A measure of religiousness, and its relation to parent and child mental health variables

Abstract

A modification of a scale to measure religiousness, first published by Kauffman (1979), was constructed and administered to a sample of parents of Head Start children; respondents were predominantly low-income, Black mothers of the enrolled children. The scale was administered on two test occasions, along with measures of parent and child psychological variables. Factor analysis revealed two factors corresponding to "private" and "public" use of religion. Internal consistency and 6-month stability of this 12-item scale were good. Correlations of parents' religiousness with parent mental health indices, where significant, were positive in direction but low in magnitude. Parents scoring higher on religiousness reported significantly greater social support from friends, more favorable parenting practices, higher socioeconomic status, and lower hostility. Religiousness in parents was not related to child behavior or to parent verbal ability.

Maternal Perceptions of Alcohol Use by Adolescents Who Drink Alcohol

“…If the adolescent is drinking on a regular basis, parents may be less likely to believe it. An opposite prediction is made by theories suggesting that religiosity leads to more supportive family relationships (e.g., Strayhorn et al, 1990), which increase communication between parent and adolescent, leading to greater awareness of what is going on in an adolescent's life. It is thus unclear whether religiosity will be positively (Hypothesis 5) or negatively (Hypothesis 6) related to mothers' tendency to underestimate regular drinking, and the present research evaluates this.…”

Religion, psychopathology, and substance use and abuse; a multimeasure, genetic-epidemiologic study

“…The third interview inquired again about the frequency of attendance at religious services and also contained nine other questions designed to assess a range of attitudes and beliefs about religion. These items, summarized in table 1, were selected from those used in the National Comorbidity Survey (48), a Gallup poll (1), and the religiousness scale of Strayhorn et al (49).…”

Psychiatric care in Asia: Spirtuality and religious connotations

“…Adolescents involved in religious life are 50% less likely to engage in sexual intercourse than their non-religious peers (Spika, Hood, & Gorusch, 1985). Religious orientation of parents influences ideas about marriage, family size, power, intimacy, gender roles as well as methods of rearing and disciplining children (Danso, Hunsberger, & Pratt, 1997;Strayhorn, Weidman, & Larson, 1990). Dorahy and his colleagues (1998) examined the relationship between religiosity and life satisfaction across four cultural groups.…”