Study Shows Religious Fathers Are More Involved With Children

March 31, 2001

Washington, D.C. -- Religious fathers, whether married or divorced, are more involved with their children than nonreligious fathers and report higher quality relationships as parents, according to a Penn State study.

"The influence of religiosity on father involvement should not be overstated. Certainly many nonreligious fathers have good relationships with their children, and religion is only one of the many factors that influence father involvement," said Dr. Valarie E. King, assistant professor of sociology, demography and human development and family studies. "Nevertheless, certain aspects of father involvement are more frequent among the more religious.

"Religious fathers report putting more thought and effort into their relationships with their children, feeling more of an obligation for contact with them and having higher expectations of a continued good relationship with offspring," she said today (March 31) at the annual meeting of the Population Association of America.

The Penn State researcher discovered that religion itself helps fathers be better fathers, not traditional views of marriage and children. Her findings suggest two arguments against automatically equating religiosity and traditional beliefs about marriage. First, her data reveals that, while religious men place a high priority on marriage and family, they also take the egalitarian view that husbands should share equally in housework and child raising.

Second, the data shows that mainstream Protestants and Catholics are equally involved with their children as conservative Protestants, supposedly the most vocal proponents of traditional family values. Indeed, in the case of divorced fathers, conservative Protestants are less likely than other Protestants to assist their adult children or grandchildren with help around the house, transportation and child care, and less likely than Catholics to give financial aid to adult children and grandchildren.

The study's data is from the 1995 National Survey of Mid-life Development in the United States. The sample was comprised of 647 married and 163 divorced men.

The Penn State study took into account the father's age, race, education, work status, health and community involvement through volunteer work, as well as the number of his children, whether they were biological or not, and whether he had young or older children at home.

"In terms of father involvement, denominational differences are small and the biggest differences are between those fathers who report a religious preference (regardless of which one it is) and those who report having none," said King.

"A better understanding of what motivates fathers to become involved in their children's lives has never been more crucial as fathers are increasingly being called upon to take a more active role with their children given the potential benefits for child well-being," King noted.

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Contacts:

Paul Blaum (814) 865-9481 (o) pab15@psu.edu

Vicki Fong (814) 865-9481 (o)/ (814) 238-1221 (h) vfong@psu.edu

EDITORS: Dr. King is at (814) 863-8716 or at vek1@psu.edu by email.