More than 10 years ago the author proposed a contextual-interactional explanation of the fact that research done on the West Coast fails to find a relationship between religious commitment and delinquency, while studies done elsewhere invariably find a strong negatit)e correlation. Unfortunately, because of various deficiencies, subsequent studies that claimed to test the contextual explanation have not done so-leaving the literature more confused than ever. In an effort to clarify matters, this paper carefully restates the contextual thee and then tests it on data from a ve7y large survey of high school seniors. The results demonstrate the erastence of a very potent contextual effect.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Rodney Stark (1996) studied this question.