Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion
Volume 45, Issue 1, 2006, Pages 1-22

Religious affiliation and attendance among immigrants in eight Western countries: Individual and contextual effects (Article)

Van Tubergen F.*
  • a Department of Sociology, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 2, 3584 CS Utrecht, Netherlands

Abstract

This study examines the religious affiliation and participation of immigrants from a large-scale, comparative perspective. I propose a "specific migration" framework, in which immigrants' religiosity is an outcome of both individual characteristics and contextual properties related to immigrants' country of origin, country of destination, and combinations of origin and destination (i.e., communities). I use notions discussed in the religion and migration literature that fit into this scheme. To test these ideas, I collected and standardized 20 existing surveys on immigrants in eight Western countries, yielding about 38,000 immigrants. Applying multilevel models, I found, among other things, that: (1) immigrants from countries with higher levels of modernization express lower levels of religious commitment; (2) immigrants in religious countries are more religious themselves; and (3) the well-documented higher levels of religious commitment among women is not generalizable to immigrants. © 2006 The Society of the Scientific Study of Religion.

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Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-33646713946&doi=10.1111%2fj.1468-5906.2006.00002.x&partnerID=40&md5=0037e29b6447112a7f6f19b9d19151e7

DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-5906.2006.00002.x
ISSN: 00218294
Cited by: 72
Original Language: English