Tracing the Religious Life Course in an American Baby-Boom Cohort: Parental Influence and Temporal Dynamics

The development of religiosity originates in earlier phases of the family and individual life course, yet few studies have investigated how early exposure to parental religiosity persists into mid- and later life. This investigation uses multigenerational data from 385 baby boom children, ages 16–26, and their parents in 1971, following children’s religious orientations into midlife and old age. Guided by intergenerational transmission and path dependency perspectives, we find that parents’ religious intensity in 1971 strengthened their children’s cognitive and behavioral religiosity in later life, mediated by children’s early and midlife religiosity. Results demonstrate intergenerational transmission followed by durability in religious beliefs and practices across decades of temporal stability. These findings suggest that parental influence creates cumulative religious momentum that carries from young adulthood through old age.