Long-term effects of religious upbringing

Abstract

The impact of religious experiences on development is often ignored in therapeutic settings. This study examines the effects of rigidity and fear in religious upbringings and of current religious status on conformity to parental expectations, guilt, aversion to religious artifacts, family strife, independence and irrational beliefs. Questionnaires were designed to measure these effects and were completed by 129 adult men and women. Regression analyses revealed that high histories of fear, high current religiosity and older age were predictive of guilt; high current religiosity predicted conformity to parental wishes; high histories of fear and low current religiosity predicted aversion to religious artifacts; and high histories of rigidity were predictive of family strife. Histories of religious rigidity and fear were differentially associated with disaffiliation from parental religions. Family strife was also associated with similarity of beliefs between subjects and their parents. Subjects over 30 years of age were more likely to report higher histories of fear and to be affiliated with their parents’ religion. Subjects under 30 years of age reported higher histories of rigidity. Results support the importance of considering religion, including religious history, as a cultural variable in research and practice.