Relationship quality between parents and adolescents: understanding the role of religion

Adolescence is a time of significant transition and major life changes. In particular, relationships between parents and adolescents are characterized by movement toward increasing adolescent autonomy and renegotiation of parental authority. The relationship between parents and adolescents has been found to be an important contributor to adolescent well-being. Research has linked parent-child relationship quality to a wide variety of adolescent outcomes, including areas such as academic achievement, delinquency and risk behaviors, mental health and well-being, and life satisfaction. Given the significant impact of the parent-adolescent relationship on adolescent outcomes, this study seeks to contribute to our understanding of the relationships between adolescents and their parents, with a particular focus on the intersection of religion and parent-child relationships. The goal of the first chapter is to identify different dimensions of religion and examine how they are related to the quality of relationships between adolescents and their parents. The following two chapters further specify these relationships, first through an examination of the mediating role of social resources in the link between religion and relationship quality, and second through sub-population analysis comparing the role of religion in the parent-child relationships of black and white adolescents. Taken together, the three chapters that comprise this dissertation lead us to a more comprehensive understanding of religion's role in teenagers' perceptions of their relationships with their parents. Evidence is provided to further our understanding of religion as a multidimensional social force in family life, to elucidate how religious involvement may confer social resources that improve family relations, and how these patterns may vary within particular cultural contexts. The findings presented here help us better understand the role of the institution of religion in family lives and suggest broader mechanisms of religious influence

Are American Youth Alienated From Organized Religion?

The purpose of the project is to research the shape and influence of religion and spirituality in the lives of U.S. adolescents; to identify effective practices in the religious, moral, and social formation of the lives of youth; to describe the extent to which youth participate in and benefit from the programs and opportunities that religious communities are offering to their youth; and to foster an informed national discussion about the influence of religion in youth's lives, in order to encourage sustained reflection about and rethinking of our cultural and institutional practices with regard to youth and religion.One of the most widespread and persistent stereotypes about U.S. teenagers is that they are alienated from “established” or “organized” religion and that this alienation is increasing. Much popular writing about adolescents assumes this view; however, empirical data suggest that this stereotype has little basis in fact. The majority of 12th graders in the United States — about two-thirds — do not appear to be alienated from or hostile toward organized or established religion. Only about 15 percent appear to be alienated from religion, a number comparable to the percentage of U.S. adults who are alienated from religion. Another 15 percent of U.S. teens appear to be simply disengaged, neither warm nor cold, toward organized religion. Correcting misinformed stereotypes about youth alienation toward religion might help to inform community and religious institutions how they might better serve young people.The National Study of Youth and Religion, funded by Lilly Endowment Inc. and under the direction of Dr. Christian Smith, professor in the Department of Sociology, is based at the Odum Institute for Research in Social Science at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This four-year research project began in August 2001 and will continue until August 2006

The Dynamics and Correlates of Religious Service Attendance in Adolescence

This study examines changes in religious service attendance over time for a contemporary cohort of adolescents moving from middle to late adolescence. We use two waves of a nationally representative panel survey of youth from the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR) to examine the dynamics of religious involvement during adolescence. We then follow with an analysis of how demographic characteristics, family background, and life course transitions relate to changes in religious service attendance during adolescence. Our findings suggest that, on average, adolescent religious service attendance declines over time, related to major life course transitions such as becoming employed, leaving home, and initiating sexual activity. Parents’ affiliation and attendance, on the other hand, are protective factors against decreasing attendance

Religious Identity, Religious Attendance, and Parental Control

Using a national sample of adolescents aged 10–18 years and their parents (N = 5,117), this article examines whether parental religious identity and religious participation are associated with the ways in which parents control their children. We hypothesize that both religious orthodoxy and weekly religious attendance are related to heightened levels of three elements of parental control: monitoring activities, normative regulations, and network closure. Results indicate that an orthodox religious identity for Catholic and Protestant parents and higher levels of religious attendance for parents as a whole are associated with increases in monitoring activities and normative regulations of American adolescents

Religious Attachment and the Sense of Life Purpose among Emerging Adults

The salubrious association between religious involvement and well-being is evident among the general population of religious individuals. In particular, the sense of attachment to a deity is linked to promoting healthy behavior and positive well-being. The link between religious attachment and well-being is particularly salient for emerging adults during a life stage where they are developing their own sense of self while also renegotiating religious commitments. The current study uses OLS regression and a lagged dependent variable model to analyze how perceived closeness to God is linked to the sense of life purpose among a diverse, national sample of emerging adults. We find that relative to those perceiving closeness to God, those who reported feeling neutral or did not believe in God experienced lower levels of life purpose. Respondents who reported feeling distant from God had the lowest scores on the Life Purpose Index. The findings are examined within the framework of religion and attachment theory literature. The study encourages researchers to consider attachment to a deity as an important link in explaining well-being outcomes, especially among religious individuals