Youth Indicators, 2005: Trends in the Well-Being of American Youth

Indicator 40: Religion

Table 40. Percentage of high school seniors reporting religious involvement: 1976 to 2001
	Attending religious service				Importance of religion in my life
Year	Weekly	1 to 2 times per month	Rarely	Never	Very important	Pretty important	A little important	Not important
1976	40.7	16.3	32.0	11.0	28.8	30.5	27.8	12.9
1977	39.6	16.9	33.5	10.0	27.9	32.6	28.1	11.5
1978	39.4	17.2	34.4	9.0	27.8	33.0	27.9	11.2
1979	40.7	17.0	33.3	9.0	30.1	32.5	27.0	10.3
1980	43.1	16.3	32.0	8.6	32.4	32.6	25.3	9.8
1981	40.0	17.0	33.5	9.5	30.5	32.8	26.0	10.7
1982	37.3	17.4	35.8	9.6	28.4	33.0	27.9	10.7
1983	39.1	17.0	34.6	9.3	28.3	34.2	26.9	10.6
1984	37.7	16.2	35.8	10.2	29.7	32.6	26.7	11.0
1985	35.3	16.6	37.0	11.1	27.3	32.4	27.6	12.7
1986	34.3	16.8	36.9	12.0	26.3	32.7	27.8	13.3
1987	31.8	15.6	39.6	13.0	24.9	31.7	28.8	14.5
1988	31.9	17.3	39.0	11.7	26.1	31.9	28.4	13.6
1989	31.4	16.6	38.5	13.5	27.2	30.3	27.8	14.7
1990	30.4	15.7	39.7	14.1	26.4	29.5	28.7	15.5
1991	31.2	16.8	37.6	14.4	27.7	30.0	27.0	15.3
1992	32.4	17.6	36.3	13.8	29.4	29.8	26.2	14.6
1993	31.6	16.4	37.6	14.4	29.3	28.6	27.2	14.9
1994	32.3	16.5	36.8	14.3	29.6	28.6	26.4	15.4
1995	32.1	16.6	36.5	14.7	29.9	28.2	26.8	15.1
1996	32.5	16.3	36.2	15.0	31.2	28.0	24.9	16.0
1997	30.5	17.0	37.0	15.5	30.1	28.7	26.1	15.1
1998	31.6	17.9	35.8	14.7	32.0	29.5	24.0	14.5
1999	33.2	17.9	34.6	14.2	32.8	28.5	24.8	13.9
2000	32.3	17.6	35.1	14.9	31.7	29.2	25.0	14.2
2001	32.8	16.1	34.2	16.9	32.3	27.9	24.4	15.5
NOTE: The response rate for this survey does not meet NCES statistical standards. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.
SOURCE: University of Michigan, Institute for Social Research, Monitoring the Future, various years.