Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Perceived Family And Partner Support And The Work-Family Interface: A Meta-Analytic Review, Heather H. Kelley, Ashley B. Lebaron, E. Jeffery Hill, Diana Meter

Faculty Publications

This study employed meta-analytic techniques to elucidate the role of perceived partner and family support in four measures of the work-family interface. We extracted 183 effect sizes from 82 samples and a total of N = 36,226 individuals. We found perceived familial (partner and family) support was negatively associated with work-to-family conflict (r = -.099) and family-to-work conflict (r = -.178). It was positively associated with work-to-family enrichment (r = .173) and family-to-work enrichment (r = .378). Various sample-level moderators were investigated through meta regression and subgroup analyses, including whether the support measure was family or partner focused. Perceived family …

Uniting And Dividing Influences Of Religion On Parent–Child Relationships In Highly Religious Families, Heather Howell Kelley, Loren D. Marks, David C. Dollahite

Faculty Publications

Religion can have both helpful and harmful influences on relationships. The purpose of this study is to better understand how religion can have both a unifying and a dividing influence on parent–child relationships. Through the use of interviews with 198 highly religious families (N = 476 individuals), we address some of the complexity inherent in religion and examine the influence of three dimensions of religious experience (religious practices, religious beliefs, and religious community). Findings are supported with primary qualitative data. For the highly religious parents and children in this study, 8 times as many unifying accounts of religion than …

Surviving Secular Society: How Religious Families Maintain Faith Through Community And Parenting Practices, Quinn Galbraith, Christina Riley, Alexandra Carlisle, Heather Kelley

Faculty Publications

In pluralistic society, religious families may struggle with adapting to non-religious culture. This can be concerning for religious parents who attempt to raise their children to be religious in a non-religious environment. This study draws upon qualitative interviews with 130 highly religious individuals in Ireland and the UK to analyze what perceived challenges religious families experience in secular society and what coping mechanisms they employ to counteract secular influences. Researchers identified three common challenges: outside pressure to conform, media misrepresentation, and immoral messages in media. They identified three potential coping mechanisms: controlling access to media, building religious community, and teaching …

Families And Workplaces, E. Jeffrey Hill, Erin K. Holmes

Faculty Publications

In order to survive and thrive, every family must both provide for and nurture its members. This is true regardless of the particular structure, size, ethnicity, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, or cultural background of the family. Physical needs of families are most frequently met through paid labor in workplaces. Nurturing needs of individuals are most commonly met by family members in the home. Learning how to simultaneously provide for and nurture one's family in harmony is of interest to everyone but very difficult to achieve. It is not wonder that research on the interface between families and workplaces has exploded …

Relational Struggles And Experiential Immediacy In Religious American Families, David C. Dollahite, Loren D. Marks, Kaity Pearl Young

Faculty Publications

Qualitative family scholar Kerry Daly has called for more theory addressing understudied dimensions including religion, everyday experiences, and time. Herein we address all three of these dimensions as we empirically examine and theorize Ono relational struggles among religious families. We also explore what we term experiential immediacy–defined as the personal and temporal proximity to participant-reported lived experience. Based on qualitative analyses of in-depth interviews with 198 highly religious families (N = 476 individuals), we identified four types of relational struggles created by religious involvement: burdens, disunities, abuses, and offenses. We also offer a conceptual framework of experiential immediacy grounded …

Transcendence Matters: Do The Ways Family Members Experience God Meaningfully Relate To Family Life?, Hilary Dalton, David C. Dollahite, Loren D. Marks

Faculty Publications

As more Americans continue to move away from an institutional approach to religion and spirituality to a more personal approach, it is important to explore the ways that personal perspectives about God influence various aspects of life including family life. This study explored how participants viewed and experienced God as an authority figure (Directive Transcendence), as a close confidant (Intimate Transcendence), or as both (Authoritative Transcendence). In-depth interviews with 198 religious families from across America were analyzed using a team-based qualitative approach. These analyses revealed that participants experienced God as both an authority figure and as a close confidant. Both …

The Quality Of Residential Parent-Child Relationships And Its Impact On Stepfamily Experiences, Megan Urick, Gordon E. Limb

Faculty Publications

This study sought to understand the effect that residential biological parent-child relationship has on retrospective accounts of overall stepfamily experiences. Using data from the Stepfamily Experiences Project (STEP), a nationally-based quota sample, retrospective accounts of 1,593 emerging adults’ stepfamily experiences were analyzed. Results indicated that a higher quality residential biological parent-child relationship was positively and significantly correlated with a higher quality stepfamily experience. Clinicians and other social scientists need to be aware of the importance of strengthening the parent-child relationship when providing services and interventions for stepfamilies.

