The Impact of Religious Identity and Perceived Psychological Closeness on Parent-Child Value Similarity in Different Religious Contextss

Abstract

This paper describes the impact of religious identity and perceived parent-child psychological closeness on their value similarity in different religious contexts (contexts of religious minority and majority). The total sample includes 454 respondents. Parents and adolescent children of 118 Russian Orthodox Christian families from the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (with 72% Muslim population) and 109 Russian Orthodox families from the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania (with 91% Orthodox population) were surveyed using a questionnaire measuring values (Portrait Values Questionnaire-Revised-PVQ-R of Schwartz), religious identity and scales of perceived parent-child closeness assessed by parents and adolescents developed by the authors. The results of path analysis showed that religious identity of Russian Orthodox adolescents in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic predicted parent-child value similarity, while the perceived psychological closeness of adolescents with their parents negatively related to their value similarity. In the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania parental religious identity and psychological closeness assessed by children predict the parent-child value similarity. In these two North Caucasus republics we also found that psychological closeness assessed by parents negatively related to parent-child value similarity. The discussion of the results is devoted to the role of religious context in the impact of religious identity and perceived psychological closeness on parentchild value similarity.