Impact of Parental Religiousness in Parenting: Family Formation and Maintenance

In recent years, more attention has been devoted to the impact of personal religious/spiritual functioning in different aspects of life (Richards & Bergin, 2005). With this, there are many dimensions of religious/spiritual functioning to consider the determining weight of effect on functioning (Gorsuch, 1990). One important area where faith principles are likely to play out is in the context of family relationships (Mahoney et al., 2001; Mahoney, 2010). The "relational spirituality" framework (Mahoney, 2010), provides a lens through which to conceptualize research findings related to the impact of religion/spirituality in different manners and different phases of the family trajectory. The current study sought to add to the limited literature on the impact of religious/spiritual variables on the decision to parent a child (form a family) as well as the ways in which parental religion informs parenting practices (family maintenance). An exploratory study using Consensual Qualitative Research (Hill, Thompson, & Williams, 1997) analysis revealed that the 16 religious mothers in the sample did report using their faith background to guide their decision to parent and their methods of parenting in various ways. Themes revealed largely adaptive utilization of parental faith in parenting that is consistent with evidence-based parenting practices. Treatment considerations for parent-child dyads were provided based on mother's responses. Future studies will aim to provide a more well-rounded understanding of the interplay between parenting practices and parental religious functioning by utilizing a larger and more diverse sample in terms of religious diversity and diversity of the parental relationship.