Some More “Souls In Transition”

Good news for at least some parents of emerging adults (per Chris Smith, Souls in Transition pp. 85-86): “When [i] parents are seriously religious, [ii] want their children to be seriously religious, and [iii] have raised them to be so, the emerging adults’ [iv] desire to have a good connection with their parents tends to encourage them to continue to affirm and practice their religious faith.”  (Enumeration added.)

Working backwards, Smith contends that many EAs want to improve relationships with parents.  Seems true to me.  Points [i] to [iii] are straightforward enough but I wonder about the many EAs whose parents have little or no concern about religion; what social factors will even slightly encourage them to consider the place of religion in their lives?  The answer would seem to be next to nil when we consider the dominant place of economic factors in contemporary life and the “black hole” of socializing (in person and distance) that occupies the lives of EAs.  Not much room for religion.