The impact of parental discipline on the image of God

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of parental discipline on men's and women's image of God – specially the degree to which they report perceiving God as loving, forgiving, trustworthy, and available. It compares the four major different parenting styles – authoritative, authoritarian, permissive/indulgent, and neglectful/rejecting – that people received during childhood on their perceptions of God when they are in college. Based on questionnaires completed by undergraduate students at a state university in Utah, this study found that parental discipline styles are related to individuals’ images of God to some extent. The results of a logistic regression show that parental discipline styles have differential impacts on the image of God between male and female respondents. For men, the image of God is significantly related to the parenting styles they received during their childhood, whereas for women, the relationship is not significant. Implications are discussed.     

Representations of God uncovered in a spirituality group of borderline inpatients

We present aspects of a psychoanalytically-oriented, exploratory spirituality group for nine female psychiatric inpatients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Through drawings and group process, the patients uncovered and elaborated on their representations of God. Two patterns of representations were identified: (1) representations of a punitive, judgmental, rigid God that seemed directly to reflect and correspond with parental representations and (2) representations of a depersonified, inanimate, abstract God entailing aspects of idealization that seemed to compensate for parental representations. Interestingly, the second pattern was associated with comorbid narcissistic features in the patients. Those patients who presented punitive God representations were able to begin the process of re-creating these representations toward more benign or benevolent images in the context of this group, while those participants who presented depersonified God representations seemed unable to do so.     

Parental object representations,attachment to God,and recovery among individuals with psychosis

This study explored the relationships between object representations of mother and father and recovery among outpatients with psychotic disorders, and examined the role of attachment to God in moderating those relationships. A total of 46 outpatients diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder participated. Benevolent representations of mother and father were associated with recovery whereas punitive representations were negatively associated with recovery. Secure attachment to God amplified the association between benevolent representations of father and recovery. Secure attachment to God was found to buffer the relationship between mild-to-moderate punitive parental representations and recovery; however, this relationship was not evident for those with the most punitive parental representations. Directions for future research and clinical implications are discussed.     

Correspondence in parents' and children's concepts of god: Investigating the role of parental values,religious practices and executive functioning

This study examined the extent to which children's concepts of God correspond with their parents' concepts of God. It also examined how parent-context factors and children's executive functioning relate to parent–child conceptual similarity. Parent–child dyads from varied religious and racial backgrounds participated. Dyads had the greatest conceptual similarity concerning God's mind-dependent functions. Though correspondence between parents and children was lowest concerning God's body-dependent functions, dyads were more similar about those functions when parents engaged in more frequent religious practices with their child and thought God was important. Children's concepts of God were unrelated to religious practices, and parent–child conceptual similarity was unrelated to children's age and executive functioning. Simply put, variation among parents' anthropomorphic concepts of God drove variation in parent–child conceptual similarity. Overall, these findings suggest that embodied concepts of God may be most sensitive to cultural input and that socialization practices provide greater insight into parents' anthropomorphic concepts.     

Development and validation of the Dutch Questionnaire God Image : Effects of mental health and religious culture

This article presents the Dutch Questionnaire God Image (QGI), which has two theory-based dimensions: feelings towards God and perceptions of God's actions. This instrument was validated among a sample of 804 respondents, of which 244 persons received psychotherapy. Results showed relationships between the affective and cognitive aspect of the God image. The God image of psychiatric patients had a more negative and threatening nature than the God image of the non-psychiatric respondents. Also, religious culture appeared to affect the God image.     

Images of God as They Relate to Life Satisfaction and Hopelessness

The purpose of the present study was to (a) re-evaluate a model of God images based on masculine and feminine characteristics and (b) examine how God images relate to hopelessness and life satisfaction, while controlling for additional religious variables. Participants were 254 college students. A factor analysis indicated that God images did not fall into primarily masculine or feminine factors, rather into Loving, Controlling, and Permissive God factors. Individually, these factors were not found to be significant predictors of hopelessness in a regression analysis, when religious service, participant gender, and religious orientation were controlled. However, an interaction between participant gender and the Controlling God factor indicated that women with more controlling images of God experienced more hopelessness, whereas men with more controlling images of God experienced less hopelessness. Results are discussed in relation to parental styles and gender differences as contributing factors in determining one's image of God.     

Image of God and personality pathology: An exploratory study among psychiatric patients

The associations between personality pathology according to DSM-IV, symptomatology and God image were examined among a group of 46 psychiatric patients. Features of personality disorders were assessed using the 'Questionnaire to Assess Personality Pathology', a self-report screener. God image was measured by means of the 'Questionnaire God Image'. Symptomatology was assesed by means of the SCL-90. The more personality pathology present, the more negative the image of God. The negative image of God appeared to be associated with personality pathology, in particular with pathology from the DSM-IV A- and C-cluster, even after controlling for the influence of symptomatology, suggesting that the association between symptomatology and the God image is mediated by personality pathology. When symptoms of the A-cluster are present God is experienced as detached and passive. When C-cluster symptoms prevail, God is experienced as a harsh judge. Results are discussed both from a psychodynamic object-relational as well as from a cognitive schema focused perspective.     

