Date of Award

Summer 8-2009

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

Committee Chair

Bonnie C. Nicholson

Committee Chair Department

Psychology

Committee Member 2

Jamie Aten

Committee Member 2 Department

Psychology

Committee Member 3

Tammy Barry

Committee Member 3 Department

Psychology

Committee Member 4

Lloyd Pickering

Committee Member 4 Department

Psychology

Abstract

Children from low socioeconomic status families are at risk for poor academic, emotional, and behavioral outcomes (Owens & Shaw, 2003). Multiple variables have been associated with resiliency in such families (Walsh, 2003). Spiritual and religious constructs have demonstrated positive effects on quality of life (Perrone, Webb, Wright, Jackson, & Ksiazak, 2006), emotional well-being (Davis, Kerr, & Kurpius, 2003; Calicchia & Graham, 2006), and positive health outcomes (Edmondson et al., 2005) in various populations. Previous research has not examined the relationship between spiritual and religious variables and resiliency, nor has previous research considered how the religious, spiritual, and resiliency variables affect parenting behavior. The present study examined the predictive value of spiritual well-being and religious coping on resiliency, measured as family hardiness. To better understand how these constructs affect parenting behaviors, the potential contributions of spiritual well-being, religious coping, and family hardiness to parenting behaviors were considered. The linear combination of the spiritual well-being and religious coping variables significantly contributed to hardiness, with existential well-being and religious well-being emerging as unique predictors. The linear combination of the spiritual well-being, religious coping, and hardiness variables significantly contributed to hostile/coercive parenting, with negative religious coping emerging as a unique predictor. Finally, the linear combination of the spiritual well-being, religious coping, and hardiness variables significantly contributed to supportive/engaged parenting. Implications of these findings for research and practice are discussed.

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