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Peer-Review Record

The Influence of Prayer and Family Worship on Relationship Functioning among Married Adults in the Caribbean and Latin American

by Zephon Lister 1,*, Gregory Seibert 2, Se-Anne Chance 1, Brittany Huelett 1, Leon Wilson 3 and Colwick Wilson 4
Reviewer 1: Anonymous
Reviewer 2: Anonymous
Reviewer 3: Anonymous
Submission received: 9 September 2019 / Revised: 2 December 2019 / Accepted: 12 December 2019 / Published: 25 December 2019

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Overall I think the study is straightforward and the results useful. However, I found the introduction and literature review too brief and lacking a description of the variables to be included in the study. I would also would like to see a theoretical framework. I addition, what were the reasons for the the demographic variables that were and were not included. For example, why was income not included? Is education a proxy for income? 

Author Response

Overall I think the study is straightforward and the results useful.

Reviewer: English language and style are fine/minor spell check required

Response: Paper read for language, style and general edits.

Reviewer: However, I found the introduction and literature review too brief and lacking a description of the variables to be included in the study.

Response: The following sections were added to expand literature review and discuss primary predictor variables:

Church attendance often seen as a consistent predictor of relationship satisfaction and commitment up until the turn of the century (Mahoney et al., 2001) has in recent years yielded mixed results in some studies when accounting for variables such as psychological adjustment, role satisfaction and gender (Clements, Stanley, & Markman, 2004; DeMaris, Mahoney, & Pargament, 2010; Sullivan, 2001). Similar mixed findings were also found in studies examining church attendance and marital conflict, in these studies, spousal dissimilarity in views about attendance (Curtis & Ellison, 2002) and conflict resolution style (Stinson, Bermudez, Gale, Lewis, Meyer & Templeton, 2017) were found to confound the overall positive net benefit of church attendance on marital satisfaction and quality (Goddard, Marshall, Olson, & Dennis, 2012). In an effort to better understand these relationships and others that examine the interactions between religious practice and relationship functioning, Mahoney (2010), highlights the need to expand beyond global measures of religiosity, such as church attendance, and examine more in-depth indices of shared spiritual rituals among couples. Potential examples of such spiritual rituals include prayer, personal Bible study and family worship.

 In the past decade, an influx of studies has drawn attention to the role of prayer in couple relationship quality (Beach, Hurt, Fincham, Franklin, Nair, & Stanley, 2011; Beach, Fincham, Hurt, McNair, & Stanley, 2008a; Beach, Fincham, Hurt, McNair, & Stanley, 2008b; Fincham & Beach, 2014; Fincham, Beach, Stillman, & Braithwaite, 2008; Fincham & May, 2017; Hatch, Marks, Bitah, Lawrence Dollahite, & Hardy, 2016; Marks, 2008; Sullivan, & Karney, 2008; Worthington, 2008). Much of the research on prayer and couple relationship quality has primarily centered on how prayer strengthens relational bonds (Beach, Hurt, Franklin, Fincham, Nair, & Stanley, 2011; Ellison, Burdette, & Wilcox, 2010; Goodman, Dollahite, Marks, & Layton, 2013; Olson, Marshall, Goddard, & Schramm, 2015); and how these bonds are specifically strengthened through partner petitionary prayer and intercession (Fincham & Beach, 2014; Fincham, Beach, Lambert, Stillman, & Braithwaite, 2008; Hall, Fals-Stewart, & Fincham, 2008; Lambert, Fincham, Marks, & Stillman, 2010; Lambert, Fincham, Stillman, Graham & Beach, 2010; Mahoney & Cano, 2014; Pollard et al., 2014).

Conversely, a similar level interest has not been found for other personal or relationship level religious practices such as personal Bible study and family worship. In two studies examining the role of Bible reading as a source of guidance, comfort and strength during stressful life events, it was found that Bible reading did indeed moderate the relationship between stress and hope as well as relying on benevolent religious reappraisal coping responses (Hamilton, Moore, Johnson, Koenig, 2013; Krause & Pargament, 2018). However, no studies were found that specifically examined the potential relationships between Bible reading and relationship functioning.

Similarly, little data identifies how many families participate in family worship, one study suggests that among Christians in the United States, the number exists somewhere between 12% and up to 42% (The Barna Research Group, 2006). Most studies specifically examining family worship have focused on the children within the family. To date no studies were found examining potential couple related benefits of family worship. Nevertheless, outcomes from these studies demonstrated consistent positive benefits of family worship in the areas of adolescent behavior, child well-being and religious commitment (Dudley, Mutch, & Cruise, 1987; Erickson, 1992; Strahan, 1994). This study hopes to bring some voice to the current silence in the literature in these areas.

