The Role of Mothers and Media on Emerging Adults’ Religious Faith and Practices by Way of Internalization of Prosocial Values

Abstract

In the current study, we investigated the role of emerging adults' internalization of prosocial values as a mediator between maternal relationship quality and two types of media use (positive and negative) and religious faith and practices. Participants included 500 undergraduate students (ranging from 18 to 26 years; 75% European American) from five American universities. Structural equation modeling results indicated that both maternal relationship quality and positive media were related positively and indirectly (by way of prosocial values) to religious faith, and maternal relationship quality was related positively and directly to religious faith. In contrast, negative media use was related negatively and directly (and indirectly by way of prosocial values) to religious faith. The discussion focuses on the role of parents and media in promoting religious faith and practices, and the extent to which emerging adults' internalized prosocial values appear to be important in the socialization process of religious faith.

Transmission of Religiosity From Parent to Child: Moderation by Perceived Parental Depression and Anxiety

“…Similarly, studies have found that the strongest predictor of adolescent religious views was parent modeling of religious behavior, showing that families indeed have a strong effect on religious development (Flor & Knapp, 2001). Many studies have attempted to understand the transmission of religiosity from parent to child, and some have suggested that perceived parent-child relationship quality may play a role in whether religious practices instilled in emerging adults during their childhood remain later in life (Barry, Padilla-Walker, & Nelson, 2012). Goeke-Morey, Papp, and Cummings (2013) also found that as maternal religiosity increased, the family functioned better and parent-child attachment improved; the association between parent-child attachment security and family stressors also was moderated by maternal religiosity such that increased religiosity was associated with better attachment despite family stressors like family conflict, child adjustment problems, and maternal distress.…”

Positive Relationships as an Indicator of Flourishing During Emerging Adulthood

“…In terms of relationship quality, findings suggest that a positive parent-child relationship is associated with more happiness and less depression (Cheng & Furnham, 2003), fewer sexual hookups (Johnson, 2013), and lower levels of alcohol use across emerging adulthood (Serido, Lawry, Li, Conger, & Russell, 2014). Maternal relationship quality is also associated with higher levels of prosocial values, religious faith (Barry, Padilla-Walker, & Nelson, 2012), prosocial behavior (Barry, Padilla-Walker, Madsen, & Nelson, 2008), and perceived happiness (Demir, 2010). In turn, relationship quality or closeness with fathers is uniquely associated with emerging adults' happiness, life satisfaction, and psychological distress (Amato, 1994), though markedly fewer studies have considered the role of fathers in the lives of emerging adults as compared to mothers.…”

Bridging sociology of religion to transition to adulthood: The emerging role of religion in young adults’ lives

“…Of course, numerous studies have examined how individuals maintain or shift religiosity as they transit from youth to emerging adults, often referred to the ages between 18 and 25 (Arnett, 2000;Barry et al, 2010;Barry and Nelson, 2005;Davignon, 2013;Longest and Smith, 2011;Smith and Snell, 2009). 1 They have attempted to identify various factors affecting emerging adults' declining religious affiliations, such as the role of parents and peers -siblings, friends, and romantic partners, and even the media (Barry et al, 2010(Barry et al, , 2012Davignon, 2013;Smith and Snell, 2009). In addition to studies of religiosity and its change over the life course, other researchers have examined how emerging adults' religiosity is related to experiences of developmental outcomes and risky behaviors including alcohol, substance use, consumerism, and sexual activities (Burdette and Hill, 2009;Guo and Metcalfe, 2018;Sinha et al, 2007).…”