Kids with religious parents are better behaved and more adjusted than others, reports a study investigating the effects of religion on children.

The researchers compared the behavior of 16,000 kids, to how frequently the children's parents said they attended worship services, talked about religion with their child and argued about religion in the home.

The children whose parents regularly attended religious services, especially when both parents did so frequently and talked with their kids about religion, were rated by both parents and teachers as having better self-control, social skills and approaches to learning than those with non-religious parents.

John Bartkowski, an American University sociologist and his colleagues think religion can be good for children for three reasons. First, religious networks provide social support to parents, which improves their parenting skills. Children who are brought into such networks and hear parental messages reinforced by other adults may also "take more to heart the messages that they get in the home," he said.

Secondly, the types of values and norms that circulate in religious congregations tend to be self-sacrificing and pro-family, Bartkowski told reporters. These "could be very, very important in shaping how parents relate to their kids, and then how children develop in response," he said.

Finally, religious organisations imbue parenting with sacred meaning and significance, he said.

University of Virginia Sociologist W. Bradford Wilcox, who was not involved in the study, agrees. At least for the most religious parents, "getting their kids into heaven is more important than getting their kids into Harvard," Wilcox said.