A Correlational Study of the Relationship Between Adolescent Religiosity and Adolescent Perception of Parental Behavior in Antigua and Barbuda
Purpose. This study investigated the relationship between adolescent religiosity and (a) adolescents' perception of paternal supporting, controlling, demanding, and punishing behavior; (b) adolescents' perception of maternal supporting, controlling, demanding, and punishing behavior; (c) the ten dimensions of adolescents' religiosity and three predictor variables of age, sex, and religious affiliation. Methodology. The population investigated comprised adolescents between the ages of fourteen and seventeen years old, in forms three and four, attending fifteen secondary schools in Antigua and Barbuda. A sample of 400 was chosen by purposive sampling from eleven of the fifteen secondary schools; of the 400 chosen 314 were included in the final analysis. The Basic Religiosity and Composite Scales by King and and Hunt (1975) were used to measure the religiosity dimensions. To measure adolescents' perception of parental behavior, the Bonfenbrenner Parent Behavior Questionnaire was used. The major statistical methods of analysis used were (1) canonical correlation analysis, and (2) multiple-regression analysis. Results. Seventeen hypotheses were tested for possible relationship between the ten dimensions of adolescents' religiosity and (a) age, sex and religious affiliation; (b) adolescents' perception of paternal supporting, controlling, demanding and punishing behavior; and (c) adolescents' perception of maternal supporting, controlling, demanding, and punishing behaviors. The results of the hypotheses were as follows: (a) Religious affiliation emerged as the best predictor of adolescent religiosity. (b) No significant relationship emerged between adolescents' religiosity and adolescents' perception of Paternal Supporting, Controlling, Demanding, and Punishing behaviors. (c) Significant relationship was found between the ten dimensions of adolescents' religiosity and adolescents' perception of Maternal Demanding, and Punishing behaviors. However, no significant relationship was found between adolescents' religiosity and adolescents' perception of Maternal Supporting and Controlling behaviors. Conclusion. Mothers appeared to play a more significant role in the religious socialization of adolescents than fathers in the sample studied. There was, also, minimal support for Bandura's social interaction theory relating to the parent-child relationship. Finally, the findings of this study raises serious questions regarding the utility of studying adolescents' religiosity based solely on their perception of certain parental variables.
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