YAP objectives

Report on Project Objectives

This project had 5 major objectives to explore:

Determine how open YAP are to religious groups, people and institutions.
Understand if spiritual and/or religious identity impacts parenting decisions of YAPs.
Gain clarity about young adult support systems. Who/what do they turn to for help?
Understand how spiritual/religious formation fits into parenting values.
Discover the BIG moments in the lives of 25-39 year olds.

Each of these objectives was mapped to specific questions in the survey to help assess and come to an overall conclusion. Below is reporting of the data for each objective.

Objective 1: Determine how open YAP are to religious groups, people and institutions

Even among Christian YAPs, connection to institutional expressions of the faith is tenuous as expressed by low trust levels, low participation rates in institutional expressions (e.g., worship), self-identification (only 68% describe themselves as religious in some way), and activities that bring them closer to God (listening to sermons, reading sacred texts or attending services). YAP Nones, not surprisingly, ranked even lower on all of those same measures.
However, spirituality remains high among both groups as expressed by individual identity and behaviors (e.g., prayer, meditation, etc.).
The experience of having kids seems to be a place where there is a (last chance?) opportunity for engagement with institutional religion and to potentially flip the narrative if done correctly. The majority of Christian YAPs have a desire for their kids to participate in religious rites of passage and to pass down the faith. Additionally, they are open to engaging with a church for the religious education of their kids. Rates on these variables for YAP Nones was higher than expected.

*Crosstabbed with Christian, Other, None in appendix 1

What is your current religion, if any?
In general, I would describe myself as (select one)
In general, religion is a force for good in the world.
Please indicate your level of trust for each of the following: Religious institutions; a local church/congregation; a religious leader (e.g., pastor, rabbi);
Which of the following do you do on a regular basis
It is necessary to to believe in God in order to be moral and have good values.
Which of the following comes closest to expressing what you believe about God:
How often do you attend religious services?
Do you imagine that you will be involved in a religious community/congregation five years from now either as a member or regular participant?
In your 20s have you become: More religious; Less religious; Stayed about the same; I was never religious
Which of the following makes you feel closest to a higher power (e.g., God)?
I would be interested in going to church for the spiritual development of my kids even if it didn't meet my own religious/spiritual needs.
I plan on/am currently taking my kid(s) to church, Sunday school, youth group or other form of formal religious instruction.
It is important to me that my kids take part in traditional religious rites of passage (e.g., baptism, bar/bat mitzvah, confirmation, etc.)
How important is it that your children do each of the following as adults: Be financially independent; Have jobs/careers they enjoy; Earn a college degree; Get married; Have children; Are faithful/religious
How important is it to you that your children have similar religious beliefs as you?
How much does/will your own religious and spiritual beliefs inform the way you parent?
It is important to me that my kids feel connected to something transcendent or bigger than themselves.
Which of the following are sources you trust for parenting advice?
How helpful were each of the following in helping you navigate each of the events in the previous question: Family; Friends; Spouse/Partner; Mentor/Teacher; Church community; Caseworker

Objective 2: Understand if spiritual and/or religious identity impacts parenting decisions of YAPs.

Trust levels for religious institutions, people and professionals remains relatively high, even among people who only identify as spiritual. However, there is a distinct difference between religious and spiritual parents with spiritual YAPs expressing decidedly less trust.
Beliefs and practices among YAPs are very diverse with strong representation among practices, belief in God and even attendance across all aspects of SBNR. Although the patterns are probably expected, they are far from uniform. For example, approximately 7% of people who are neither spiritual or religious are attending religious services once a month or more often and 17.5% of people who claim to be religious are using tarot cards. These percentages are not necessarily overwhelming on their own, but the takeaway from all of the data is that the religious landscape of YAPs is very diverse and not easily predicted.
Even people who are not strongly religious (but are spiritual), are planning on being engaged with religious institutions in some way for their kids. This suggests there’s a real opportunity to engage the SBNR crowd. HOWEVER, very few of the strongly spiritual YAPs think they will be part of a religious community in 5 years. In other words, even if they are showing up for their kids to get some religious instruction, they are not seeing the religious community as their community. It appears as though they think about religious institutions in the same way as the PTA. They’ll serve on the PTA as long as they have kids in school, but not after that. They’ll attend church or engage with institutions while their kids are getting instruction, but not after that. They are not even intending that the religion will “stick.” Where we have traditionally often thought that once parents came “back” for their kids to get baptized or confirmed then we “had” them again, it appears that we might need to shift that thinking. Yes, many of them appear open to (re)engaging for their kids, but even during that time, these parents should be treated as part of the mission-field, not part of the fold.
Religious or spiritual identity has little to no impact on parental worries.

*Crosstabbed with SBNR in appendix 2

In your 20s have you become: More spiritual; Less spiritual; Stayed about the same; I was never spiritual
How important are each of the following to teach to your children? Being responsible; Being well-mannered; Curiosity; Creativity; Empathy; Hard work; Helping others; Independence; Obedience; Persistence; Tolerance; Religious faith; Sense of spirituality
How worried are you about each of the following happening to any of your children at some point? Being bullied; Being kidnapped/abducted; Getting beaten up; Getting pregnant/getting someone pregnant as a teen; Getting shot; Getting in trouble with the police; Losing faith/religion; Having problems with drugs or alcohol; exposure to harmful content online

Objective 3: Gain clarity about young adult support systems. Who/what do they turn to for help?

