When you were younger, did you attend religious services or participate in religious observations with your family? Did you belong to any kind of religious community? What about now, as a teenager?

Has religion played an important role in your life? If so, in what ways?

In her recent Opinion essay, “I Followed the Lives of 3,290 Teenagers. This Is What I Learned About Religion and Education,” Ilana M. Horwitz discusses the effects of a religious upbringing on academic success:

American men are dropping out of college in alarming numbers. A slew of articles over the past year depict a generation of men who feel lost, detached and lacking in male role models. This sense of despair is especially acute among working-class men, fewer than one in five of whom completes college.

Yet one group is defying the odds: boys from working-class families who grow up religious.

As a sociologist of education and religion, I followed the lives of 3,290 teenagers from 2003 to 2012 using survey and interview data from the National Study of Youth and Religion, and then linking those data to the National Student Clearinghouse in 2016. I studied the relationship between teenagers’ religious upbringing and its influence on their education: their school grades, which colleges they attend and how much higher education they complete. My research focused on Christian denominations because they are the most prevalent in the United States.

I found that what religion offers teenagers varies by social class. Those raised by professional-class parents, for example, do not experience much in the way of an educational advantage from being religious. In some ways, religion even constrains teenagers’ educational opportunities (especially girls’) by shaping their academic ambitions after graduation; they are less likely to consider a selective college as they prioritize life goals such as parenthood, altruism and service to God rather than a prestigious career.

However, teenage boys from working-class families, regardless of race, who were regularly involved in their church and strongly believed in God were twice as likely to earn bachelor’s degrees as moderately religious or nonreligious boys.

Religious boys are not any smarter, so why are they doing better in school? The answer lies in how religious belief and religious involvement can buffer working-class Americans — males in particular — from despair.

Students, read the entire article, then tell us:

• What role, if any, did religion play in your childhood? Do you consider religion and religious faith to be important parts of your life? Why or why not?

• According to Dr. Horwitz’s research, religious belief and religious involvement help working-class teenage boys achieve academic success. Do you think religion has helped you succeed in the classroom? Why or why not?

• Dr. Horwitz discusses some of the social benefits — including a sense of community, a shared outlook on life and the presence of trusting relationships and adult role models — that religion can have for young people. Has religion provided any of these benefits to you? Has it provided other benefits?

• Not every person sees religion as beneficial. Are you one of those people? If so, why?

• The author explains the importance of “social capital” — the social ties that provide a web of support for families and young people. Do you feel that you are surrounded by a web of support? Does it include family, friends, neighbors, teachers, coaches, religious leaders or others? In what ways do these people — or the communities in which they operate — support you and your family? Do you wish that you had more social capital or a larger web of support? Why or why not?

• Dr. Horwitz has found that social class and gender can affect what religion offers teenagers. Do those findings surprise you? Is there anything else from her research that strikes you as unexpected? How so?

• What else do you think people should know about teenagers and religion that was not discussed in the essay?

Want more writing prompts? You can find all of our questions in our Student Opinion column. Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate them into your classroom.

Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.