Anthony B. Walker

Anthony is currently interested in the intersection of emerging adulthood, faith development and religiousness. A new area of interest includes intergenerational support in light of recent changes in U.S. family demography. Smith and Snell (2009) in Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults, qualitatively identify six types of religiousness in emerging adults, which they label committed traditionalists, selective adherents, spiritually open, religiously indifferent, religiously disconnected and irreligious. Anthony is currently collecting survey data to replicate these findings empirically. Given the rapidity of demographic changes in the U.S., the relationship between kin networks and social support is increasingly important. The reorganization of kin networks that follow a demographic shift, such as divorce or cohabitation, hold consequences for the perception, availability, and providence of intergenerational support that have not been fully explored. To that end, Anthony is using the Longitudinal Study of Generations to better understand these processes within and between families over time.