Behavioral Ecology Blog

Religion Money and Structure is Good for Kids <-- Note my edits that reflect a more appropriate title...

In a new study in Social Science Research, sociologists have found an impressive correlation between “good behavior” and the amount of time parents spend in church. The authors of the paper argue that there are several possible reasons why this pattern might exist, including:

1. religious networks provide social support to parents. Right, maybe it isn’t the kids that are better, but instead they are subject to better parenting.Perhaps..
2. Kids might “take more to heart the messages that they get in the home” as a result of the Church oriented social networking.
3. the types of values and norms that circulate in religious congregations tend to be self-sacrificing and pro-family
4. religious organizations imbue parenting with sacred meaning and significance, thus, parents often feel “getting their kids into heaven is more important than getting their kids into Harvard”

1st of all, it’s too bad that the media can’t get the point that correlation does not imply causation. This is a very basic idea that most college educated people understand. I’d like to think that companies like LiveScience would be even more on top of this than the general media. I guess not.. Anyway, the problem I have with this study is exactly that- that there is likely a 3rd unmeasured variable that is responsible. The authors touch on a couple, but the most likely candidate is yet to be mentioned.

1st unmeasured variable- maybe it is that self selection is happening. That kids naturally vary in their ability to behave, and that only the kids that behave above a certain threshold are taken to church. Right- who wants to take a bad kid ANYWHERE- let alone to a place where people judge you for such bad behavior.

2nd- I don’t have the data in hand, but there is a tight correlation between socioeconomic status and church going. The more well-off you are, the more likely you are to go to church. To that, add the positive correlation between behavior and socioeconomic status and you have your correlation between religion and behavior.. The authors do mention this as a co variate, but there is no obvious result presented. I’ll write to the authors and see if they can tell me..

3rd- Maybe it is that religious parents interpret behaviors in a more positive light than do non-religious parents. Ignoring the facts, truth, and evidence is pervasive in religion- why not extent this egnorance to other areas of life..

4th- Kids need structure. They are less likely to get into trouble if they are occupied. One form of structure is church, others include Sports, clubs, and things like boy scouts (another loath-some group). It’s a shame that a similar study hasn’t been done looking at behavior and these activities. I bet you’d find similar patterns.

Just to clarify, I don’t think that there rich kids are inherently better that poorer kids; it’s just that rich kids have the benefit of resources, they get early treatment for behavioral disorders, go to better schools, in general lead more enriched lives. I believe that one of the primary causes of childhood misbehavior is boredom- bored kids get into trouble inventing fun things to do.. Rich kids have summer camps, vacations, the newest gaming systems, summer vacations, etc…

Studies like this peeve me because the definitive study to refute the dumb one is never done. What I would like to see done is the same study, but controlling for socioeconomic status, divorce, structure, etc..

On an final semi-bitchy note- this paper is 25 pages long, and results are entirely correlational. DO YOU THINK THAT THE AUTHORS MIGHT HAVE INCLUDED THE MOST RELEVANT REGRESSIONS IN GRAPHICAL FORMS!!! Nope, there are 12 tables instead. Pls.. give me the graph- I don’t want to have to actually read for crying out loud!!

Here is the paper, and the LiveScience coverage.