The Data About Latter-day Saint Women the Media Won't Tell You

People online will tell you Latter-day Saints are leaving the Church in droves — especially women. But when social scientists actually run the numbers, a very different story emerges.

In this episode,the Informed Saints crew sit down with Dr. Jenet Erickson — professor of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University, Wheatley Institute fellow, and Deseret News columnist — alongside co-hosts Neal Rappleye and Stephen Smoot to unpack the new BYU Studies report, Latter-day Saint Trends in the United States: Religiousness, Well-Being, and Retention (co-authored by Justin Dyer, a previous guest on the show).

Together we explore:

Why Latter-day Saints lead the nation in active retention — and what that phrase means The real story of the gender gap: millennial women, faith, and what actually changed Claudia Goldin's Nobel Prize–winning "quiet revolution" in women's education and work Politics as a key predictor of disaffiliation Christian Smith and the 1991 turning point: materialism, the divorce revolution, and institutional distrust Pew data on Latter-day Saint women reporting deep peace and high happiness Wheatley findings across 13 countries: religiously active women 4–5× more likely to report strong marriages, meaning, and happiness W. Bradford Wilcox (University of Virginia) on highly religious men as husbands and fathers Tyler VanderWeele and Harvard's Human Flourishing research on religion and mental health — and the "religion is a crutch" objection The toxic perfectionism surprise: who actually struggles most What mothers and fathers each contribute to a child's development — including Erickson's BYU Studies paper It Takes Two The single strongest predictor of whether a child keeps their faith The new Gospel Topics essay on women, the Family Proclamation's "individual adaptation" clause, and today's work-family arrangements President Oaks' counsel on not outsourcing family life

===Informed Saints Credits=== Produced by The Ancient America Foundation Producer: Spencer Clark Hosts: Stephen Smoot, Neal Rappleye, Jasmin Rappleye

Further Readings: https://ifstudies.org/about-us/jenet-erickson https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/it-takes-two https://rsc.byu.edu/vol-25-no-3-2024/addressing-crisis-meaning-identity-through-covenant-relationship https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/jenet-erickson/designed-for-covenant-relationships/ https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/parental-influence-on-adolescent-perfectionism https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/family?lang=eng https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/womens-service-and-leadership-in-the-church?lang=eng https://foundations.byu.edu/0000019b-1343-d613-a59b-17df82980000/latterdaysaintreligiosity-pdf ht...