Does reading the Bible impact a child’s moral behavior?
Previous CBE research among adults and teens show that people who frequently engage with Scripture exhibit more proactive behaviors, such as increased tithing, than those who seldom read the Bible. Those who listen to God through His Word are also less likely to engage in “risky” behaviors, like thinking destructively about oneself or others—even when controlling for age, gender, church attendance, and prayer practices. We wondered if the same held true for children.
We also wanted to explore children’s spiritual lives to understand the best way to disciple tweens new to the faith. Our specific research questions were:
What are the Bible-reading habits of school-aged children?
To what extent do they read the Bible on their own and with their parents?
How do children feel they communicate with God?
How do Bible-reading habits relate to other spiritual activities and behaviors?
In our study, we found that one of the best ways to disciple children is to encourage them to read or listen to the Bible. For instance:
Children who identified as born-again Christians and those who read the Bible at least once a week were more likely to say that they hear from God through the Bible or through answered prayers.
Among those surveyed, children who identified as born-again Christians were more likely to read the Bible 4 to 7 days a week on their own and with their families.
Children who read the Bible at least four days a week have 54% lower odds of engaging in a Behavioral Risk, like smoking and sexting, compared to those who do not read at all.
Children who read the Bible at least one to three days a week have 43% lower odds of engaging in a Behavioral Risk, compared to those who do not read at all.
Although higher levels of Bible engagement are related to lower Behavioral Risks (behaviors that are generally prohibited for minors by law), it’s to a lesser extent than church attendance. Consistent with the literature, we found that children who attend church at least once a month are significantly less likely to engage in Behavioral Risks. Such effects are not found for prayer.
With that said, church attendance has virtually no impact on Relational Risks, those behaviors that are less frequently monitored or controlled by a parent (like lying, cheating, bullying, gossiping, and having destructive thoughts). Surprisingly, among spiritual activities, Bible engagement is the only spiritual discipline that appears to have a positive effect on these types of behaviors. Children who read or listen to the Bible at least four days a week report less lying and a lower rate of engaging in “any of the Relational Risk” behaviors.
The following provides further insights from our research and explores the spiritual lives of children, their spiritual activities, prayer life, and Bible reading-habits that impact behaviors.
About the Study
For this study, we surveyed a random sample of 1,009 American children between the ages of 8 and 12.* The 45-item survey contained a mix of closed- and open-ended questions about children’s moral behavior, their spiritual beliefs, and their involvement in spiritual activities. Specifically:
Attending religious services
Prayer
Bible reading on their own and with their family
How they communicate with God
More than half of the children identified as Christian Protestant (54.6%). Roman Catholic was the next most common religious preference, followed by atheist or none. Almost a third (31.1%) of the children reported they were “born-again Christians” (John 3:3).
Children’s Spiritual Beliefs
Not surprisingly, children’s beliefs about what happens after death vary with their religious preference.
Protestant children and those who identify as a born-again Christian most commonly believe that you’ll go to heaven if you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior.
Among Roman Catholic children and those who don’t identify as a born-again Christian, the dominant belief is that you’ll go to heaven because you have tried to be a good person and live a good life.
Most children with religious preference other than Protestant or Catholic either believe that they’ll go to heaven because they have tried to be a good person or say they don’t know what happens when you die.
Notably 16.2% of tweens said they weren’t sure what happens when we die.
Children’s Spiritual Activities
Prayer is almost universal among 8- to 12-year-olds, regardless of religious preference. The majority of children also attend church at least once a month. However, only a significant minority had read or listened to the Bible in the past week.
Going deeper into Bible-reading habits, we found that tweens are more likely to read the Bible on their own than with their families. Interestingly, children who identify as a born-again Christian have substantially higher rates of engagement in the various spiritual activities examined. Even among this group, however, one in three had not read or listened to the Bible on their own and two out of five had not done so with their families in the past week.
Also noteworthy is that among those surveyed, children who identify as born-again Christians are most likely to read the Bible 4 to 7 days a week on their own and with their families.
Previous CBE research shows that children who read the Bible with their families are more apt to read the Bible at least once a week and to read the Bible all the way through. In addition, children who engage with the Bible while growing up are more likely to read the Bible consistently as an adult.
Communicating with God
To better understand how children perceive communication with God, we asked two simple, open-ended questions. The first was “How do you communicate with God?” followed by “How does God communicate with you?”
The majority of children (75.9%) indicated that they communicate with God through prayer:
“Talk to Him as I would anyone”
“When I go to bed to pray to Him and thank Him for what He has done for me”
“Praying, having faith in Him, and hoping that He can help me make the right decisions”
Others mentioned communicating with God through church (4.5%), singing (0.7%), their thoughts (1.1%), or their actions (0.5%). Fewer than one in ten (7.8%) stated either that they don’t communicate with God or that they don’t believe in God.
We found greater diversity in answers when asked how God communicates with them. Among our sample, 13.7% said that they didn’t know how God communicates with them and an additional 8.4% felt that God doesn’t communicate with them at all.
The Bible or God’s Word was mentioned by 11.5% of children. For example:
When I read the Bible I find the answer
He shows me His will through Scripture and through events in my life. He speaks to my heart/soul.
He teaches me when I read my Bible, He tells me stuff inside my heart, like be nice to my brother and sister.
By answering my prayers and sometimes I find a verse in the Bible and it seems like it was written just for me
The children in our sample also frequently looked to the outcomes of events as communication from God. For instance, answers to prayers or good things happening in life were mentioned almost as often as the Bible.
Through what occurs around me—sometimes God answers my prayers just by taking care of me and my family. Other times He provides healing from sickness or other specific needs that I pray about.
