Religiosity/Spirituality Among Filipino Parents: Relations to Psychological Well-Being and Parenting of Adolescents

• In Event: 2-196 - "Power, Love, and a Sound Mind?": Religion and Mental Health for Diverse Youth

Integrative Statement

In the Philippines, religious beliefs and practices are deeply entrenched in society and are important cultural forces that may contribute to individuals’ well-being and family functioning. However, religiosity and spirituality are rarely studied in the context of the Filipino family, specifically, in relation to parents’ mental health and parenting behaviors. In this study, we examined how religious involvement and spirituality are associated with the psychological well-being and parenting behaviors of low-income Filipino mothers and fathers of adolescents. Specifically, we hypothesized that religious involvement and spirituality will be positively associated with parents’ psychological well-being (indicated by emotional self-efficacy and hope), and that positive psychological well-being, in turn, will be associated with greater warm parenting and less rejecting parenting behaviors.

The sample for this study included 116 mothers or female guardians (age range = 27 to 70 years, M = 42.0, SD = 7.8) and 84 fathers or male guardians (age range = 29 to 69 years, M = 44.8, SD = 8.9) who have at least one adolescent child between the ages of 12 and 18 (M = 14.2, SD = 1.63) in the household. The participants were recruited from low-income neighborhoods in metropolitan (Metro) Manila, and represented a financially disadvantaged group, with family incomes belonging to the poor to lower middle-income range. Trained researchers traveled to community centers close to the parents' homes and conducted structured one-on-one interviews with parents. Mothers and fathers reported on their religious involvement, spirituality, emotional self-efficacy, hope, and parenting behaviors using questionnaires that were adapted to the local context and translated to Filipino.

Controlling for demographic covariates, multiple regression analyses conducted in MPlus showed that among mothers, religious involvement was associated with higher emotional self-efficacy (B = .41, SE = .09, p < .001) and hope (B = .20, SE = .07, p = .002). Spirituality was also associated with greater maternal warmth (B = .33, SE = .10, p = .002). Higher emotional self-efficacy, in turn, was associated with less rejection (B = –.45, SE = .17, p = .009). Mediation analyses showed that the indirect association of religious involvement with rejection through emotional self-efficacy was significant for mothers (B = –.15 SE = .08, 95% CI: [–.35, –.03]). Among fathers, spirituality was associated with higher emotional self-efficacy (B = .24, SE = .12, p = .04), which was, in turn, associated with greater warmth (B = .17, SE = .07, p = .02). However, mediation analyses showed that the indirect association between spirituality and paternal warmth through emotional self-efficacy was nonsignificant. Further, religious involvement was not significantly associated with any of the well-being and parenting variables for fathers.

Results highlight the role of religiosity and spirituality as promotive factors for the psychological well-being and parenting of low-income Filipino mothers and fathers. We discuss the findings in relation to distinctions in traditional gender and parenting roles of Filipino mothers and fathers. We also underscore the findings’ potential implications for family functioning and adolescent adjustment in a low-income urban Filipino context.

Author

• Rosanne M Jocson, Department of Psychology, Ateneo de Manila University
  Presenting Author