Aging and Religious Disaffiliation

Patterns of lifetime church attendance and participation in voluntary associations among skid-row men and two samples of “normal” respondents are contrasted with models of aging and affiliation derived from previous research. All samples manifested substantial religious disaffiliation during adult l...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social forces 1970-09, Vol.49 (1), p.59-71
Main Author: Bahr, Howard M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adults
Affiliate/Affiliates/Affiliated/ Affiliation/ Affiliative
Age
Aging (see also Aged, Geriatric)
Catholicism
Church attendance
Disaffiliation
Ecological life histories
Modeling
Older adults
Proportions
Religion
Religion/Religions/Religious
Voluntary associations
Voluntary/Voluntarism
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Summary:Patterns of lifetime church attendance and participation in voluntary associations among skid-row men and two samples of “normal” respondents are contrasted with models of aging and affiliation derived from previous research. All samples manifested substantial religious disaffiliation during adult life, with the model based in “disengagement theory” receiving the greatest support. With advancing age, church attendance becomes increasingly less important as a source of voluntary affiliation among both well-to-do and poor men. Comparison of results from cross-sectional and retrospective data suggest that currently accepted generalizations about lifetime patterns of aging and church attendance are open to serious question. Developmental patterns must be distinguished from variations due to societal change, and cross-sectional data do not permit this distinction.
ISSN:0037-7732
1534-7605
DOI:10.1093/sf/49.1.59