Teenage Religiosity and Graduating with a STEM Degree: Evidence of a Curvilinear Relationship

Abstract

The relationship between religiosity and educational achievement and attainment has long been researched in numerous fields; however, economics has not yet adequately joined that research, especially in studies revolving around STEM. Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescents to Adult Health (Add-Health) dataset, we seek to investigate the extent to which teenage religiosity has an impact on the decision to graduate with a STEM degree, assuming graduation in the sample. Results show that there is a curvilinear relationship between graduating STEM and teenage religiosity. Therefore, presenting a(n) (i) decrease in the odds of graduating with a STEM degree with a one-unit increase in low religiosity, (ii) increase in the odds of graduating with a STEM degree with a one-unit increase in moderate religiosity, and finally (iii) decrease in the odds of graduating with a STEM degree with a one-unit increase in high religiosity.