Reviewer: I would also would like to see a theoretical framework.

Response: The following section was added to incorporate a theoretical framework for study.

A relational spiritualty framework is used to conceptualize the intersection between relationship functioning and religious practices among couples (Mahoney, 2013). Relational spirituality, Mahoney (2013), refers to as, “situations in which the search for the sacred is united, for better or worse, with the search for human relationships.” (p.368). Within this framework, the forming and structuring (discovery); sustaining and preserving; and reforming or exiting a dysfunctional (transforming) intimate partner relationship intersects with three tiers of psychospiritual mechanisms, the partner’s relationship to God (Tier 1), their relationship as spiritual (Tier 2) and their relationship to their spiritual/religious community (Tier3) (Mahoney, 2013). Mahoney (2013) shares that people can rely on all three or just some combination of the 3 Tiers of relational spirituality mechanisms. For the purposes of this study, Tiers 1 and 3 are examined in relation to the relationship domains of relationship satisfaction, emotional attunement, conflict resolution and beliefs about traditional roles in relationships.

Reviewer: I addition, what were the reasons for the the demographic variables that were and were not included. For example, why was income not included? Is education a proxy for income?

Response: Yes, in this study education is used as a stand alone measure and proxy for SES. Income combined with education, is another common proxy for SES. This is particularly true in High Income Countries. However, research in  Low- and Middle income countries have found income to be a poor proxy for SES with education being a better stand alone measure (Howe et al., 2012).

Howe, L. D., Galobardes, B., Matijasevich, A., Gordon, D., Johnston, D., Onwujekwe, O., … Hargreaves, J. R. (2012). Measuring socio-economic position for epidemiological studies in low- and middle-income countries: a methods of measurement in epidemiology paper. International journal of epidemiology, 41(3), 871–886. doi:10.1093/ije/dys037

Reviewer 2 Report

I enjoyed this brief study which was fairly well done and clearly written. i would have liked to see a bit more about the religious and cultural background of the participants and then more connecting the findings to Seventh-day Adventist doctrine in the context of Latin American culture. Religions is more of a religious studies than a straight social science journal and i think the paper would be more interesting with such information. I don't think that a lack of such additional information should preclude the paper being published but just think that the paper would be more interesting and meaningful with such information.

Author Response

I enjoyed this brief study which was fairly well done and clearly written.

Reviewer: i would have liked to see a bit more about the religious and cultural background of the participants...

Response:The following section were added to expand on the cultural and religious background of participants:

Data were gathered from 3997 married Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) adults, who were also parents, between 18-82 years (M= 38.99 yrs., SD= 14.20) living in the Caribbean and Latin America. Participants for this study came from the Inter-American Division of Seventh-day Adventist which is comprised of over 40 countries and territories in the region. About a quarter (25.2%) of respondents reported being a member of the SDA church for over 20 years. Another quarter (25.3%) reported being a member of the SDA church for 11-20 years. The remaining half of participants reported being members of the SDA church for 6-10 years (18.3%), 1-5 years (23.6%) and less than 1 year (7.6%).

Reviewer: ...and then more connecting the findings to Seventh-day Adventist doctrine in the context of Latin American culture.

Response: There are no specific implications or connections of study findings to specific aspects of SDA doctrine. 

 

Reviewer 3 Report

Reviewer Comments

“The Influence of Prayer and Family Worship on Relationship Functioning among Caribbean and Latin American Couples”

 

I appreciated the opportunity to read and review this work. The coverage of literature was strong and thorough. The sample size was very impressive (3,997!) and the racial/ethnic focus was novel. Even so, I have some constructive criticisms and thoughts to offer the author(s) that I hope will be helpful.

1 – The second sentence in the body of the manuscript (while accurate) is laborious to read. I recommend a careful reworking. The point should be simple and clear. (Line 25 and following).

2 – The review of literature is expansive and thorough, yet I recommend also referencing a directly related recent piece by Joe Chelladurai (and colleagues) that was selected as the lead piece in a recent issue of Journal of Family Psychology. Reference pasted below:

Chelladurai, J. M., Dollahite, D. C., & Marks, L. D. (2018). “The family that prays together”: Relational processes associated with family prayer. Journal of Family Psychology, 32, 849-859.

DOI: 10.1037/fam0000432.

3 – Line 41 – “similar level interest” should be “similar level OF interest”

4 – On Lines 62-86, consistency is needed when discussing the Likert scale and meanings. On Line 64, it reads “1 strongly agree to 4 strongly agree” – on Line 66, it reads “1 = strongly disagree” – on Lines 85 and 86, it reads “1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).” --I strongly recommend the latter format of mentioning the low and high number on the scale, with the attending meaning in parentheses. Please carefully comb this section and make certain that all related references are uniform.

