Influence of Maternal Denomination, God Concepts, and Child‐Rearing Practices on Young Children's God Concepts

Abstract

This study tests a model of individual differences in God concepts

The impact of parental religiosity on parenting goals and parenting style: a Dutch perspective

“…Especially among conservative Protestants, then, religious ideology seems to have an impact on family life, resulting in both warm parent-child relationships and, as noted already, a greater than average propensity to spank and discipline children. Bartkowski (2007) calls this phenomenon the conservative Protestant paradox, which was confirmed by the Dutch study of De Roos, Iedema and Miedema (2004). Studies based on more general measures of parental religiosity likewise reveal positive associations in this respect.…”

“…Although several, mainly American, studies have examined the impact of parental religiosity on various aspects of parenting (e.g. Lenski 1963;Alwin 1986;Ellison and Sherkat 1993;Wilcox 1998;Pearce and Axinn 1998;Gunnoe, Hetherington and Reiss 1999;Snider, Clements and Vazsonyi 2004), in the Netherlands only scant attention has been paid to this topic; the only exception known to me is the study by De Roos, Iedema and Miedema (2004). This is a pity, because, as the aforementioned American studies reveal, religion may indeed influence parenting in various ways.…”

God is: children’s Bibles and Bible storybooks’ presentation of religious values

“…In fact, in many respects the list reads as an almost exact description of De Roos et al (2001:20) definition as noted at the beginning of section 3. The emphasis in the God concepts highlighted by Rock is clearly on nurture and power, as De Roos et al (2004) found in their study of the influence of maternal denomination, God concepts, and child-rearing practices on young children's God concepts.…”

“…Because of a prevalent tendency towards homogenisation in the global output of children's Bibles (Du Toit, s.a.), the outcome is the same for South African children's Bibles. Along with the reduction in the multi-dimensional and often paradoxical portrayal of the nature of God alluded to in the previous section, this gave rise to a peculiar set of religious didactic material outside the parameters of children's "Bibles", but aimed at the same audience: adult 6 See De Roos et al (2004) for an explanation on how the association between these divine attributes and the maternal was derived.…”

Caring for Children From the Same Culture: Challenges for Foster Parents

“…Various communication contents and styles have been described, including subtle to more substantial language differences (Capello, 2006) and methods of communicating, such as those that are nonverbal (Rosnati, Lafrate, & Scabini, 2007). In addition, there are also differences in discipline practice (De Robertis & Litrownik, 2004) and religious observance (De Roos, Iedema, & Miedema, 2004). …”