The Influence of Religious Beliefs and Practices on Marital Commitment, Parent-Child Closeness, and Family Involvement

Strong families are built on positive relationships among husbands, wives, and children, and can be positively or negatively impacted by a variety of factors. This study focuses on the influence of religiosity on family strengths, particularly as it affects marital commitment, relationships between parents and children, and family involvement. Using Flourishing Families Project (FFP) data (N=305 couples) and a theoretical framework derived from Dollahite and Marks, Mahoney and colleagues, and Stinnett and DeFrain, I examined the ways in which a parent's religious beliefs and religious practices support or hinder family relationships. The Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) was used to examine the intrapersonal and interspousal relationships among religious beliefs, religious practices, marital commitment, parent-child closeness, and family involvement. Results suggest that religious beliefs and practices are equivocal and are associated with higher and lower marital commitment, parent-child closeness, and family involvement for both husbands and wives. Significantly, this research demonstrated that husbands and wives differed through both intrapersonal and interspousal pathways. These results provide important insight into the ways religiosity is associated with family strengths and provides additional handles for researchers and practitioners interested in strengthening families.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph. D.

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Human Development

Department dc:contributor.department

Human Development

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2010

Author dc:creator

• Jorgensen, Bryce LeRoy

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Mancini, Jay A.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Savla, Jyoti S.
• Piercy, Fred P.
• Arditti, Joyce A.
• Blieszner, Rosemary

• religiosity
• spirituality
• family strengths
• marital commitment
• family involvement
• parent-child closeness

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

etd-05182010-121431

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/37821