RELIGIONS ROLE IN ORGANIZING FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS - FAMILY PROCESS IN RURAL, 2-PARENT AFRICAN-AMERICAN FAMILIES

We proposed a family process model that links maternal and paternal formal religiosity to marital interaction quality, parental cocaregiver support and conflict, parent-youth relationship quality, and parental use of inconsistent/nattering parenting strategies. The sample included 90 African American youths and their married parents, who lived in the rural South. African American community members participated in the development of the self-report instruments and observational research methods used to test the model. The results supported most of the hypotheses. Religiosity was linked with higher levels of marital interaction quality and co-caregiver support, and with lower levels of marital and co-caregiver conflict. The associations between religiosity and parent-youth relationship quality were mediated by the marital and co-caregiver relationships.