Indigenous Women College Students’ Perspectives On College, Work, And Family, Jennie L. Bingham, Aaron P. Jackson, Quintina Bearchief Adolpho, Louise R. Alexitch

Faculty Publications

Native American and First Nations (herein collectively referred to as Indigenous) women college students are faced with the challenge of balancing their cultural imperatives and the demands of the dominant Western culture in family, school, and work/employment roles. In order to explore these women’s experiences and perspectives, this study analyzed unstructured qualitative interviews of 11 Native American and 9 First Nations female college students. The themes that resulted from the hermeneutic analysis were (a) honoring Indigenous culture and community, (b) living in two worlds, (c) pursuing individual fulfillment and goals, and (d) acknowledging the importance and influence of family.

The …

Religion And Relationships In Muslim Families: A Qualitative Examination Of Devout Married Muslim Couples, Zahra Alghafli, Trevan Hatch, Loren Marks

Faculty Publications

Since 11 September 2001, Islam has been the center of many debates, discussions, parodies and publications. Many Muslims feel that their religion has been portrayed unfairly in Western media. The topics that seem to generate the most criticism relate to gender roles and the treatment of women, both inside the home and in society. The purpose of this paper is to examine the perceived role of Islam on marital and familial relationships from an insider’s perspective and to present participants’ reflections on sensitive issues, including gender roles, women’s rights and marital unity. Content analysis of in-depth interviews of twenty diverse …

Healthy Transitions To Family Formation, Erin Kramer Holmes, Geoffrey Brown, Kevin Shafer, Nate Stoddard

Faculty Publications

Current demographic trends in the United States suggest that emerging adults delay marriage (Vespa, 2014), nonmarital cohabitation is the norm among this age group (National Marriage Project, 2012), and premarital sex—including noncommitted hooking up (Garcia, Reiber, Massey, & Merriwether, 2012)—is widely accepted (Pew Research Center, 2014). These trends collide with consistently high divorce rates (Amato, 2010; Cherlin, 2010), where up to one-third of emerging adults grow up in stepfamilies (Copen, Daniels, Vespa, & Mosher, 2012). Aside from high divorce rates, the United States is experiencing what some demogra- phers term “the great crossover,” whereby unmarried parenthood is overtaking married parenthood …

No One Best Way: Work-Family Strategies, The Gendered Division Of Parenting, And The Contemporary Marriages Of Mothers And Fathers, W. Bradford Wilcox, Jeffrey P. Dew

Faculty Publications

The gender revolution of the last half-century has dramatically reshaped the nature, quality, and stability of marriage and parenthood in the United States. A half-century ago, most married mothers did not work outside the home, and most men and women preferred this arrangement. But over the course of the second half of the twentieth century, mothers streamed into the labor force, fathers devoted more time to childcare and housework, and public opinion largely swung behind these changes, with most Americans expressing normative support for working mothers, as well as for more egalitarian relationships between mothers and fathers in the home …

Adolescent And Parent Perceptions Of The Influence Of Religious Belief And Practice, Carrolyn A. Mcmurdie, David C. Dollahite, Sam A. Hardy

Faculty Publications

The purpose of the present study was to investigate lay conceptions of religious influence. Specifically, we explored adolescents' and parents' perceptions of the ways in which their religious beliefs and practices had impacted them and their life. The sample included 419 adolescents and 282 parents recruited from across the United States through an online survey panel. Participants were asked to list three different ways that religion had influenced their lives. Responses were coded using grounded-theory qualitative methods. Six main themes of influence emerged in both the adolescent and parent responses: Interpersonal Relationships, Character Development, Religious Values and Practices, Perspective, Peace …

Household Labor, Gender Roles, And Family Satisfaction: A Cross-National Comparison, Renata Forste, Kiira Fox

Faculty Publications

Due to the interrelation of work and family domains recent scholarship has been devoted to determining the impact of women's rising employment in the home. More specifically, research has focused on what happens to the division of domestic labor in the wake of mother's paid employment and how the new arrangements are determined. In general, women have responded by dedicating less time to housework and men have responded by increasing their participation in unpaid labor. That said, male contributions do not compensate for the decrease in time by women in the home, and women still maintain responsibility for the majority …

Mining The Meanings And Pulling Out The Processes From Psychology Of Religion’S Correlation Mountain, Loren D. Marks, David C. Dollahite

Faculty Publications

The article illustrates how rigorous quantitative studies in three distinct and promising areas opened the door to additional related qualitative work. Using qualitative narratives from a landmark sample of 184 diverse religious families, the authors discuss and illustrate two research methods and that have been useful to them: triangulating data in the context of family, and seeking truth through progressive questioning. Next, consistent with the paper's primary purpose, the authors highlight three areas where the strong, correlation-based research foundation provided by quantitative social scientists of religion has created some prime, complementary opportunities for follow-up work by qualitative researchers. …

Swearing In The Cinema: An Analysis Of Profanity In Us Teen-Oriented Movies, 1980-2006, Dale Cressman, Mark Callister, Tom Robinson, Chris Near

Faculty Publications

The exposure of children to profanity continues to be a concern for parents, media researchers, and policy makers alike. This study examines the types, frequency, and usage of profanity in movies directed at and featuring teenagers. A review of relevant literature explores the nature, use, and psychology of profanity, its potential social effects, and its prevalence in the media. A content analysis was conducted of the ninety top-grossing domestic teen films in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s (thirty from each decade) in the US based on domestic gross box-office amounts. Results indicate no change in preferences in types of profanity …

Religion And Academic Achievement Among Adolescents, Benjamin Mckune, John P. Hoffmann

Faculty Publications

In this article, we examine the association between religiosity and academic achievement among adolescents. Recent research demonstrates a positive association between religiosity and academic success. However, some studies show that this association is due to family and community factors; for example, variation in levels of family capital among religious affiliates could explain it. Yet whether religious factors affect academic achievement among adolescents might also be due to the concordance or discordance of religiosity between parents and their children. Using data for two years from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we examine the associationbetween adolescents‘ religiosity, parents‘ religiosity, and …

Prayer And Marital Intervention: Asking For Divine Help... Or Professional Trouble?, Loren D. Marks

Faculty Publications

My selected title for this response piece reflects the late David Larson's identification of religion as the university's "anti-tenure topic." Beach, Fincham, Hurt, McNair, and Stanley (hereafter, the authors) have stepped upon some dangerous soil. However, this statement is intended as a welcome, not a threat. I appreciate the authors' efforts to break new ground in an important but highly sensitive domain.

Making The Connection Between Prayer, Faith, And Forgiveness In Roman Catholic Families, Mindi Batson, Loren Marks

Faculty Publications

This study examines meanings and processes associated with religious practices of prayer, building faith, and forgiving through in-depth, qualitative interviews with six highly religious Roman Catholic families with children. Families were interviewed using a narrative approach that asked participants to share experiences and challenges related to faith and family life. Three primary themes in the interviews included: (a) prayer helps piece the puzzle together, (b) faith builds a foundation, and (c) forgiveness allows unity to flourish.

Book Review – Situated Fathering: A Focus On Physical And Social Spaces, Erin K. Holmes

Faculty Publications

When it comes to scholarship on fatherhood (especially my own), I have too often found myself asking the question, "Could this argument really hold up in a variety of fathering circumstances?" However, by the time I finished Situated Fathering: A Focus on Physical and Social Spaces, I no longer needed to ask that question. Instead, I felt confident that the volume's editors and authors offered a more sound theoretical and empirical foundation for the exploration of fathering settings and circumstances than most other work I have read.

The Family As A Context For Religious And Spiritual Development In Children And Youth, Chris J. Boyatzis, David C. Dollahite, Loren D. Marks

Faculty Publications

Our chapter addresses how the family promotes or hinders transcendence of the self in children, that is, how the family is a context in which spiritual development occurs. Due to space limitations, our emphasis is on socialization and interaction processes within the family and not on other issues such as psychodynamic processes (e.g., Rizzuto, 1979) or faith development (e.g., Fowler, 1981). There are many motivations to explore family socialization of religious and spiritual development. One, family spirituality and religiosity are linked with many desirable outcomes and inversely with negative outcomes in children and youth. (Other chapters in this volume examine …

Theorizing About Marriage, Jason S. Carroll, Stan J. Knapp, Thomas B. Holman

Faculty Publications

Since its inception in the 1920s, research on marriage relationships has attracted widespread attention within a variety of disciplines and has held a central position in the scientific study of families. However, despite marriage scholarship's long tradition and broad interdisciplinary base, a number of scholars believe that this area of research has reached a crossroads at the beginning of the 21st century. This pivotal moment is seen as largely the result of a lack of explicit theory development in the marriage field. In fact, during the past decade several leading marriage scholars have called for the development of broad integrative …

Shared Experience Building Around The Family Crucible Of Cancer, W. David Robinson, Jason S. Carroll, Wendy L. Watson

Faculty Publications

This study was designed to gain a greater understanding of the effects cancer has on families while simultaneously developing family therapy interventions that are helpful for families experiencing the crucible of cancer. On the basis of an action research paradigm, the authors designed an intensive case-analysis protocol involving reflective interviewing to learn about the personal perspectives of family members who participate in therapeutic treatment for cancer. An integration of reflective insight by the families, their therapist, and the research team ultimately revealed that cancer families face an ongoing struggle (a) between feelings of isolation and connectedness, (b) to make meaning …

Parenting Skills And Social-Communicative Competence In Childhood, Craig H. Hart, Lloyd D. Newell, Susanne Frost Olsen

Faculty Publications

The ways that children implement social and communication skills in peer-group interaction provide the foundation for successful later life adjustment (Rubin, Bukowski, & Parker, 1998). Research findings suggest that a host of variables are involved (Hart, Olsen, Robinson, & Mandleco, 1997). These include family processes involving marital and sibling relationships, parenting (e.g., Dunn, 2002; Hart, Nelson, et al., 2000; Stafford & Bayer, 1993), biologically based genetic and temperament factors (e.g., Pike, 2002; Plomin & Rutter, 1998; Sanson, Hemphill, & Smart, 2002), and extrafamilial influences, including the peer group, schools, media, and culture (e.g., Hart, Yang, Nelson, Jin, & Nelson, 1998; …

Russian Parenting Styles And Family Processes: Linkages With Subtypes Of Victimization And Aggression, Craig H. Hart, David A. Nelson, Clyde C. Robinson, Susanne F. Olson, Mary Kay Mcneilly-Choque, Christin L. Porter, Trevor R. Mckee

Faculty Publications

Political changes in the former Soviet Union have allowed social scientists to explore a variety of family and child development issues that were closed to systematic investigation for many decades (Maddock, Hogan, Antonov, & Matskovsky, 1994). Prior Soviet psychological research focused on cognitive rather than socioemotional processes for political reasons (Kerig, 1996). Therefore, Western researchers had little opportunity to conduct research on children’s social development in the context of the family in the former Soviet Union.

Proclamation-Based Principles Of Parenting And Supportive Scholarship, Craig H. Hart, Lloyd D. Newell, Lisa L. Sine

Faculty Publications

How parents view the nature of a child and their own role as parents has great influence over the life of that child. Many perspectives about the nature of children have arisen in the course of Western Civilization that have shaped childrearing practices for centuries, including the increasingly accepted scholarly view that parents matter relatively little in children’s lives. (2) This chapter emphasizes inspired, eternal principles that are supported by empirical and conceptual scholarship, which suggests that optimal parenting does indeed matter in children’s lives.

The Effect Of Home Environment On Adolescent Substance Use And Depressive Symptoms, S. Susan Su, John P. Hoffmann, Dean R. Gerstein, Robert A. Johnson

Faculty Publications

We used data from the screening phase and first two waves of a panel study to compare the home environments of families with a substance-abusing parent, families with a depressed parent, and families in a comparison group. We diagnosed substance use disorder and affective disorder by administering the Structural Clinical Interview for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (third edition, revised) to each participating parent. The data suggest that families in which parents display a substance use disorder are very similar to those in which parents suffer from affective disorder, in terms of negative life events and lower …

Investigating The Age Effects Of Family Structure On Adolescent Marijuana Use, John P. Hoffmann

Faculty Publications

This study examines differences among older and younger adolescents in the influence of family structure, family relations, and peer relations on marijuana use. Data from a longitudinal sample of adolescents from the United States were stratified by age and used to assess these potential differences. Precise measures of family structure were constructed to account for the various manifestations of family forms. Multivariate analyses indicate that a recent divorce attenuates attachment among younger adolescents and leads to less family involvement among older adolescents. Moreover, older adolescents from stepparent families are less attached to their families. Changes in these family relationship variables …