The Relationship of Parenting Styles to Commitment to the Church among Young Adults

A survey of 653 Seventh-day Adventist young adults, randomly distributed throughout the United States and Canada, compared their perceptions of the way their parents treated them as children with their present commitment to the church. Warm, caring behaviors from parents predicted strong religious commitment when the children entered adulthood. In the case of the mother it also predicted regularity in worship attendance. Of the four styles of parenting, "affectionate constraint," a mixture of care and control, produced the largest percentage of enthusiastic members and the fewest drop-outs.