PRI Family & Gender Working Group - APR 8, 2026 / Mary Shenk

Dear PRI Family and Gender Working Group,

I hope this message finds you well. I'm writing with a reminder of our final meeting of the semester, which will take place this Wednesday, April 8, from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. (ET), via Zoom only.

We're delighted to welcome Mary K. Shenk, Professor of Anthropology, Demography, and Asian Studies at Penn State, who will present her joint work with Jane Lankes Smith:

What dimensions of religiosity are related to fertility? A 5-country comparative study

To help frame the conversation, an abstract is included below.

Zoom link: https://psu.zoom.us/j/99302515453?pwd=054qtfbVrlm693EIZTmSZTGVbrjwWm.1

If you haven’t received the calendar invite, just let me know, and I’ll be happy to forward it to you.

We hope you’ll join us for this engaging closing to the semester.

Abstract
Research on religion across anthropology, sociology, psychology, and religious studies suggests that religiosity is multi-dimensional, including religious beliefs, involvement, practice, salience, and more. In contrast, quantitative studies of the relationship between religiosity and fertility generally focus on only one or two dimensions of religiosity, either (a) self-reports of religious importance, or (b) some variant on attendance at religious services. Using a novel dataset collected in five field sites in Bangladesh, India, the Gambia, Malawi, and the United States, we bring a multidimensional approach to the study of religiosity and fertility. We measure religiosity across six dimensions (self-rated religiosity, beliefs, how religion guides life choices, public practice, private practice, and religious community), assess each dimension’s association with fertility, and discuss commonalities and incongruence across field sites. Finally, we discuss the utility of a multidimensional approach, particularly in its ability to allow us to better understand the mechanisms underlying the relationship between religion and fertility. In doing so, we aim to bolster demographic models of how religion shapes childbearing, address inconsistencies in the literature, and contribute to broader debates about the power of values across the demographic transition.

Warm regards,

Johabed G. Olvera, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Public Policy

The Pennsylvania State University

Faculty Affiliate, The Population Research Institute