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Parent-Adolescent Relationship Quality as a Moderator for the Influences of Parents’ Religiousness on Adolescents’ Religiousness and Adjustment

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Abstract

Prior investigations have demonstrated that parents’ religiousness is related inversely to adolescent maladjustment. However, research remains unclear about whether the link between parents’ religiousness and adolescent adjustment outcomes—either directly or indirectly via adolescents’ own religiousness—varies depending on relationship context (e.g., parent-adolescent attachment). This study examined the moderating roles of parent-adolescent attachment on the apparent effects of the intergenerational transmission of religiousness on adolescent internalizing and externalizing symptoms using data from 322 adolescents (mean age = 12.63 years, 45 % girls, and 84 % White) and their parents. Structural equation models indicated significant indirect effects suggesting that parents’ organizational religiousness was positively to boys’ organizational religiousness—the latter of which appeared to mediate the negative association of parents’ organizational religiousness with boys’ internalizing symptoms. Significant interaction effects suggested also that, for both boys and girls, parents’ personal religiousness was associated positively with adolescent internalizing symptoms for parent-adolescent dyads with low attachment, whereas parents’ personal religiousness was not associated with adolescent internalizing symptoms for parent-adolescent dyads with high attachment. The findings help to identify the family dynamics by which the interaction of parents’ religiousness and adolescents’ religiousness might differentially influence adolescent adjustment.

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Notes

  1. For the caregivers who were grandmothers (i.e., non-biological parents), the average time that they had the participating adolescents in their care was 9 years (range = 5–13 years). .

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD057386) and the John Templeton Foundation. We thank Laurel Marburg, Eirini Papafratzeskakou, Diana Riser, and Julee Farley for their help with data collection. We are grateful to adolescents and parents who participated in our study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology (MC 0436), Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA

    Jungmeen Kim-Spoon & Gregory S. Longo

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, 33124, USA

    Michael E. McCullough

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  1. Jungmeen Kim-Spoon
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  2. Gregory S. Longo
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  3. Michael E. McCullough
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Correspondence to Jungmeen Kim-Spoon.

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Kim-Spoon, J., Longo, G.S. & McCullough, M.E. Parent-Adolescent Relationship Quality as a Moderator for the Influences of Parents’ Religiousness on Adolescents’ Religiousness and Adjustment. J Youth Adolescence 41, 1576–1587 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-012-9796-1

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