BIBLICAL LITERALISM AND SCIENCE ATTITUDES 2 Train up a child in the way he should go: Parents’ biblical literalism as determining factor of children’s attitudes towards science Thuy-vy T. Nguyen1 and Jonathon McPhetres1 1University of Rochester This manuscript is currently under review Please note that changes will likely occur throughout the editorial process, so please make sure to cite the appropriate version. Authors’ notes Thuy-vy T. Nguyen is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Rochester in Rochester, NY, USA. Jonathon McPhetres is a PhD candidate at the University of Rochester in Rochester, NY, USA. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Thuy-vy T. Nguyen, Department of Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14610. Contact: [email protected] Nguyen, T. T., & McPhetres, J. (2018). Train up a child in the way he should go: Parents’ biblical literalism as determining factor of children’s attitudes towards science. Unpublished manuscript. BIBLICAL LITERALISM AND SCIENCE ATTITUDES 3 Abstract A literal interpretation of the teachings and events of the Bible is endorsed by 40% of Christian adults in the United States. In the present research, we investigated how biblical literalism relates to the ways parents communicate with their children about religion and science in religious families, and its implications for children’s attitudes toward science. We conducted two studies using an exploratory-confirmatory paradigm. In Study 1, we explored the correlations between parents’ literal belief and their support for children’s religious autonomy and attitudes toward science (N = 119). Then, we conducted a preregistered replication to confirm Study 1 results, collecting data from adult “child” subjects (N = 652) and their parents (N = 220). Findings from both studies showed that parents who endorsed biblical literalism provided less support for their children’s religious autonomy. For those with parents who endorse biblical literalism, parents’ support for children’s religious autonomy contributed to children’s religious faith and greater endorsement of biblical literalism, which in turn correlated negatively with children’s interest in science and embracing science as useful. These results add to literature suggesting that socialization involving a specific kind of religious belief—a literal interpretation of the Bible— may negatively impact interest in science. Keywords: religion, parenting, science attitudes, biblical literalism, autonomy. BIBLICAL LITERALISM AND SCIENCE ATTITUDES 4 Train up a child in the way he should go: Parents’ biblical literalism as determining factor of children’s attitudes towards science “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” -Proverbs 22:6, KJV. A growing research literature suggests that religious and scientific teachings conflict in various ways and that those higher in religiosity on average have less positive views of science (for reviews, see McPhetres & Nguyen, 2017; Rutjens, Sutton, van Herrevald, 2018). This emerging literature inspires the questions addressed in the present research: do parents’ religious beliefs play a role in shaping their children’s view toward science? This question is important because children’s attitudes and interest in science are determined very early on in adolescence, around the age of fourteen (Archer, Dewitt, Osborne, Dillon, Willis, & Wong, 2010), and family and parents’ attitude toward science are key factors in promoting children’s identification with and achievements in science (Aschbacher, Li, & Roth, 2010; Ferry, Fouad, & Smith, 2000; Dabney, Chakraverty, & Tai, 2013; Gilmartin, Li, & Aschbacher, 2006; Stake, 2006). Some research (Archer, Dewitt, Osborne, Dillon, Willis, & Wong, 2012) has shown that parents’ attitude toward science can shape family culture around science that significantly impacts children’s later engagement. This led us to asking the question of whether this culture around science could be viable in religious homes considering that certain religious beliefs render that some scientific topics are ignored or necessarily distorted (Franzen & Griebel, 2013). We will discuss further evidence relevant to this research question in the next two sections. Parents’ roles in promoting science interest BIBLICAL LITERALISM AND SCIENCE ATTITUDES 5 First, it is important to acknowledge the important role of parents in promoting their children’s interest in science. Parental involvement can take shape in many ways. For example, parents can influence their children’s self-concepts and self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997; Jacobs, 1991) and parents’ beliefs about their children’s abilities can affect the child’s interest and performance