National Study of Youth and Religion

www.youthandreligion.org

Basic History
The National Study of Youth and Religion is a research project being conducted at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill under the direction of Dr. Christian Smith, Professor in the department of Sociology. This 4-year project funded by Lilly Endowment, Inc., began in August 2001 and will continue until August 2005. The project is designed to enhance understanding of the religious lives of American adolescents and will include a national telephone survey  of youth and their parents, as well as in-depth interviews with a sub-sample of these youth. 

Basic Beliefs
The purpose of the proposed project is to research the shape and influence of religion and spirituality in the lives of American adolescents; to identify effective practices in the religious, moral, and social formation of the lives of youth; to describe the extent and perceived effectiveness of the programs and opportunities that religious communities are offering to their youth; and to foster an informed national discussion about the influence of religion in youth's lives, in order to encourage sustained reflection about and rethinking of our cultural and institutional practices with regard to youth and religion. 

Leadership
Director and Principal Investigation - Dr. Christian Smith, professor and associate chair of sociology
Project Manager - Melinda Lundquist Denton, Ph.D. graduate student in sociology
Director of Communication - Roxann L. Miller

Basic Facts
This research project is designed to accomplish three major tasks at once. First, is to collect data on a "big-picture," in order to be able to make representative national claims about youth  and religion. Second, to collect in-depth data in order to help us generate "grounded" theories about the influences of religion in youth's lives. Third, this project is designed to maintain contact over time with the youth which are sampled in order to be able through a longitudinal study to make claims about the casual effects of religion in youth's lives.

Prior to the formal start of the project, the research team spent one year doing preliminary planning research to assess the current state of research on youth and religion and the needs for future research. Grant planning work has helped to clarify the potential value and purpose of this proposed project. This project will be able to investigate many questions about youth and religion that are of interest to multiple audiences and constituencies.

Location
National Study of Youth and Religion
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
CB# 3057
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3057
Phone (919) 918-5294
Fax (919) 962-7568