Church Support as a Predictor of Children's Spirituality and Prosocial Behavior

Church affiliation has been associated with many developmental benefits for children and adolescents, including higher levels of prosocial behavior; however, research has only minimally explored the mechanisms mediating these relationships. The current study examines the extent to which social support at church (i.e., church support) predicts children's prosocial behavior independent of family religious practices and, subsequently, the extent to which the relationships between family religious practices, church support, and prosocial behavior are mediated by spirituality. Self-report survey data were collected from 279 church-going children between the ages of 6 and 13. Results of a structural equation model (SEM) analysis found that church support independently predicted spirituality and prosocial behavior after controlling for family religious practices. Spirituality partially mediated the relationship between church support and prosocial behavior. On average, boys reported significantly lower levels of church support, which in turn predicted lower levels of prosocial behavior both directly and indirectly via spirituality. Implications for parents and church leadership are discussed. ********** Religious affiliation has been associated with many developmental benefits for children and adolescents (Donahue & Benson, 1995), and it is often assumed that the social support religious communities provide mediates these positive developmental outcomes (Mahoney, Pargament, Tarakeshwar, & Swank, 2001). For example, social support provided to parents may indirectly result in better psychological adjustment for children by reducing marital conflict and promoting greater parental affection toward children (Mahoney, 2010). Similarly, adolescents who regularly attend church report having access to trusting and supportive relationships, which in turn predict moral development and increased prosocial behavior (King & Furrow, 2004). Although church support (i.e., social support from adults and peers at church) offers indirect benefits for younger children and direct benefits for adolescents, it is unknown whether the presence of intimate and trusting church-based relationships directly benefits the spiritual and moral development of younger children. Given the frequency with which both religious and non-religiously affiliated Americans attend some form of worship service (Pew Research Center, 2012), understanding the influence of church on development will provide important information about children's developmental contexts. Additionally, knowing how church provides developmental benefits for young children would likely be useful to religious leaders as they design and implement their children's ministry programs to maximize these benefits. Furthermore, in a busy world filled with homework, sports, and chores, it is important for parents to know whether a child's relational connection to the church is truly relevant to his or her own spiritual and moral development, especially if religious practices are already observed regularly in the home. Literature Review Children raised in religious families tend to score higher on measures of prosocial behavior (voluntary actions intended for the benefit of others; Eisenberg, Fabes, & Spinrad, 2006) than children raised in nonreligious families (Bartkowski, Xu, & Levin, 2007; Mahoney et al., 2001; Volling, Mahoney, & Rauer, 2009). However, the observed link between family religiosity and children's prosocial behavior may be explained by religious parents' tendency to engage in parenting practices that foster healthy emotional development, such as providing more physical affection and greater levels of supervision (Mahoney et al., 2001), rather than any distinctly religious reason. This prompts the question: Are religious practices at home, which are related to better parenting practices, sufficient for children's prosocial development or does church offer something unique, independent of family religious practices? …