Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP6629
Authors: Pablo Braasgarza; Teresa Garcamuoz; Shoshana Neuman
Abstract: The current study examines individuals who were raised in a certain religion and at some stage of their life left it. Currently, they define their religious affiliation as ?no religion?. A battery of explanatory variables (country-specific ones, personal attributes and marriage variables) was employed to test for the determinants of this decision. It was found that the tendency of individuals to leave their religion is strongly correlated with the degree of strictness of their country and with their spouse's religious characteristics. Moreover, personal socio-demographic features seem to be less relevant.
Keywords: church attendance; convert-out; Europe; parental religiosity; prayer; religion
JEL Codes: D13; J12; J13; Z12
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| strictness of religious observance in a country (Z12) | likelihood of individuals disaffiliating from their religion (Z12) |
| parental religiosity and childhood church attendance (Z12) | likelihood of identifying as non-religious in adulthood (Z12) |
| spouse's religious characteristics (Z12) | likelihood of disaffiliation (J63) |