1. Religiosity/Spirituality and Family FunctioningReligiosity/Spirituality and Family Functioning
Curtis Smith
Penn State York
Introduction
References
Family functioning is essential in the
success and development of a child,
much like it is in the stability of a
marriage. Since familial connection is
very interdependent, a change in one
family members functioning will
presumably cause a reciprocal change
in the rest of the family unit (Kerr,
2000). From this we can infer that a
potential change in a family members
religion/spirituality could change the
functioning of that family unit.
Religiosity is also a significant
predictor of marriage satisfaction and
stability (Kirkpatrick & Shaver, 1992).
Overall, the primary goal of this study
is to examine the relationships that
families have with one another.
Hopefully this will give a clear
indicator on whether or not religion
plays a crucial role within family
functioning.
• Kirkpatrick, L. A., & Shaver, P. R. (1992).
An attachment-theoretical approach to
romantic love and religious belief.
Personality and Social Psychology
Bulletin, 18(3), 266–275.
http://doi.org/10.1177/0146167292183
002
• Michael E. Kerr. (2000). Theory.
Retrieved February 8, 2016, from
https://www.thebowencenter.org/theo
ry/
Results
Measures
• Family Functioning. 8 item scale
ranking from 1 (“never”) to 5
(“always”). An example
question would be (“Family
members pair up rather than do
things as a family”). The mean
score was 2.36 (SD = .90). This
item had a reliability of a= .89.
• Religiosity/Spirituality.
Participants were asked how
religious they were and these
items were ranked 1-5 (1 being
“extremely religious” and 5
being “not religious/spiritual”).
The mean score for this scale
was 3.10 (SD = 1.13). The
reliability for this test was a = .
81.
Hypothesis
• The stronger the
religiosity/spirituality of a
family, the stronger the
familial relationship is
between them.
• Women will have a higher
affiliation with their
religiosity/spirituality than
men.
• An equality among men and
women regarding family
functioning.
• Married couples would have a
higher family functioning
than single parent families.
Discussion
• Only one hypothesis was
supported, which was the one
regarding equality among
genders within family
functioning
• Sample may not have
accurately represented the
population
– Consisted of 18-21 year
olds
– Sample consisted of mainly
females
– Did not include adolescents
or children
• Further research could be
conducted on racial and ethnic
differences regarding family
functioning and
religion/spirituality
• Reversal of hypothesis might
produce more favorable results
Methods
• No correlation between family
functioning and
religiosity/spirituality: (r = .05,
p = .54).
• No gender difference for women
being more religious/spiritual (M
= 3.05, SD = 1.10) when
compared to men (M = 3.24, SD
= 1.21; c(142) = 10.39, p = .
11).
• No gender difference regarding
family functioning for females
(M = 2.37, SD = .87) than
males (M = 2.37, SD = .98;
t(142) = .02, p = .99).
• No correlation for being married
and having a stronger family
functioning (r = .06, p = .45).
The sample size for this particular
study was 144 out of the total
population (242). The survey was
created through qualtrics and
participants were recruited via
text message, Facebook, and
email. The participants included
Penn State York friends and family
of students in the HDFS 312W
class. Overall, the survey took
about 45 minutes to complete and
participants were not
compensated.
Measures 1 2
1. Family Functioning `-- 0.05
2. Religion/spirituality 0.05 --
note: N = 144