{"id":198600,"date":"2025-02-26T06:09:14","date_gmt":"2025-02-26T11:09:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/?p=198600"},"modified":"2025-10-28T14:49:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T18:49:19","slug":"religion-fertility-and-child-rearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/religion\/2025\/02\/26\/religion-fertility-and-child-rearing\/","title":{"rendered":"6. Religion, fertility and child-rearing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The new Religious Landscape Study (RLS) shows that average family size varies by religious affiliation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To compare how many children are born to parents in various groups, we asked all respondents how many biological children they have ever had during their lives. Since most Americans have completed childbearing by the time they reach ages 40 to 59, we focus on answers from respondents in this age group to estimate \u201ccompleted fertility.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Chart<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the new RLS, Christians have a higher completed fertility rate (2.2 children per respondent) than religiously unaffiliated Americans (1.8) and Americans who belong to non-Christian religions (1.8).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another way to gauge family size is by asking respondents whether they are currently<\/em> parents or guardians of children under the age of 18 living in their home. Overall, Christian adults (27%) are a little less likely to be living with minor children than are religiously unaffiliated adults (29%) or adults who identify with non-Christian religions (31%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How is it that U.S. Christians are less<\/em> likely than other Americans to have children under 18 at home, but also that they\u2019ve had more<\/em> children over the course of their lives than other Americans, on average? A key factor is age. U.S. Christians are older, on average, than religiously unaffiliated people and people who identify with other religions<\/a>.\u00a0Just 42% of the Christian respondents in the RLS are between the ages of 25 and 54 \u2013 ages in which children are often present in homes \u2013 compared with 60% of religiously unaffiliated people and 56% of people who belong to other religions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to asking about family size, the survey also asked parents whether they engage in various religious activities with their children under 18 who live at home, and if these children receive specific types of religious education.[45. numoffset=”45″ Chapter 5<\/a> of this report describes the religious upbringing of the respondents themselves<\/em> (when they were children) and examines the relationship between their religious upbringing and how religious they are as adults.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Approximately four-in-ten respondents who are parents or guardians of minor children at home say they pray or read scripture with at least one of their children. About a third of parents of minor children say they send their kids to a religious education program, and 17% say they opt for homeschooling or private religious schooling instead of public school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among parents who are highly religious, 81% say they pray or read scripture with their children; 66% say they send their children to a religious education program; and 29% say they homeschool or send their children to a private religious school instead of a public school. Overall, 89% of highly religious parents say they do at least one<\/em> of these things.[46. We measured religiousness using a scale based on four questions: prayer frequency, belief in God and\/or a universal spirit, religion\u2019s importance and religious service attendance. Each question was coded from 0 (low) to 2 (high). Prayer frequency is coded as 0 for those who seldom or never pray, 2 for those who pray daily, and 1 for everyone else. Belief in God\/a universal spirit is coded as 0 for those who do not believe in God or a universal spirit, 2 for those who believe with absolute certainty, and 1 for everyone else. Religion\u2019s importance is coded as 0 for those who say religion is \u201cnot too important\u201d or \u201cnot at all important\u201d in their lives, 2 for those who say religion is \u201cvery important\u201d in their lives, and 1 for everyone else. Religious attendance is coded as 0 for those who say they seldom or never attend religious services, 2 for those who attend religious services at least once a month, and 1 for everyone else. These indicators were added together to form a scale ranging from 0 to 8, and then subdivided roughly into quartiles (scores of 0 to 1 in the lowest quartile, scores of 2 to 4 in the medium-low quartile, scores of 5 to 6 in the medium-high quartile, and scores of 7 to 8 in the highest quartile).]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bar<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Read more about how religious groups answer the survey\u2019s questions about:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n