‘Catholic guilt’ may be thing of the past

This just in from the myth-busting department: Roman Catholic teens feel no more guilty than other U.S. teenagers.

University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill researchers asked teens nationwide aged 13 to 17: “In the last year, how often, if ever, have you found yourself feeling guilty about things in your life” and “How much, if any, of those feelings of guilt do you think were caused by religious influences?”

Catholic teens who went to confession, now called the sacrament of reconciliation, were no more likely to feel guilty than non-Catholic teens, though they reported higher levels of relief from guilt.

Sociologist Christian Smith said Catholic teenagers may not know enough about church teachings – especially about premarital sex, birth control or abortion – to feel guilty about disobeying.

“They haven’t internalized it, or they disregard it,” he said.