Young Children's Descriptions of God: Influences of parents' and teachers' God concepts and religious denomination of schools

This study extends prior research on antecedents of individual differences in God concepts in early childhood by examining relations of parents' and teachers' God concepts and religious denomination of schools with children's God concepts. Participants were 165 preschoolers (mean age 63 months), 107 of their parents and 16 teachers. These subjects were distributed over eight elementary schools belonging to four different religious denominations, i.e. Catholic, Dutch Reformed, Orthodox Reformed and State schools. The God concepts of children, parents and teachers were measured using interviews and questionnaires. Results showed that both parents' and teachers' God concepts were predictive of children's God concepts, but each in a different way. Parents seem to influence the relational component of children's God concepts particularly. Teachers especially contribute to biblical content of children's God concepts. Religious denomination of schools had independent effects on children's God concepts, controlling for parental denomination.     

Understanding and Incorporating God Representations Within Counseling

The religious and spiritual identity of a client may be relevant to the counseling process, and thus counselors should be prepared to integrate these components within treatment. The authors consider the assessment and exploration of God representations (i.e., God images and concepts) to understand and integrate religious and spiritual meanings within the context of a client's presenting concerns. The authors provide examples, strategies, and considerations for how to apply God representations within counseling.     

Spirituality,Self‐Representations,and Attachment to Parents: A Longitudinal Study of Roman Catholic College Seminarians

The author used an attachment theory framework to explore relationships between early attachment to parents and seminarians' later self‐representations and relationship with God. Attachment to mother was a key variable in predicting seminarians' level of self‐esteem and internalized shame as well as the quality of their relationship with God. This study suggests that a secure relationship with God may, over time, have a moderating effect on low self‐esteem. Furthermore, an individual's style of early attachment to mother may influence the quality of later spiritual experiences in relation to God. Implications for counseling are discussed from the perspective of attachment theory.     

Racism in the Hands of an Angry God: How Image of God Impacts Cultural Racism in Relation to Police Treatment of African Americans

Previous research suggests an angry God image is a narrative schema predicting support for more punitive forms of criminal justice. However, this research has not explored the possibility that racialization may impact one's God image. We perform logistic regression on Wave V of the Baylor Religion Survey to examine the correlation between an angry God image and the belief that police shoot Blacks more often because Blacks are more violent than Whites (a context-specific form of cultural racism). Engaging critical insights from intersectionality theory, we also interact angry God image with both racialized identity and racialized religious tradition. Results suggest that the angry God schema is associated with this form of cultural racism for White people generally as well as White Evangelicals, yet for Black Protestants, belief in an angry God is associated with resistance against this type of cultural racism.     

The interplay between parental beliefs about children's emotions and parental stress impacts children's attachment security

This study investigated how parental beliefs about children's emotions and parental stress relate to children's feelings of security in the parent–child relationship. Models predicting direct effects of parental beliefs and parental stress, and moderating effects of parental stress on the relationship between parental beliefs and children's feelings of security were tested. Participants were 85 African American, European American, and Lumbee American Indian 4th and 5th grade children and one of their parents. Children reported their feelings of security in the parent–child relationship; parents independently reported on their beliefs and their stress. Parental stress moderated relationships between three of the four parental beliefs about the value of children's emotions and children's attachment security. When parent stress was low, parental beliefs accepting and valuing children's emotions were not related to children's feelings of security; when parent stress was high, however, parental beliefs accepting and valuing children's emotions were related to children's feelings of security. These findings highlight the importance of examining parental beliefs and stress together for children's attachment security. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Redeeming Creation: Creatio ex nihilo and the Imago Dei in Augustine

Contemporary theology has sometimes been critical of the perceived abstract, speculative intellectualism in Augustine's anthropology, especially in his understanding of the imago Dei. Within the larger context of Augustine's claims on the soul, however, and, in particular, in the way he conceives the soul created from nothing according to the image of God, one finds an intimate binding of soteriological and moral concerns to his claims on the created origin of the soul. In this we see that Augustine's intellectualism does not remove the soul from time, history and the relations with God and the world forged therein, but underscores the soul's sensitivity to, and dependence on, its relations to God and the world.     

