PARENTAL RELIGIOSITY, FAMILY PROCESSES, AND YOUTH COMPETENCE IN RURAL, 2-PARENT AFRICAN-AMERICAN FAMILIES

A model that linked parental formal religiosity to children's academic competence and socioemotional adjustment during early adolescence was tested. The sample included 90 9- to 12-year-old African American you ths and their married parents living in the rural South. The theoretic al constructs in the model were measured through a multimethod, multi- informant design. Rural African American community members participate d in the development of the self-report instruments and observational research methods. Greater parental religiosity led to more cohesive fa mily relationships, lower levels of interparental conflict, and fewer externalizing and internalizing problems in the adolescents. Formal re ligiosity also indirectly influenced youth self-regulation through its positive relationship with family cohesion and negative relationship with interparental conflict.