In the Course of a Lifetime: Tracing Religious Belief, Practice, and Change

Methodological Appendix: Measuring Religiousness and Spiritual Seeking in the IHD Longitudinal Study

219 Methodological Appendix Measuring Religiousness and Spiritual Seeking in the IHD Longitudinal Study DATA ON RELIGION It was our good fortune that, during the interviews conducted at each of the five assessments spanning adolescence and late adulthood, the IHD participants were asked specific questions about their religious beliefs , attitudes, and practices. In personal interviews in 1934, the older cohort (approximately age fourteen) were asked whether they went to church or Sunday school, where they went, how frequently, and whether they liked it. They were also shown, among other images, a painting of the Last Supper and asked whether they could identify it, whether they had ever seen it previously, and if so, where they had seen it. In separate interviews, they completed self-report closed-response questions on their then-current religious practices and beliefs: whether they prayed and for what purpose; how they thought of God and of what God does; the source of their ideas about God; how they thought of Jesus, the Bible, after-death, and hell; how they felt about religious organizations; which activities they liked to do on Sundays; how frequently they went to church and Sunday school and how frequently they did so when younger; how frequently their parents attended church; what church and Sunday school they attended; and whether they participated in a 220 METHODOLOGICAL APPENDIX range of church and other social groups. The middle-aged parents of the older cohort were also interviewed in 1934, and in self-reported questionnaires they were asked about their involvement in church and church-related social groups, their denominational affiliations, and how frequently they attended church. In personal interviews in 1943, the younger cohort, who were then age fourteen or fifteen, were asked open-ended questions about whether they attended church, Sunday school, and other church-related groups, meetings, and activities; the denomination of the churches and groups they attended; how frequently they participated in these activities; and what they thought about their various church-related activities. In follow-up interviews conducted three years later, in 1946, these participants were asked again about their religious interests and whether these were similar to, or different from, those of their parents. In-depth interviews were also conducted during the 1940s with the parents of members of the younger cohort. During separate interviews, each parent was asked to talk specifically about the meaning of religion to him or her personally, to his or her spouse, and to the children, including the study participant. Each parent was also asked about the place of religion in the lives of his or her own mother and father and of his or her spouse’s mother and father. At the time of the first follow-up assessment in adulthood, conducted in 1958 (early adulthood), the two original cohort studies were managed independently, and each used a different interview format and questions. During a series of lengthy personal interviews conducted over several days, the older cohort were asked open-ended questions about their religious beliefs and habits: whether they believed in God; what they thought of organized religion; whether, where, and how frequently they went to church and engaged in church activities; whether their religious beliefs and habits had changed; whether their spouses shared their religious beliefs; and whether they came from religious families. There were also asked about their “philosophy of life.” Members of the younger cohort and their spouses were asked open-ended questions during separate personal interviews about the religious histories of their families and about their own beliefs and affiliation, whether and how frequently they attended church, and whether they sent their children to church and to Sunday school. The two studies were merged in the 1960s (Block 1971), and consequently all the participants were asked a similar set of open-ended questions about religion at each subsequent assessment. In 1970 (middle METHODOLOGICAL APPENDIX 221 adulthood), the participants were asked about their moral philosophy, whether they were church members and whether they attended church regularly, what religion meant to them, whether they believed in God, whether they thought of God as a personal or impersonal God, and whether they believed in an afterlife. During the third adult followup assessment, conducted in 1982 (late-middle adulthood), personal interviews with the participants included open-ended questions about whether they currently belonged to a church or to any organizations and social groups (such as a church choir...