Examining the impact of social networks and religiosity on adolescent's academic aspirations and voluntary community service

Public concerns for youth have led social scientists to study adolescents as they navigate through their teenage years. Social scientists have also studied how an individual’s religious views and beliefs affect their outcomes and/or behaviors. However, it is only in recent years that religious and adolescent research has been combined in a meaningful manner by social scientists (Youniss, McLellan, & Yates, 1999; Smith, Denton, Faris, Regnerus, 2002). In this emergent body of research, the methods used to measure religiosity are usually a few questions and are typically limited to youth attendance at church or religious events (Smith et.al, 2002). This conceptualization of religiosity does not address adolescents’ feelings toward God or the way in which their religious beliefs influence their actions and behaviors on a daily basis. Additional influences, such as an adolescent’s social network, are also ignored in previous studies.

Studies on individuals and religion have shown that religiosity is associated with positive attitudes and behaviors (Smith, 2003), such as academic achievement (Muller & Ellison, 2001; Regnerus, 2000) and involvement in volunteer/community service (Youniss et.al, 1999). As a result of these findings, this study will use academic aspirations and volunteer/community service as outcome variables.