Immigrant generation and religiosity: a study of Christian immigrant groups in 33 European countries

Although Christian migrant groups make up a sizeable part of the immigrant population in Europe, little is known about their religiosity. This paper studies patterns of intergenerational change and proposes and tests hypotheses that specify when and why changes across generations are stronger. Using...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European societies 2022-10, Vol.24 (5), p.605-627
Main Authors: Molteni, Francesco, van Tubergen, Frank
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
assimilation
Children
Christian
Christianity
Christians
European cultural groups
generation
Immigrants
Immigration
Intergenerational relationships
Minority groups
Religion
Religiosity
Second generation
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Summary:Although Christian migrant groups make up a sizeable part of the immigrant population in Europe, little is known about their religiosity. This paper studies patterns of intergenerational change and proposes and tests hypotheses that specify when and why changes across generations are stronger. Using data from the European Social Survey (2002-2018) on 33 European countries, it is found that there is a strong pattern of intergenerational decline in the level of religiosity among Christian migrant groups in Europe. This process of religious decline is by no means universal. Results show that children from two foreign-born parents are much more religious than children from intermarried (foreign-born and native) couples. We also observe that intergenerational decline is much less pronounced in European countries that are more religious. Finally, when Christian migrant groups belong to a religious minority group, this is associated with higher levels of religiosity in both the first and second generation. It is argued that these insights can explain the 'puzzling' strong intergenerational religious transmission among Muslim migrant groups in Western European societies.
ISSN:1461-6696
1469-8307
DOI:10.1080/14616696.2022.2044067