Religious and secular dyadic variables and their relation to parent -child relationships and college students' psychological adjustment.

摘要

This study examined the relation between secular dyadic (e.g., parent-child relationship satisfaction, frequency of disagreements, secular intimacy, use of conflict resolution strategies and use of negative communication patterns) and dyadic religious variables (e.g., religious disclosure, religiously-based disagreements and religious triangulation) between college students and their parents while also exploring the link these dyadic religious variables and individual outcome variables (e.g., psychological adjustment and perceived family support).;Three hundred and two college students and one hundred and thirty-one of their mothers participated in this study. College students completed dyadic religious questionnaires developed for use in this study, questionnaires aimed at assessment of indices of a healthy parent-child relationship and individual outcome measures. Mothers similar questionnaires regarding their mother-child relationship, minus individual outcome measures. Analyses indicated a strong correlation between religious disclosure, religiously-based disagreements, religious triangulation and secular dyadic variables for mother-child and father-child relationships. Significant correlations were also revealed between college students' reports on dyadic religious variables, psychological adjustment and perceived family support. In addition, hierarchical regression analyses revealed dyadic religious variables provided unique variance to college students' reports on indices of a healthy parent-child relationship even after accounting for traditional global religious and demographic variables. Overall, results suggest that religious dyadic variables provide a unique unexplored facet of parent-child relationships. Implications for clinical practice include an exploration into religious disclosure, religious disagreements and religious triangulation within parent-child relationships. Future directions should further investigate the salient nature of this linkage between religious dyadic variables and family relationships.