Focused on Their Families: Religion, Parenting, and Child Well-Being

Abstract

The historical, social, and theological ties that bind religion and the family to one another run deep (Christiano 2000; Greven 1988). But these ties are by no means without controversy. In recent years, scholars have increasingly drawn attention to religious commitments to patriarchy and parental authority to argue that religion exerts a baleful influence on parents and, by extension, their children. Accordingly, this essay sets out to answer a basic question: Does religion foster the seedbeds of parental virtue or parental vice? After briefly outlining a theoretical perspective on the link between religion and parenting, I proceed to show that evangelical parents and fathers, and religious parents more generally, come closer to typifying the authoritative style of parenting that Baumrind and others have linked to a range of positive outcomes among children and adolescents (Amato & Booth, 1997; Baumrind, 1971; Maccoby & Martin, 1983; Thomson et al, 1994). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved)