An Interpersonal Influence Model of Traditional Religious Commitment

Typically, explanations of traditional religious commitment have relied on economic deprivation or sociodemographic variables. An alternative explanation was developed based on social control and participation in the activities of the congregation. It was predicted that the most important determinant of individual religious commitment would be denominational affiliation; the denomination establishes the expectations with regard to religious belief. It was also predicted that social participation variables, which determine the extent to which the individual is integrated into the congregation, would also be important. Testing the model with data broadly representative of the Protestant churchgoing population, it was found that denominational affiliation, church attendance and intra-congregational friendships were generally the three most important predictors of three traditional religious commitment measures. Other variables—education, occupation, gender, age and region of birth—made insignificant or small contributions to explained variance.