Source: www.religionnews.com
USA, August 19, 2009: A new study of over 26,000 U.S. students suggests that certain academic majors can influence students’ religiosity, either positively or negatively.
In this six-year study conducted by economics professor Miles Kimball and researchers from the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, students responded to questions beginning in high school and continuing through the year after college graduation.
Education majors showed the greatest increase in religious attendance and religious importance, followed by students in vocational and clerical programs, then business majors. Students majoring in biology, engineering, physical science and math majors showed an increase in religious attendance but a decrease in religious importance. The religious attendance of humanities and social science majors dipped slightly, while the importance of religion to that group plunged. There is, of course, great variation within each group of students.