Influence Is Strong on Mother-Child Bond - religion and parenting - Brief Article

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), Dec, 2000

When religion is an important part of a mother's life, she is likely to feel she has a better relationship with her adult children, and they are likely to report having a better relationship with her. That is one of the findings from a study of 867 women and their offspring, funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and conducted over a period of 23 years by University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, researchers. Women who attend religious services on a regular basis report having better relationships with their adult children than mothers who rarely or never attend services, but their offspring are not more likely to report having better relationships with them, note William G. Axinn and Lisa D. Pearce, sociologists at the university's Institute for Social Research.

All of the mothers were married when they were first interviewed, and all initially lived in the Detroit metropolitan area. Eleven percent described themselves as conservative Protestants, 30% as nonconservative Protestants, 54% as Catholics, and five percent as other, including Jewish. The researchers controlled for mother's age, family size, parents' marital quality, and many other characteristics--including parents' education, income, and marital status--that might influence the quality of the relationship between mother and child.

Pearce and Axinn suggest that attending religious services may or may not reflect the degree to which religion pervades a person's entire life, while the personal importance individuals place on it may tap a deeper aspect of how it influences other realms of life, including family relationships. They also found a connection between changes in a mother's religiosity over time and changes in the quality of her relationship with her child.

The effects of religiosity on mother-child relationships tend to be long-term and enduring. "Exposure to religious themes such as tolerance, patience, and unconditional love may provide both parents and children with resources to improve their relationships," the researchers suggest, particularly as children move into adolescence.

Religion is just one of many different social institutions which promote the mutual involvement of family members, the researchers point out. Probably the most important reason for the connection between devotion to religion and the quality of mother-child relationships, they add, is that mothers and children are involved in a common set of social activities that advocate a common set of social values.