Background

Homophily, the tendency for relationships to be more common among actors who share similarities, has been observed in social network studies of individuals and organizations. Homophily can encourage close, supportive relationships but limit exposure to diversity. Homophily may have important implications for religious congregations, but research has been limited due to few social network data collections on congregations.

Purpose

This research note uses a new data collection from an inter-congregational network of religious congregations in eight counties encompassing and surrounding a major metropolitan area in the southeastern United States. Its goal is to identify sources of homophily between congregations as well as types of congregations whose immediate networks, which include the congregations to which a congregation has direct relational ties, differ in levels of homophily.

Methods

Quadratic assignment procedure correlations are used to identify sources of homophily, and both fractional logistic and negative binomial regression models are used to examine the extent to which congregational characteristics predict levels of homophily.

Results

Three key sources of homophily include sharing the same religious tradition and family, sharing the same racial composition, and having a smaller geographical distance between congregations. Congregations’ religious family, racial composition, community setting, and the extent to which attenders are younger and newer matter for predicting levels of homophily. The results have implications for: LDS and Church of Christ congregations; multiracial congregations; declining denominationalism; rural congregations.

Conclusions

and Implications

Congregations of a feather do, in fact, flock together. The results inform a variety of practical implications for congregations. Because of the time constraints experienced by many ministers, denominational events might provide some of the most accessible opportunities to build relationships with other congregations. Multiracial congregations often serve as bridges connecting congregations of different racial compositions. Distinctive and centralized religious groups, like the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, may also effectively encourage relationships across congregations of different racial compositions. Homophily may also impact the extent to which congregations learn about innovations from other congregations and the extent to which collaborations with other congregations are effective.

中文翻译：

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羽毛的会众？探索宗教团体网络中的同质性

背景

在对个人和组织的社交网络研究中，已经观察到同质性，即在具有相似性的参与者之间关系更常见的趋势。同质性可以鼓励密切、支持性的关系，但会限制接触多样性。同质性可能对宗教会众有重要影响，但由于有关会众的社交网络数据收集很少，因此研究受到限制。

目的

本研究报告使用了来自美国东南部一个主要大都市区的八个县的跨宗教会众网络的新数据收集。其目标是确定会众之间的同质性来源，以及其直接网络（包括与会众有直接关系的会众）在同质性水平上不同的会众类型。

方法

二次分配程序相关性用于识别同质性的来源，分数逻辑和负二项式回归模型用于检查会众特征预测同质性水平的程度。

结果

同质性的三个主要来源包括共享相同的宗教传统和家庭、共享相同的种族构成以及会众之间的地理距离更小。会众的宗教家庭、种族构成、社区环境以及参加者更年轻和更新的程度对于预测同质性水平很重要。结果对以下方面有影响： LDS 和基督教会众；多种族会众；教派主义的衰落；农村教会。

结论

和影响

事实上，一支羽毛的会众确实聚集在一起。结果为会众提供了各种实际意义。由于许多牧师所经历的时间限制，宗派活动可能会提供一些最容易与其他会众建立关系的机会。多种族会众通常充当连接不同种族组成的会众的桥梁。独特和集中的宗教团体，如耶稣基督后期圣徒教会，也可以有效地鼓励不同种族组成的会众之间的关系。同质性也可能影响会众从其他会众那里学习创新的程度以及与其他会众合作的有​​效程度。