Youth Indicators 1996 / Indicator 54, Chart 1

Indicator 54. Religion

Religious involvement of high school seniors: 1976 to 1994

SOURCE: University of Michigan, Institute for Social Research, Monitoring the Future, various years.

The proportion of high school seniors who attend religious services every week showed little change between 1976 and 1980, but then declined from 43 percent in 1980 to 32 percent in 1987. There was little change after that. This pattern was mirrored to some extent by the changes in the proportion who felt that religion was ''very important'' or ''pretty important'' in their lives, which dropped from 65 percent in 1980 to 57 percent in 1987. The percentage was 58 percent in 1994.