Social Attachment to the Seventh-day Adventist Church among Young Adults

As part of a ten-year longitudinal study on youth retention in the church, 755 young adults with Seventh-day Adventist backgrounds were surveyed to explore factors that relate to social attachment to the religious community. The sample was distributed throughout the United States and Canada. A reliable Social Attachment Scale was constructed from six items measuring commitment to Jesus, religious faith, the local congregation, and the denomination as well as frequency of attendance at worship services. Attachment was found to be predicted by perceptions of the religious education program in the church, personal involvement in congregational activity, lack of conflict in church areas, and remembrances of childhood experiences with local church leaders. The first two areas proved to be the most important as demonstrated by multiple regression analysis