The how and what of modern religious transmission and its implications for families

The number of individuals who were raised in a religious household but have now disaffiliated from religion continues to rise. As religious differences between parents and their children can have negative effects on family relationships, renewed attention is needed regarding current trends in religious transmission. Through 109 interviews with religious parents (N = 138), we qualitatively explored how parents are currently trying to transmit their religion to their children and identified the following 4 themes: (a) parental example, (b) religious community influence, (c) religious practices, and (d) rules and boundaries. We further explored what aspects of their religion were most important to parents to pass on to their children and identified the following 3 themes: (a) a belief in God, (b) to love, serve, and respect others, and (c) good morals. Utilizing generative devotion as our theoretical framework, implications, applications, and ideas for future research are offered, with attention given to how family relationships can be strengthened and protected, even when religious transmission fails. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).