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Religious Differences in Families
In their 2022 study, Drs. Morgan and Koenig Kellas looked at how parents and children religious differences impacts their relationship. Taking directly from their abstract, which stated, “significant religious difference in the family has become increasingly prevalent in recent years. While religious difference may be challenging for families to negotiate, the manner in which family members communicate about it seems to be helpful in promoting positive interactions between parents and children. The purpose of [their] study was to conceptualize a parental communicated (non)acceptance continuum in the context of significant parent-child religious difference. [The authors] conducted semi-structured interviews with 44 adults who identified a significant religious difference with their parent. The results suggested that communicated (non)acceptance occurred along a continuum with four ranges of behaviors: communicated nonacceptance, ambivalence, communicated acceptance, and idealized communicated acceptance. [They] discuss the characteristics of each part of the continuum and conclude by identifying key theoretical and translational implications.” If this study sounds of interest to you head over to the Journal of Family Communication and search for Communicating across eternal divides: Conceptualizing communicated acceptance during parent-child religious difference by Drs. Morgan and Koenig Kellas.
