Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-26-2025
Abstract
More than one in four U.S. adults now claim no religious affiliation, representing a 460% increase in religious “nones” since 1972. However, despite a recent spate of studies on self-transcendent media experiences, media scholars have paid little attention to this trend. Data from two waves (nWave1 = 2,016; nWave2 = 1,544) of a nationally representative panel survey facilitated the first exploration of transcendence-related media experiences and well-being outcomes among religiously affiliated and unaffiliated individuals.
Recommended Citation
Raney, A. A., Janicke-Bowles, S. H., Oliver, M. B., & Dale, K. R. (2026). Inspiring the nones?: Exploring self-transcendent media use and outcomes among the religiously unaffiliated. Journal of Media and Religion, 25(1), 21–42. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348423.2025.2575717
Copyright
Taylor & Francis
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Included in
Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Other Communication Commons, Social Influence and Political Communication Commons
Comments
This is an Accepted Manuscript version of an article accepted for publication in:
Raney, A. A., Janicke-Bowles, S. H., Oliver, M. B., & Dale, K. R. (2026). Inspiring the nones?: Exploring self-transcendent media use and outcomes among the religiously unaffiliated. Journal of Media and Religion, 25(1), 21–42. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348423.2025.2575717
It is deposited under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.