Demographic and socioeconomic predictors of religious/spiritual beliefs and behaviours in a prospective cohort study (ALSPAC) in Southwest England: Results from the offspring generation.

Background

We explored associations between possible demographic and socioeconomic causes of religious/spiritual beliefs and behaviours (RSBB) in the offspring generation of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC).

Methods

We examined approximately 4,450 offspring aged 28 years with RSBB data from a prospective birth cohort study (ALSPAC) in Southwest England. Three RSBB outcome measures were assessed: religious belief (belief in God/a divine power; yes/not sure/no), religious affiliation (Christian/none/other) and religious attendance (frequency of attendance at a place of worship). We explored age- and sex-adjusted associations between 35 demographic and socioeconomic exposures and each of the three RSBB outcomes using multinomial regression. Exposure-sex interactions were also examined.

Results

Some sociodemographic factors were associated with RSBB in this cohort; for instance, being female and from an ethnicity other than White were associated with increased religiosity across all domains. For many other exposures, however, associations were frequently null or inconsistent, often depending on the specific exposure and outcome combination. As an example, higher educational attainment was associated with higher rates of religious attendance, but not with religious belief or affiliation; in contrast, higher income was associated with lower levels of religiosity. No consistent interactions between sex and the exposures on RSBB were found. Effect sizes were also rather weak, with most pseudo-

Conclusions

The results highlight that several demographic and socioeconomic factors are associated with RSBB in this cohort. However, the number of these associations, and their magnitude, is smaller than comparable results from the parental generation of these offspring, suggesting that patterns of sociodemographic factors associated with RSBB differ between these generations. In addition to describing these associations, this paper will help inform future studies using these data, particularly regarding the choice of potential sociodemographic confounders.

In recent years there has been an increasing appreciation that religious/spiritual beliefs and behaviours (RSBB) may contribute to physical and mental health; RSBBs have been associated with lower rates of mortality, for instance. Despite this, RSBBs are often neglected in wider health research, in part because of a lack of high-quality prospective studies with detailed information on both RSBBs and potential confounders of RSBB-health associations. In this paper, we describe associations between 35 demographic/socioeconomic factors and three RSBB outcomes in the offspring generation of a prospective UK birth cohort study (the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children; ALSPAC). The three RSBB outcomes, all measured at approximately age 28 years, were: religious belief (belief in God or some divine power); religious affiliation (Christian vs none vs other); and religious attendance (frequency of attendance at a place of worship). Some sociodemographic factors were associated with RSBBs in this cohort; for instance, being female and from an ethnicity other than White were associated with increased religiosity. For many other exposures, associations were frequently null or inconsistent, often depending on the specific exposure and outcome combination. As an example, higher educational attainment was associated with higher rates of religious attendance, but not with religious belief or affiliation. Compared to the parental ALSPAC generation, fewer associations were reported, suggesting that patterns of sociodemographic factors associated with RSBBs differ between these generations. In addition to describing these associations, this paper will help inform future studies using these data, particularly regarding the choice of potential confounders.

Informations de copyright

Copyright: © 2023 Major-Smith D et al.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

No competing interests were disclosed.