An attempt to understand the religious identities and experiences of youth in the United States. Two waves of the National Study of Youth and Religion are used here, which includes both a telephone survey and in-person, semi-structured interviews with a smaller sample. It complicates the common conception of adolescence as a time of negativity, nihilism, and struggles with authority. Many teens changed their behavior or feelings toward religion, but the study did not show the expected general decline of religiosity in adolescence. In general, teens did stop attending services and praying as regularly, but most reported that they felt a deeper, more personal connection to their faith.

The book itself is terribly written. I work with surveys and statistical analysis on a daily basis, and I found it clunky and dry--I can't imagine how much worse it would seem to someone unaccustomed to the field. Disappointing, because some interesting things are touched upon, and it's a fascinating area of study. ( )