Parents' cognitions and expectations about their pre‐school children: The contribution of parental anxiety and child anxiety

This study investigated the relative associations between parent and child anxiety and parents' cognitions about their children. One hundred and four parents of children aged 3–5 years completed questionnaires regarding their own anxiety level, their child's anxiety level and their cognitions about the child, specifically parents' expectations about child distress and avoidance, and parents' perceived control over child mood and behaviour. Both parent anxiety and parent report of child anxiety were significantly associated with parents' cognitions. Specifically, parent report of child anxiety correlated significantly with parent locus of control generally and, more specifically, with parental expectations and perceived control of child anxious mood and behaviour. Parent anxiety correlated significantly with locus of control and parents' expectations of child anxious mood and behaviour. Furthermore, when both child and parent anxiety were taken into account, only parental anxiety remained significantly associated with parental locus of control and perceived control of child anxious behaviour. For parents' perceived control of child anxious mood, only child anxiety remained significantly associated. The results suggest that parents' perceived control over their children's behaviour may primarily reflect parental anxiety, rather than child anxiety. Parental anxiety may, therefore, present an important target for interventions that aim to change parent's cognitions and behaviour.     

Parental Separation and Children's Behavioral/Emotional Problems: The Impact of Parental Representations and Family Conflict

In this longitudinal study, we examine whether the effect of parental separation on kindergarten children's behavioral/emotional problems varies according to the level of family conflict, and children's parental representations. One hundred and eighty seven children were assessed at ages 5 and 6. Family conflict was assessed using parents' ratings. Children's parental representations were assessed using a story-stem task. A multiinformant approach (parent, teacher, child) was employed to assess children's behavioral/emotional problems. Bivariate results showed that separation, family conflict, and negative parental representations were associated with children's behavioral/emotional problems. However, in multivariate analyses, when controlling for gender and symptoms at age 5, we found that children of separated parents who showed negative parental representations had a significantly greater increase in conduct problems between 5 and 6 than all other children. In terms of emotional symptoms and hyperactivity, symptoms at 5 and (for hyperactivity only) gender were the only predictors for symptoms 1 year later. Our results suggest that kindergarten children's representations of parent-child relationships moderate the impact of parental separation on the development of conduct problems, and underline play and narration as a possible route to access the thoughts and feelings of young children faced with parental separation.     

Fathers and Perceptions of God Play an Important Role in Psychological Adjustment Among Emerging Adults in Guatemala and the United States

Interpersonal acceptance-rejection theory posits that people require parental acceptance in childhood to develop healthy psychological adjustment. People’s beliefs about and their relationship with deity also influences their psychological adjustment. The purpose of the present study was to investigate how both perceived parental acceptance and a relationship with deity are related to psychological adjustment for emerging adults in Guatemala and the United States. Participants (N?=?189) from Guatemala and the United States completed measures of perceived parental acceptance-rejection, images of God, attachment to God, and psychological adjustment. Results indicate that perceived paternal acceptance-rejection was only a significant predictor of psychological adjustment in U.S. participants, and not in Guatemalan participants. In both samples, images of God did not predict psychological adjustment. However, an anxious attachment with God predicted psychological maladjustment for both groups. The findings suggest that two important factors to be considered by researchers, educators, and mental health professionals are adults’ perceptions of their father’s level of acceptance-rejection and the amount of anxiety they experience in their relationship with God.     

Do we image God on-line? The opportunities and challenges for authentic relationships in cyberspace

ABSTRACT

Genesis 1 states that we are created in the image of God. While Biblical scholars have taken a performative approach, viewing God's image in our actions, systematic theologians have viewed God's image in relational terms. Thus, the quality of our relationships is crucial, not only for the health of our day to day lives but for our very identity. What makes a relationship authentic? Karl Barth suggests four criteria: that we look the other in the eye, speak to and hear the other, aid the other, and do it gladly. We look ?rst at how our authentic relationships function to make God present among us and then use Barth's criteria to examine the quality of relationships that exist primarily in cyberspace. Social media, in particular, present unique opportunities and challenges for forming authentic relationships and raise fundamental questions about who we are and where God is found among us.     

Faith and Agency: The Relationships Between Sense of Control,Socioeconomic Status,and Beliefs About God

An individual's sense of control varies with religiosity, but the direction of this relationship can change based on one's social status and one's image of God. Using data from the Baylor Religion Survey Wave V, our current study investigates how secure attachment to God, belief in a judgmental God, and belief in divine control are associated with sense of control. Our findings indicate that the type of religious belief explains when religion is positively or negatively related to the believers’ sense of control. And secure attachment to God and belief in divine control will compensate for social and economic deprivation. Still, belief in a judgmental God is negatively related to agency for believers across the stratification hierarchy. This indicates that a traditional fire-and-brimstone God is related to a lower sense of control, while more contemporary and individualized beliefs about God are connected to greater agency, especially for believers in need.