Attachment and socialized religion within the Læstadian revival movement

Abstract

The present questionnaire study examined attachment-religion connections among 175 believers within the Læstadian revival movement (Lutheran) in Sweden and Finland. Corroborating previous research findings from other religious populations, our findings strongly supported the idea that attachment security (i.e. positive, non-defensive representations of self and others) facilitates the intergenerational transmission of religion from parents to offspring (the socialized correspondence hypothesis) in families within the Læstadian revival movement. Extending previous research, attachment security was also linked to the adoption and transmission of the congregation’s religious standards and to perceived religious support from the congregation. Results pertaining to religion-as-compensation for attachment-related insecurity (the compensation hypothesis) were generally mixed, perhaps due to particularities of Læstadian faith.