Religious kids better behaved?

[Godmode]

http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/070424_religion_kids.html

I hate articles like this, they never define what "better behaved" means, though I'm certain unquestioning obedience to authority is part of it. Personally I don't agree with unquestioning obedience to anyone, but maybe that's because I'm a heathen.

[Mangafranga]

http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/070424_religion_kids.html

I hate articles like this, they never define what "better behaved" means, though I'm certain unquestioning obedience to authority is part of it. Personally I don't agree with unquestioning obedience to anyone, but maybe that's because I'm a heathen.It did say this

John Bartkowski, a Mississippi State University sociologist and his colleagues asked the parents and teachers of more than 16,000 kids, most of them first-graders, to rate how much self control they believed the kids had, how often they exhibited poor or unhappy behavior (http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/060207_parent_depression.html) and how well they respected and worked with their peers.

[Miss Anthrope]

It's only anecdotal, but my daughter is so well behaved she has a mellowing effect on other kids. I get calls all the time asking for her to come over and play, because all the parents just love her.

Note: My daughter is currently wearing a Flying Spaghetti Monster T-shirt, and the moms who call the most are very religious homeschoolers.

[MRC_Hans]

To the opening post: In my limited experience, absolutely not.

Hans

[TheAntiLuddite]

Note: My daughter is currently wearing a Flying Spaghetti Monster T-shirt, and the moms who call the most are very religious homeschoolers.


I don't want to derail the thread topic, but I have to ask: do the very religious homeschoolers know what the FSM is and that you (I assume) don't subscribe to their religious ideas? Most Christian fundamentalists that I've known (at least in the southern US) wouldn't dream of allowing their kid to play with another child whose family isn't "of the faith". They tend to think that "evil" (i.e. exposure to new ideas and alternative lifestyles) is as contagious as chickenpox.

[Miss Anthrope]

I don't want to derail the thread topic, but I have to ask: do the very religious homeschoolers know what the FSM is and that you (I assume) don't subscribe to their religious ideas? Most Christian fundamentalists that I've known (at least in the southern US) wouldn't dream of allowing their kid to play with another child whose family isn't "of the faith". They tend to think that "evil" (i.e. exposure to new ideas and alternative lifestyles) is as contagious as chickenpox.

Oh, we've run into plenty of that. Some families find us way too heathen and after one encounter, they're gone forever. But we've been fortunate to find many religious folks who believe it's a good thing to have their kids exposed to all types of faiths and non-faiths. Our homeschooling Girl Scout troop had a practicing Muslim family, several athiests, some woo woo, and really dogmatic fundies. They all got along. One mother explained it this way: "If our faith isn't strong enough to survive a challenge now and then, what good is it?". Another said that how would "unbelievers" ever know "the love of Christ" if they didn't see good Christians living normal lives and "loving everyone". Those are both positions I can respect. There are indeed plenty of the other kind, but we've been fortunate in finding more tolerant types, too. I think being on the West Coast is helpful!

PS-Most who know what the FSM is laugh about it. Had one bad reaction, but that person was told to lighten up by her sisters in Christ.

/derail

[strathmeyer]

Religious parents more likely to lie about how well behaved their children are?

[jimlintott]

Seems pretty light on any details. It also seems they only looked at religious people of varying degrees. There doesn't seem to be any effort to look for real non-religious people and their kids. Did they ask any of the parents if they are atheist and raise their children atheist? Did they separate this group and look at it closely? Are there even enough atheists around the area to be a significant group? According to the conclusions I read here the atheist children should all be near the bottom. If in reality the atheist children run the spectrum then I'd say they found nothing but another lie to make people feel good about being religious.

Children who are unquestionably obedient to authority make excellent victims for molesters and abusers.

[icantlogoff]

My step children, all attend a Christian school, and the opinion that Christian kids are better behaved is utter rubbish, here is my views and observations on the issues.

Christian school are not held to the same sense of fair play when it comes to expelling kids, they can and will expel any kids if their conduct isn't within line. To label their discipline route a behaviour cleansing is pretty much dead on. This produces a false image of why the school is mainly trouble free.

Secondly Christian kids general from what i have seen ... just basically hide everything they aren't suppose to do, sounds harsh i know but it is something i see time and time again.

The rules within Christian school are beyond extreme, no talking at lunch tables as one example.

Another thing i have witnessed within the school is the ammount of discrimination that goes on, children that may be more troublesome than others, are shunned not just from the kids but also teachers.

And my own experience with the attitude from teenage christians at this school, is well typical teenagers...cocky and rude...but not in front of teachers.

So are Christian kids better behaved, no they are the same as all other kids and get anyway with as much as they can.

regards

steve

[Meadmaker]

And my own experience with the attitude from teenage christians at this school, is well typical teenagers...cocky and rude...but not in front of teachers.



Some kids are cocky and rude everywhere. The kids you describe are cocky and rude when the teachers aren't around.

In my book, that means the second set of kids is better behaved than the first.

[JoeTheJuggler]

This is not 100% on target, but a study in the Journal of Religion and Society shows that various indicators of social dysfunction (prevalence of STDs, for example) correlate with more religious rather than more secular societies:

http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/2005/2005-11.html

[headscratcher4]

Many a nazi was a well behaved child....I suspect Osama Bin Ladin was dutiful and obidient. Ted Bundy was uniformly polite, no rable rouser he. What is the point of this?

[strathmeyer]

Indeed, it's almost as if people who do shoddy research have something other than the interests of science in mind.

[Bikewer]

I remember well when I was a Catholic high-school junior, and we went on "retreat".
We were supposed to be silent, to stay in our rooms when not attending functions or lectures, and spend our time in "quiet contemplation and prayer."

I was sitting in my room, trying to be a good Catholic lad, when I heard odd noises from the room across the hall. Straining to hear, I realized that some of the other guys had organized a floating poker game.....

[fuelair]

This is not 100% on target, but a study in the Journal of Religion and Society shows that various indicators of social dysfunction (prevalence of STDs, for example) correlate with more religious rather than more secular societies:

http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/2005/2005-11.html

As a side note, at the middle school level I never saw a kid wearing a wwjd shirt who was not rude and disobedient or who was doing well in school (I understand that wearing a wwjd shirt does not make them xtians, I am only stating the part I observed).

[joesixpack]

All I can say is that I smoked up a lot more in parochial school (9th and 10th grade) than I did in public school (11th and 12th).

But, Roman Catholics are hedonists, you'd never see a protestant culture with Mardi Gras. Laissez Les Bon Temps Roule!!

[Gwyn ap Nudd]

Granted, it's anecdotal and second-hand but the stereotype of the terrors known as "preacher's kids" comes to mind.

And there's also the Amish teens who go through "Rumspringa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumspringa)"

[H3LL]

I've always found stupid kids the most well behaved and the smart ones are the naughtiest.

Does my anecdote count?

.