FOCUSED ON THEIR FAMILIES: Religion, Parenting, & Child Well-being

W. Bradford Wilcox
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W. Bradford Wilcox: University of Virginia

No 961, Working Papers from Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing.

Abstract: In recent years, scholars have drawn attention to religious commitments to patriarchy and parental authority to argue that religion?especially conservative Protestantism?fosters an authoritarian approach to parenting. Indeed, using data from the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH), this study does find that religious attendance and theological conservatism are associated with higher levels of corporal punishment among parents?potentially an indicator of authoritarian parenting. But religious attendance and theological conservatism are also associated with lower levels of parental yelling and with higher levels of praising and hugging among parents, which are indicators of an authoritative style of parenting. Moreover, data from the Survey of Adults and Youth (SAY) indicate that religious attendance and orthodoxy are generally associated with greater parental investments in childrearing, more intergenerational closure, and more social control. In other words, conservative Protestants, Orthodox Jews, traditional Catholics, and other parents who regularly attend religious services are more likely than other parents to adopt an authoritative style of parenting that is beneficial to children.

Date: 2002-07
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