He listens and sometimes answers my prayers
He answers my prayers but not always the way I want
He gives me a good mommy who takes care of me
Similarly, some children expressed communication from God as His taking care of them or guiding them in certain actions and decisions:
He is always watching over me.
He makes sure I'm safe.
Every day I wake up in a warm house.
By helping me make the right choices
Feelings, such a sense of peace, also played a role in how children feel God communicates with them:
Peace in my heart when I make decisions, clear signs like sending people to me to help with my problems or questions.
With a feeling He puts in my heart
Peaceful thoughts/feelings. New ideas. All of a sudden, an answer comes.
I just feel better on the inside like He is with me.
Finally, some children reported looking to the outside world for communication from God:
He talks to me in my heart when I pray. I see Him at work in all of the things around me, like, the trees moving, the wind blowing, the rain falling, the plants & flowers blooming & I know it's God at work.
Sunshine and beautiful things
By being there and listening to each and every one of His children. Having things happen in a good way mysteriously
Most children who read the Bible at least once a week and those who identified as born-again Christians said that they heard from God through the Bible or answered prayers. They were also less likely than other children to say that they don’t know how God communicates with them or that He doesn’t communicate with them.
Bible Engagement & Risky Behaviors
A significant body of literature documents a fairly strong relationship between church attendance and decreased behaviors that are either deemed immoral by most faith communities or pose a risk to the individual or others. We wanted to see how well these relationships hold for children.
To examine the relationship between Bible engagement and behavior, we asked children to rate on a 6-point scale from 1 (I do not currently do this) to 6 (every day) how often they participate in certain activities. Through factor analysis, we determined two different behavior types:
One factor, which we call Behavioral Risks, consists of smoking, drinking, sexual activity, viewing pornography, “sexting” (i.e. sending or posting naked pictures), and gambling. Compared to other behaviors measured, these share the common characteristic that they are generally prohibited by law for minors and limited by parental monitoring and control.
As the figure below shows, most tweens reported that they did not participate in any Behavioral Risks. The highest prevalence rate was observed for sexual activity, with one out of ten 8- to 12-year-olds indicating that they have sex at least once every few months.
The second factor, Relational Risks, include gossiping, cheating, lying, teasing or bullying others, and destructive thoughts. In many respects, these behaviors are all beyond the control of parents and may be morally ambiguous. They also all impact relationships with others. Not surprisingly, Relational Risks were much more common among our sample. Half of tweens (52.0%) report lying at least every few months, a third said that they gossip (35.3%), and one-fifth teased or bullied others (20.3%). Perhaps most sobering is the finding that one in five (17.6%) indicated that they had destructive thoughts about themselves and others.
In our final analyses, we considered the relationships between Bible engagement and behavior as a measure for children’s spirituality. In other words, does how often a child reads or listens to the Bible predict lower levels of Behavioral and Relational Risks, beyond the effects of more traditional spirituality measures, such as church attendance?
When controlling for church attendance, we found that age and Bible engagement are statistically significant predictors.
For each year older a child is, his or her odds of participating in a Behavioral Risk increases by 13%.
Children who read the Bible at least four days a week have 54% lower odds of engaging in a Behavioral Risk, compared to those who do not read the Bible at all.
Children who read the Bible at least one to three days a week have 43% lower odds of engaging in a Behavioral Risk, compared to those who do not read at all.
When we add church attendance to our model, age remains significant, but Bible engagement does not. Consistent with the literature, we found that children who attend church at least once a month are much less likely to engage in Behavioral Risk behaviors. Attending church at least once a month lowers the Behavioral Risk odds by 62%. Such effects are not found for prayer. Interestingly, Bible engagement effects for Behavioral Risks disappear when church attendance is also considered.
For Relational Risks, the summed scale scores were normally distributed, allowing us to conduct a multiple regression analysis. Surprisingly, spiritual activities have no statistical association with most Relational Risks (behaviors that are less frequently monitored by parents). Reading or listening to the Bible is the only spiritual discipline that appears to have a positive effect on these types of behaviors. We believe this discovery shows the power of God’s Word to change hearts. For example:
Children who read or listen to the Bible at least four days a week report less lying and a lower rate of engaging in “any of the Relational Risk” behaviors.
Each additional day spent reading the Bible decreases their Relational Risk score by 10.3%.
The effects of Bible engagement on Relational Risks remain when we consider church attendance, as well. In fact, church attendance does not predict Relational Risks at all among children.
Conclusions
The Center for Bible Engagement (CBE) explored children’s spiritual experiences and their moral behavior, focusing on the role Bible engagement plays, beyond church attendance and prayer. The Bible is the only way a person truly knows that it’s God’s Word he or she is hearing. Some have argued that the lack of a strong biblical foundation is one of the major drivers behind the phenomenon of previously active teens leaving the church. CBE’s research is consistent with that argument, demonstrating that children are more likely to report hearing from God if they read or listen to the Bible on a regular basis.
Also consistent with our previous studies of adults and teens, we found significant relationships between Bible engagement and various moral behaviors. However, an important difference among children is that the effects are most prominent for those behaviors that are less likely to be controlled by parents. We believe this shows the power of God’s Word to change hearts.
Moreover, although church attendance was found to be a stronger predictor of behaviors that fall under parental control, it’s important to consider what could happen in these areas when children enter young adulthood. Our previous studies with teens suggest that Bible engagement emerges at this stage as the best spiritual predictor of behavior.
This study expanded our understanding of children’s spirituality by examining their Bible engagement patterns and how they hear from God. In sum, engaging in God’s Word is one of the best ways to help children grow spiritually so that they can resist temptations, both now and as they move into the teen and adult years.
See related CBE research:
See related topics from Our Daily Bread Ministries:
*Survey Sampling International (SSI) was responsible for distributing the survey through a computer-based questionnaire.
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