The good, the bad, and the curvilinear. Revisiting the relationship between religiosity and delinquency

Abstract

The delinquency-reducing function of religiosity is a repeatedly found pattern in criminology. We test a curvilinear alternative, hypothesizing that religiosity and delinquency are negatively related only up to a moderate level of religiosity, after which the relationship reverses. We outline two explanations for this pattern. The religious-ideology and the loss-of-privileges perspective. Using data from over 45,000 adolescents in Germany collected across six surveys (2013-2024), we examine how three dimensions of religiosity (religious importance, religious attendance, praying) are associated with three types of delinquency. Results reveal a curvilinear relationship between religiosity and violent offenses. For substance use, religiosity remains protective, but this effect weakens at higher levels of religiosity. The link between religiosity and property offenses is also nonlinear, including U-shaped relationships and diminishing protective effects. Subgroup analyses show clearer Christian patterns and more complex Muslim associations, highlighting the need for greater attention to highly religious individuals in criminological research.

Jan-Philip Steinmann

Postdoctoral researcher

Head of the research unit “Aetiology of Deviance” at the Criminological Research Institute of Lower Saxony (KFN), Germany