February 17, 2003
Latino children and youth with active faith do better in school
___SOUTH BEND, Ind. (RNS)--Latino students who are actively involved in church or consider faith important are more likely to do well in school, according to a new analysis.
___Researchers for the Center for the Study of Latino Religion at the University of Notre Dame discovered the religious involvement of students and their parents affected how they fared in the school environment.
___"We find that Latino students who actively attend church or who see their religious faith as very important to their lives are achieving higher grades in school, are staying on-track in school, are having less trouble with teachers, other students and homework, and identify with school more strongly," concluded David Sikkink and Edwin Hernandez, co-authors of the report.
___In reviewing a survey of first-grade Latino children, they found parents with high religious involvement were more likely to read to their children and take part in other activities with them, such as visits to the library.
___But their analysis also produced "mixed findings." While first-grade Latino children whose parents attended religious services weekly had the highest reading scores, those from families attending more than once a week had slightly lower average scores than children of families that never attended services.
___When reviewing studies of teenagers, the scholars found Latinos attending religious services weekly or more often felt more comfortable in school and were absent less often than those who did not attend worship services.
___"Religious practice is especially important for the educational success of Latino youth living in impoverished neighborhoods," the authors concluded. "And supervision of Latino teenagers, which is important for keeping children on-track in school, is strongly related to the religiosity of parents."
___The Center for the Study of Latino Religion was founded in 2002 and is part of Notre Dame's Institute for Latino Studies. The publication of the report was funded by a grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts.
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