5 – Please draw attention to the reality that this is a HIGHLY religious sample (90% or more reported attending church at least weekly [Line 53]). Please address how this reality may be a strength or weakness of the study (or both).

6 – The most important issue, in my mind, is attending to the Discussion section’s report that “men reported feeling MORE satisfied in their relationship . . . (etc.).” More satisfied than whom? Women? Less religious men? Please explain and discuss this vital point. Namely, whether women reached statistically significant levels or not, please discuss them (and the related findings briefly)—including why the women's differences may not have been as pronounced as men’s.

7 – There are a couple of places where the phrase “in lieu of” is used. I recommend visiting these and using a more precise and clear term.

8 – Finally, I think the authors are on their way to a publishable piece but I would like to see some additional “meat” in the Discussion section. What is the “so what?” for all of this? Why does it matter? What are some implications and applications? What are some potentially fruitful directions for future research?

I wish the author(s) the best as the elevate the piece by adding a stronger Discussion/Conclusion. Thank you for this fine work with a novel sample!

Author Response

Reviewer: 1 – The second sentence in the body of the manuscript (while accurate) is laborious to read. I recommend a careful reworking. The point should be simple and clear. (Line 25 and following).

Response: Second sentence has been broken into two sentences to improve clarity. Now reads: However, there is still a paucity of research that has explored these relationships among couples living in the Caribbean and Latin America. Currently, ninety percent of individuals living in the region identify themselves with some form of Christianity and report their faith to be an organizing function in their life and relationships (Chinallon, 2001; Pew Research, 2015). 

Reviewer: 2 – The review of literature is expansive and thorough, yet I recommend also referencing a directly related recent piece by Joe Chelladurai (and colleagues) that was selected as the lead piece in a recent issue of Journal of Family Psychology. Reference pasted below:

Chelladurai, J. M., Dollahite, D. C., & Marks, L. D. (2018). “The family that prays together”: Relational processes associated with family prayer. Journal of Family Psychology, 32, 849-859. DOI: 10.1037/fam0000432.

Response: The following section was added to incorporate recent research findings:

Similarly, little data identifies how many families participate in family worship, one study suggests that among Christians in the United States, the number exists somewhere between 12% and up to 42% (The Barna Research Group, 2006). Most studies specifically examining family worship have focused on the children within the family (Dudley, Mutch, & Cruise, 1987; Erickson, 1992; Strahan, 1994. To date no studies were found examining potential couple related benefits of family worship. However, one recent study examining the role of family prayer and various relational processes found that families who engaged in regular prayer time together also saw this time and space as a time of family togetherness and interaction; a space for social support; and means for intergenerational transmission of religion (Chelladurai, Dollahite & Loren, 2018). It was also found that during these prayer times, families would use this time to address issues and concerns which contributed to reduced relational tensions and increased feelings of connectedness, unity, and bonding (Chelladurai, Dollahite & Loren, 2018). Interestingly, Chelladurai, Dollahite & Loren (2018) also found that family prayer or the lack there of was also a potential barometer for family disunity. Thus, outcomes from these studies demonstrated consistent positive benefits of family worship and family prayer in the areas of family connection, adolescent behavior, child well-being and religious commitment (Chelladurai, Dollahite & Loren, 2018; Dudley, Mutch, & Cruise, 1987; Erickson, 1992; Strahan, 1994). This study hopes to bring some voice to the current silence in the literature in these areas.

 

Reviewer: 3 – Line 41 – “similar level interest” should be “similar level OF interest”

Response: Corrected to now read, similar level of interest

Reviewer: 4 – On Lines 62-86, consistency is needed when discussing the Likert scale and meanings. On Line 64, it reads “1 strongly agree to 4 strongly agree” – on Line 66, it reads “1 = strongly disagree” – on Lines 85 and 86, it reads “1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).” --I strongly recommend the latter format of mentioning the low and high number on the scale, with the attending meaning in parentheses. Please carefully comb this section and make certain that all related references are uniform.

Response: Corrected to now read, 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) or the respective response categories within the aforementioned format

Reviewer: 5 – Please draw attention to the reality that this is a HIGHLY religious sample (90% or more reported attending church at least weekly [Line 53]). Please address how this reality may be a strength or weakness of the study (or both).

Response:The following section was added to Limitations section:

Another potential limitation was the high percentage (90%) of respondents who reported attending church at least once a week. The high church attendance rate reported within this sample is likely due to the sampling frame for the study. The sampling frame consisted of a randomized sampling of large (greater than 200 members), midsize (between 100-200 members) and small (less than 100 members) Seventh-day Adventist churches in the region. Although this approach provided the best method to access this population, it also skewed the sample toward Seventh-day Adventist church members who attend church regularly. Having the data skewed in this way made it difficult to analyze outcome variables among SDA church members who attend church regularly and those who do not.

