1. Religion in Parenting:
Effects of Parental
Religion on the Decision
to Parent and Parenting
Practices for Pre-School
and School Age Children
Katherine J. Partridge
Regent University
2. Religion and Parenting
Overview
• Literature Review
–
–
–
–
Case Study
Importance
Constructs
Theoretical Framework
• Method
– Participants
– Measures
– Procedures
5. Importance
• As of 2008 it is estimated that over 75% of the
United States population reported a Christian
affiliation (United States Census Bureau, 2012)
• One study found 21% of parents would seek
parenting advice from clergy and this number
increased for parents who claim to be Christian and
use corporal punishment (Taylor, Moeller, Havmas,
& Rice, 2013).
• Several calls have been made to research the
relationship between religion and the family
(Mahoney et al., 2001; Holden, 2001; Mahoney,
2010).
6. Constructs
• Religious Variables
• Religion
• Spirituality (Zinnbauer & Pargament, 2005)
• No distinction for this study (Pargament, 1999)
• Measurement
• Gorsuch (1990) BAV Model
• Beliefs
• Attitudes
• Values
• Parenting
• Adaptive Parenting
• Maladaptive Parenting
• Abusive Parenting
7. Theoretical Framework
• Relational Spirituality
• Phases of family life
• Formation
• Maintenance
• Transformation
• Methods of religious influence
• Relationship with the divine
• Investment in spiritual properties
• Relationship with spiritual communities
8. Formation
• Relationship with the divine
• Investment in spiritual properties
• Relationship with religious
communities
9. Hypothesis 1
a) The level of religiousness related with
the decision to parent a child will be
related to measured religious variables
b) Religiousness related to the decision to
parent a child will be higher as the method
of becoming a parent is more involved.
12. Hypothesis 2
1) Parental religiousness along with their view of God in
the parenting role will be predictive of consistency,
appropriateness, expectations, monitoring, harshness,
and positive techniques in parenting which will be
moderated by the level of conservatism.
More specifically, it is expected that a) high parental
religiousness and view of God in the parenting role will be
predictive of more consistency, appropriateness, and
monitoring as conservatism increases. b) By contrast,
those who are high in religiousness and view of God in the
parenting role will decrease on monitoring, expectations,
and consistency as conservatism decreases, however,
positive practices will increase.
14. Participants
• Target Population
– 250 parents of children ages 2-12
• Recruitment
– Parent-Training Clinical Trial
Participants
– Outreach Events
• Compensation
– Gift Card Drawing
15. Measures
• Parental Religiousness
– Global Religious Behavior
• 5 global religious behaviors rated on a 5pt-likert
scale
– Religious Beliefs
• Christian Conservativism Scale (Hill & Hood,
1999)
• 7 items rated on a 5pt-likert scale
– Religious Attitudes
• Attitudes Toward Christianity Scale (Francis,
1992)
• 7 items rated on a 5pt-likert scale
– Religious Values
• Sacred Qualities of Parenting Scale (Mahoney
et al., 1999)
• 10 items rated on a 7pt likert scale
• Manifestation of God in Parenting Scale
• 14 items rated on a 7pt-likert scale
16. Measures Cont’d.
• Parenting
– Decision to become a parent
• Age of each child
• Method of becoming a parent
• How much religion influenced decision to
parent each child rated on a 5pt-likert scale
– Parenting Practices Inventory (WebsterStratton, Reid, & Hammond, 2001)
• 72 items rated on a 7pt-likert scale
• Seven subscales (Harsh Discipline, Harsh for
Age, Inconsistent Discipline, Appropriate
Discipline, Positive Parenting, Clear
Expectations, and Monitoring)
17. Procedure
• Religion and the decision to parent
a child
– Exploratory analysis
– Correlations
• Religion and Parenting Practices
– Hierarchical Regression
• Step 1: Demographic variables
• Step 2: Religious variables (Behaviors,
Conservativism, Attitudes)
• Step 3: Religious values variables
• Outcome Variables
– Each of the 7 subscales will be used as
the outcome variable resulting in 7
different regression models
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