Is There an Attendance Effect? Examining the Causal Link Between Religious Attendance and Political Participation

• Published date: 01 July 2015
• DOI: 10.1177/1532673X14533720
• Author: Sky L. Ammann
• Date: 01 July 2015
• Subject Matter: Articles

American Politics Research

2015, Vol. 43(4) 602 –624

© The Author(s) 2014

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DOI: 10.1177/1532673X14533720

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Article

Is There an Attendance

Effect? Examining the

Causal Link Between

Religious Attendance and

Political Participation

Sky L. Ammann1

Abstract

Does the act of attending religious services “cause” individuals to

participate in politics? There is no known literature that examines this

question using longitudinal, individual-level data. Therefore, using the Youth

Parent Socialization Panel Study, this analysis examines three theoretical

possibilities: the indirect, direct, and null relationships. The results show

that changes in religious attendance are primarily indirectly linked to political

participation through civic activity, a factor highly correlated with political

participation. There is also some limited evidence for a direct effect. As

individuals increase their political participation over time, they are slightly

more likely to participate in political activities and vote. But, the findings

also imply that the previous literature has likely overstated the role of

religious attendance in generating political participation. Once individuals

start participating politically, they continue to do so regardless of changes in

their attendance at places of worship.

Keywords

religious attendance, political participation, civic activity, voting, Youth

Parent Study

1University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, USA

Corresponding Author:

Sky L. Ammann, PhD, Department of Political Science, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee,

Bolton Hall, Room 656, P.O. Box 413, Milwaukee, WI 53211, USA.

Email: slammann@uwm.edu

533720APRXXX10.1177/1532673X14533720American Politics ResearchAmmann

research-article2014

Ammann 603

Introduction

Does the act of attending religious services “cause” political participation?

Over an individual’s lifecycle, are increases in religious attendance associ-

ated with increases in political participation and decreases in religious atten-

dance associated with decreases in political participation? Regardless of

religious tradition, scholars regularly refer to the positive political conse-

quences from attending religious services, such as building civic skills, gen-

erating social capital, accumulating information, and creating social networks

that connect individuals to the wider community (e.g., Brown & Brown,

2003; Calhoun-Brown, 1996; Harris, 1994; Jamal, 2005; Jones-Correa &

Leal, 2001; Liu, Wright Austin, & Orey, 2009; Macaluso & Wanat, 1979;

Milbrath & Goel, 1977; Peterson, 1990, 1992; Putnam, 1995, 2000;

Rosenstone & Hansen, 1993; Verba, Schlozman, & Brady, 1995; Wielhouwer,

2009; Wolfinger & Rosenstone, 1980). In turn, these factors lead to a greater

inclination for individuals to participate politically (see Wielhouwer, 2009,

for a review of the literature). In sum, Wielhouwer (2009) writes “immersion

in a congregation where politics is a topic discussed openly . . . appears to be

baptism into political activism” (p. 415) because places of worship “can be a

resource for information acquisition and serve as crucibles for developing

civic skills useful in politics” (p. 409).

Although the association between religious attendance and political par-

ticipation is well established by the literature, no known works directly

explore the relationship using individual-level longitudinal data. Several

scholars have explored the influence of religious denominational changes on

changes in political orientations and behaviors (Green & Guth, 1993; Jennings

& Stoker, 2007), but this literature is not specifically designed to understand

the role of religion in shaping political participation. In addition, Gerber,

Gruber, and Hungerman (2008) and Teixiera (1992) use aggregate-level data

instead of individual-level data to imply a causal link between religious atten-

dance and political participation.1

As a consequence of the gap in the literature, this analysis concentrates on

three theoretical possibilities. First, the mechanism linking religious atten-

dance to political participation may be indirect. Changes in religious atten-

dance may be positively related to changes in other variables that are highly

correlated with political participation, like political interest, partisanship, and

civic activity. Second, there may be a direct influence of changes in religious

attendance on changes in political participation, even after controlling for

indirect possibilities. Last, contrary to conventional wisdom, there may sim-

ply be no influence of declining religious attendance on political participa-

tion because individuals are likely to become regular participators after