sex parents graduated with at least a high school diploma and, in truth, I know of not one who didn’t go on to college.