Reviewer: 6 – The most important issue, in my mind, is attending to the Discussion section’s report that “men reported feeling MORE satisfied in their relationship . . . (etc.).” More satisfied than whom? Women? Less religious men? Please explain and discuss this vital point. Namely, whether women reached statistically significant levels or not, please discuss them (and the related findings briefly)—including why the women's differences may not have been as pronounced as men’s.

Response: Discussion section on gender edited to now read:

In this study relationships between religious practices and relationship functioning among married individuals living in the Caribbean and Latin America were examined. Level of education was not significantly related to any of the domains of relationship functioning. However, it was found that men in the study reported feeling more satisfied in their relationships, emotionally attuned to their partner and satisfied with how conflicts were resolved in their relationships when compared to women in the sample. It is unclear why men’s perceptions of their relationships with their wives seemed to be more positive then women’s perceptions of their relationships with their husbands in this sample. At first glance, one might assume that this finding simply aligns with the widely held assumption that women experience lower martial satisfaction that men (Rogers & Amato, 2000). However, a more recent meta-analysis examining gender differences in marital satisfaction concluded that across 226 samples and 101,110 participants there were not significant gender differences in marital satisfaction when the inclusion of clinical samples were controlled for (Jackson, Miller, Oka & Henry, 2014). Hence this finding raises the interesting questions about the potential moderating role of religion (Perry & Whitehead, 2017) or culture, albeit research examining culture as a moderator for gender and relationship functioning within the Caribbean and Latin America is virtually nonexistent. Future research examining these potential links might provide more insight on this fining in the study.

Even after accounting for gender and education, religious practice was still found to significantly influence relationship functioning. Participants who reported a more habitual prayer life also reported having higher levels of overall relationship satisfaction, emotional attunement and satisfaction with how conflicts were resolved. Interestingly, individuals who were more likely to have a daily prayer life also reported having more egalitarian beliefs about roles and responsibilities in their relationship. While several studies have demonstrated the links between religiosity and gender roles (Perry, 2015), none were found that highlighted the potential links that exist between prayer and beliefs about relationship roles.

Reviewer: 7 – There are a couple of places where the phrase “in lieu of” is used. I recommend visiting these and using a more precise and clear term.

Response: Corrected to read:

This is an interesting finding when considered in the context of previous research examining the positive relationship between church attendance and relationship satisfaction (Olson, Goddard, and Marshall, 2013), but also may further support other findings that suggest that these links may actually be more reflective of religious homogamy or other shared values (Gaunt, 2006).

Reviewer: 8 – Finally, I think the authors are on their way to a publishable piece but I would like to see some additional “meat” in the Discussion section. What is the “so what?” for all of this? Why does it matter? What are some implications and applications? What are some potentially fruitful directions for future research?

Response: The following sections were added to the discussion section:

These findings yield several important implications that should be noted. First, these findings provide a step toward a better understanding of spousal religious practice and relationship functioning among Caribbean and Latin American populations. As with previous studies, personal prayer was found to be significantly related to various domains of relationship functioning. In a new finding, family worship was also found to provide a unique and significant contribution to relationship functioning. These findings help narrow the current gaps in the literature by examining the role and influence of religion on family life among families living outside of the United States. Second, these findings highlight how personal and relational religious practices might be a potential resource for religious couples. Religion and its practice is an often overlooked resource for couples (Beach, Fincham, Hurt, McNair & Stanley, 2008). Both clergy and therapist alike might consider how these religious practices might be incorporated into pastoral counseling and psychotherapy when culturally appropriate. A third implication from this study is reinforcing the importance of expanding beyond global measures of religiosity to more personal and relational religious practices particularly when examining family and relationship functioning. This final implication also underscores meaningful areas for future research.

Many of the current measures of religiosity are either global measures, such as church attendance or measures of a person’s individual religious practice or experience. More effort is needed in the development of relational measures of religiosity and religious practice. For example, measures that assess relational religious practices such as family prayer, family worship or shared devotions/bible study. Additionally, measures on relational religiosity such as engaging in religious activities together or exploring how religion is used to create bonding or connection within couples and families would also be an important area of development in the study of religion and the family.

As mentioned earlier, religion and its practice is an often overlooked resource for couples. Intervention research exploring the potential role, use and effectiveness of individual and relational religious practices might be useful. For example, how might personal or intercessory prayer as well as family prayer or family worships be incorporated in relationship education programs and counseling. Very little research has begun to explore these potential applications, however the potential utility and benefits that may be drawn for this line of inquiry are exponential.   

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