Poster #126 - Predicting Parent-Child Conceptual Correspondence for a Supernatural Entity

• In Event: 3-159 - Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: PS 12 Section - Moral Development

Integrative Statement

Abstract concepts are formed through the interaction between social learning mechanisms (e.g., testimony) and attributes of the child (e.g., beliefs, reasoning heuristics) (Gauvain & Perez, 2015). Previous research has shown that both adults and children anthropomorphize God’s mind, and that children do so to a greater extent (Heiphetz, et al., 2016). Little research has examined predictors of the similarity in concepts between children and their parents. The current study explored the degree of, and predictors for, correspondence between parents and children’s concept of God’s mind-dependent properties. We hypothesized that children’s belief in God’s reality would mediate the relationship between how often parents talk and engage in activities related to God with their children, and parent-child conceptual correspondence.

123 parent-child dyads participated. Children were between 5 and 8.9 years-of-age (M = 6.903, SD = 1.129, 51.2% female). Parents were between 21 and 54 years-of-age (M = 34.55, SD = 5.497, 88.6% mothers). Children were ethnically diverse: Hispanic (n = 53), White (n = 27), African American (n = 14), Asian (n = 5), and multiethnic (n = 24). Parents reported diverse religious backgrounds (e.g., 28% did not believe in God and 25% did not affiliate with a religion).

Children indicated God’s reality on a scale from “really sure, pretend” [-2] to “really sure, real” [+2]. Concept was measured by asking whether God: knows, wants, sees, smells, and make plans. Responses were “yes” or “no”. Dyads received a score of “1” to indicate correspondence (i.e., both child and parent responded “yes” or both responded “no”), a score of “0” to indicate a lack of correspondence, and those scores were summed for an overall correspondence measure. Parents indicated on a scale from “never” [0] to “multiple times a day” [5], how often they (1) talk about and (2) engage in activities related to God with their child. Scores were averaged for an overall child engagement measure (Cronbach's alpha = .931).

Item-by-item analyses (i.e., chi-square goodness-of-fit tests) revealed that children and parents were more likely to correspond (rather than not correspond) on all but one item. On average, parents and children corresponded for more than 3 out of 5 items (M = 3.325, SD = 1.666). See table 1 for summary statistics. Regression analysis was used to test for mediation. Both child engagement and child reality judgment significantly predicted correspondence, and child engagement significantly predicted child reality judgement. This is consistent with partial mediation. Approximately 25% of the variance in correspondence was accounted for by the predictors. See figure 1 for summary statistics.

These results lend support for the following. Parent engagement of children in activities and/or discourse related to God increases conceptual correspondence for concepts of God during early childhood. Children may be more likely to attend to and/or remember information about entities like God when they believe they are real. This poster will discuss the implications underscored here for the enculturation of abstract concepts generally, and religious concepts specifically. Other factors that may account for variation in correspondence will also be discussed.

Authors

• Anondah Saide, University of North Texas
  Presenting Author

• Rebekah Ann Richert, University of California, Riverside
  Non-Presenting Author