The lives of YAPs are pretty tumultuous, as one might expect, including major life transitions. Their support systems tend toward the individual, not the institutional. Spouses, friends and family top the lists of people they turn to, but still, 70% agreed that life is generally harder than they expected it to be at this point.
Only 17.5% of YAPs have been involved in a faith community in the previous 5 years, and only 57% turned to a faith community to help them navigate tough times (and 17% found that community to be unhelpful). In other words, at a time when people are experiencing a ton of transition, trauma and disruption in their lives, they are not particularly well connected to the professionals who can help them make sense of the changes in their lives. They need what religious professionals have to offer, but they’re not seeing the church or pastors as a place to get it.

*Descriptive statistics for each of the following in appendix 3

Do you imagine that you will be involved in a religious community/congregation five years from now either as a member or regular participant?
Which of the following are sources you trust for parenting advice?
Which of the following life events have you personally experienced in the last 5 years: Marriage; Moving to a new town/city; Divorce/Separation; Death of someone close; Friendship loss; Childbirth; Career/job change; Graduation; Alcohol/drug abuse; Arrest/incarceration; Promotion at work; Regular involvement with a faith community
Which of the following did you rely on to help you navigate each of the events in the previous question: Family; Friends; Spouse/Partner; Mentor/Teacher; Church community; Caseworker; Therapist, Spiritual Director; Medium; Support Group
How helpful were each of the following in helping you navigate each of the events in the previous question: Family; Friends; Spouse/Partner; Mentor/Teacher; Church community; Caseworker
When life is hard, my faith sustains me and gets me through.

Objective 4: Understand how spiritual/religious formation fits into parenting values.

Over 70% of YAPs indicate that their faith/spirituality is or will inform their approach to parenting. Additionally, religious teachings rank relatively high on the list of things people trust about parenting. While there might be little support for religious institutions as adults, there does seem to be some indication that these teachings are valued and an openness to connecting their children to them in some way.
*Descriptive statistics for the following in appendix 4:

How important are each of the following to teach to your children? Being responsible; Being well-mannered; Curiosity; Creativity; Empathy; Hard work; Helping others; Independence; Obedience; Persistence; Tolerance; Religious faith; Sense of spirituality
I would be interested in going to church for the spiritual development of my kids even if it didn't meet my own religious/spiritual needs.
I plan on/am currently taking my kid(s) to church, Sunday school, youth group or other form of formal religious instruction.
It is important to me that my kids take part in traditional religious rites of passage (e.g., baptism, bar/bat mitzvah, confirmation, etc.)
How worried are you about each of the following happening to any of your children at some point? Being bullied; Being kidnapped/abducted; Getting beaten up; Getting pregnant/getting someone pregnant as a teen; Getting shot; Getting in trouble with the police; Losing faith/religion; Having problems with drugs or alcohol; exposure to harmful content online;
How important is it that your children do each of the following as adults: Be financially independent; Have jobs/careers they enjoy; Earn a college degree; Get married; Have children; Are faithful/religious
How important is it to you that your children have similar religious beliefs as you?
How important is it that your children have similar political beliefs as you?
How much does/will your own religious and spiritual beliefs inform the way you parent?
It is important to me that my kids feel connected to something transcendent or bigger than themselves.
Which of the following are sources you trust for parenting advice? Religious texts/leaders; Academic experts; Bloggers/Influencers/Social Media; Own parents; Friends

Objective 5: Discover the BIG moments in the lives of 25-39 year olds.

More YAPs have experience with drug/alcohol abuse in the last 5 years than with being a part of a religious community (18% to 17%). In general, the big moments that occur in a person’s life are being experienced during these years. It suggests that churches would do well to think about a model of accompaniment as the right approach, rather than one of salvation or formation. In other words, can just help people navigate and be there for them without asking much of them.
Stage matters more than age. Breakdowns within the age group of our study (25-39 years old) revealed very few differences. In particular there is no difference when comparing 25-29 year-olds with 30-39 year olds. It seems that YAPs are more or less having the same experiences and reactions regardless of age.

*Descriptive statistics for the following in appendix 5:

In your 20s have you become: More religious; Less religious; Stayed about the same; I was never religious
Which of the following life events have you personally experienced in the last 5 years: Marriage; Moving to a new town/city; Divorce/Separation; Death of someone close; Friendship loss; Childbirth; Career/job change; Graduation; Alcohol/drug abuse; Arrest/incarceration; Promotion at work; Regular involvement with a faith community
Which of the following did you rely on to help you navigate each of the events in the previous question: Family; Friends; Spouse/Partner; Mentor/Teacher; Church community; Caseworker; Therapist, Spiritual Director; Medium; Support Group
How helpful were each of the following in helping you navigate each of the events in the previous question: Family; Friends; Spouse/Partner; Mentor/Teacher; Church community; Caseworker
Life is generally harder than I expected it to be at this point.