directly (Lazarides & Watt, 2015; Neuenschwander, Vida, Garrett, & Eccles, 2007). Parents can also be agents for supporting and guiding their children’s interest in science. This support can come in the form of monetary support. A cross-national studies showed that parents’ socioeconomic statuses are directly linked to students’ math and science achievement (Baker, Goesling, & LeTendre, 2002), and this effect was consistent in both developed and under-developed nations. Parental support can also come in the form of explicit interactions; for example, children of parents who discuss the value of science perform better in science courses (Harackiewicz, Rozek, Hulleman & Hyde, 2012; Ma, 2001). Additionally, even if parents cannot provide monetary support or do not have the science knowledge themselves, parents can communicate the usefulness of science. Indeed, Eccles’s (2009) expectancy-value theory suggests that to the extent one expects to do well and sees value in an activity, they are more likely to pursue that task. Thus, parents might simply provide verbal support and encouragement. In addition to explicit support and communication, parental beliefs and household values are also important influences on children’s interests (Eccles, Adler, & Kaczala, 1982; Frenzel, Goetz, Pekrun & Watts, 2010; Wigfield & Eccles, 1992). For example, children of scientists are more likely to pursue science careers (Erola, Jalonen & Leti, 2016; Jodl, Michael, Malanchuk, Eccles, & Sameroff, 2001) and a family’s collective identity around science and education also shapes children’s later engagement with science (Archer et al., 2012). Further, parents can BIBLICAL LITERALISM AND SCIENCE ATTITUDES 6 expose or withhold exposure to science occupations and those experiences influence interests later in life (Lent, Brown & Hackett, 2000; Ferry, Fouad, & Smith, 2000). However, we argue here that parental value displays around science need not be so specific or explicit. The link between parents’ religious beliefs on children’s science attitudes. It is surprising that parental religious belief have not been included more often in discussions around public attitudes toward science (Ellison & Musick, 1995). Yet, there are several reasons why the role of parents’ religious beliefs (beyond parents’ education, income, and occupation) on children’s science attitudes ought to be considered. First, a large literature suggests that religious people are less likely to pursue scientific careers (Ecklund & Scheitle, 2007; Scheitle & Ecklund, 2017), are less likely to value a scientific education (Ganzach, Ellis & Gotlibovsky, 2013), and have more negative attitudes towards science and possess less scientific knowledge (McPhetres & Zuckerman, 2018). So, if religious parents have unfavorable attitudes toward science, children of religious parents might come to endorse similar attitudes. Second, the negative influence that religious parents have on children’s attainment in secular education have been evidenced particularly in fundamental Christian traditions (Darnell & Sherkat, 1997), due to the more salient science-religion conflict for beliefs which endorse the Bible as literal and inerrant truth (Ellison & Musick, 1995; McPhetres & Nguyen, 2018). For example, religious teachings about the age of the earth and the origin of human beings contradict evolutionary theory (Evans, 2011). One may also have moral conflicts about scientists conducting stem-cell research (Pew Research Center, 2015), using nanotechnology (Scheufele, Corley, Shih, Dalyrimple & Ho, 2009), or genetically modifying plants and animals (Rutjens, Heine, Sutton & van Herrevald, 2018). Further, religious people in general, regardless of BIBLICAL LITERALISM AND SCIENCE ATTITUDES 7 affiliations, are likely to associate scientists with immorality (Rutjens & Heine, 2016), suggesting that they are likely to see engagement in science as corruptive to religious values. Through understanding how religious parents think about science, it is worth investigating how their beliefs also relate to their children’s science attitudes. Much research has supported that religious parents are highly effective at transmitting religious beliefs to their children (Erickson, 1992; Gibson, Francis, & Pearson, 1990; Ozorak, 1989; Parker & Gaier, 1980; Hoge & Keeter, 1976; Sherkat, 1991). So, if religious parents have less favorable attitudes toward science, might children growing up in a religious household be less interested in science because of their parents’ beliefs? This is the question we aimed to investigate in the present study. Religious parents can hinder children’s science engagement actively or passively. The active influence may take the form of parents explicitly communicating