During the 1965-66 school year a study was made of 250 ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grade students attending the West Seminary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Brigham City. The object was to determine the extent to which the Latter-day Saint families in this area were holding the Family Horne Evening Program and what variables influenced their participation. Sixty percent of those interviewed said they participated in the Family Horne Evening Program when it was first introduced to the Church membership. Eight months later participation had dropped to 40 percent. It was found that patterns of communication within the family affected the frequency of Family Horne Evenings. Families with satisfactory patterns of communication held the program more frequently than those with unsatisfactory or no patterns of communication. Student attitudes also influenced the frequency of home evenings. In addition, the size of the family influenced the frequency of the home evening . Moderate (three to five children) and large (six to eight children) families held the activity most frequently, very large (nine or more children) families ranked next, and small (one to two children) families held the activity least. The study showed that efforts by the Church authorities to help families hold Family Home Evening Program, through training programs and manuals, were largely ineffective .

The prevalence of physical inactivity has been recognized as a risk factor for multiple chronic disease conditions in both adults and children. Recently efforts to increase healthy behaviors have been promoted through religious groups (Ken Resnicow et al., 2002). The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) has a unique program called Family Home Evening (FHE) that could be used to teach and potentially improve physical activity. Six FHE lessons were designed to be taught in 6 consecutive weeks within a family environment. A total of 84 families (parents and children) were recruited for participation. Participating families were randomized into either the control or intervention group. All family members were given pedometers to be worn one week prior to, and one week after the 6-week intervention. The intervention group FHE lessons covered physical activity promoting topics, and the control group was given traditional religious topics for their FHE lessons. ANOVA indicated that in children there was an increase in daily steps in the intervention group (12482.8 SD=4455.3) compared to the control group (11255.4 SD=4048.9), which was statistically significant (F (1,85) = 3.93, p=.05). In adults there was an increase in steps in the intervention group from pre to posttest of 8823.5 (SD=3858.3) to 9947.4 (SD=4222.8) this difference was statistically significant (t = -2.94, p<.01). There was no significant change in pedometer steps for the control group in either adults or children. Results of this study suggest that FHE may be a useful mechanism for increasing steps taken daily. There are other factors that may increase the effectiveness of the lessons such as readiness of the participants to change, number of lessons, lesson content and/or time between lessons.

This study was undertaken for the purpose of determining the effectiveness of L.D.S. Seminary-oriented home night program. The home night program consisted of an experimental group of students holding weekly home nights with their parents, following discussion of gospel principles in Seminary during the school hours. A control group was established which supplemented its program writing weekly summaries instead of directing a home night.

The problem in this study was to investigate the effect that home recreational activities have on the attitudes of family members toward a family home evening program. A questionnaire was constructed to gather data regarding these attitudes. The questionnaire was then administered randomly to 250 families residing in Sharon East, Sharon West, Provo, and Provo East Stakes in Provo, Utah. All of the families were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, were families of one or more children and held regular family home evening.The findings indicate that the children had a more positive attitude toward family home evening when recreational activities were prevalent. The study also indicates that the participation of family members will be greater if recreational activities are a part of family home evening.

The purpose of this study was to identify factors related to attitudes of teenagers toward the Family Home Evening Program of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Hypotheses involving the relationships of certain factors to attitudes toward home evening were tested. A cluster sample of twenty-three ninth grade classes was selected and data were gathered through use of a questionnaire. Statistics used in analysis of data included the Pearsonian product moment correlation coefficient, and analysis of variance. Responses to open-end questions were content analyzed by three independent judges. Findings suggest that perceived participation by teenagers in planning and presenting home evening lessons is related to positive attitudes toward the program. Teenagers' perception of their family as discussing questions or problems of importance to them during home evening also seems to be related to positive attitudes. No significant relationship was found between teenagers' perception of relative differences in task-maintenance orientations of their parents and teenagers' attitudes toward home evening.

In an effort to cope with forces which would remove the home from its place of influence, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recently inaugurated the Family Home Evening Program. Emerging out of a fifty year history of efforts to institute the home evening practice, it is one of the most systematic and comprehensive efforts to date to implement change within the structure of its member families.Such a deliberate and predetermined effort toward improving the family system constitutes what applied social scientists call "planned change." Home evening, when adopted, has many of the elements of a behavior known as "family ritual." Inasmuch as the church has attempted to institute a ritual practice which the family itself would normally initiate, the Family Home Evening Program becomes, to the social scientists, an interesting social experiment.The family itself must ultimately make the decision as to what extent it will adopt any advocated innovation. Factors within the culture of individual families will play a prominent role in determining to what extent they will be susceptible to the influence of a change agent. This then, becomes a starting place for the investigation of the family home evening. Within this context, the present investigation had two objectives: (1) to explore patterns of family home evening acceptance and adoption, and (2) to explore the relationships between acceptance and adoption of family home evening and certain selected variables.

The purpose of this study was to describe and explore three phenomenon of the L.D.S. Family Home Evening Program: (1) the nature of religious commitment in an L.D.S. sample, (2) the degree of participation, (3) the relation of certain religious and secular variables.The data for the study were made available to the researcher by A. L. Mauss, as part of a larger study designed to measure the impact of Urbanism upon Mormonism. The instrument, modeled after the Glock and Stark studies, was adapted to a random sample of 958 members of the L.D.S. Church in Utah.The nature of religious commitment was found to be multi-dimensional. Normative participation in the program was low when compared with similar Church programs. None of the variables showed a high correlation with participation.It was concluded that the Church has not yet succeeded in designing the Program to meet the needs of most Church members, and that some weightier factors must account for participation and/or non-participation in the Program than those tested.

Heber J. Grant: A Study of Gospel-Oriented Family RelationshipsRobert Richard Pommerening IIIDepartment of Religious Education, BYUMaster of ArtsUnder the direction of President Gordon B. Hinckley, the fifteenth president of TheChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Church released the document, The Family: AProclamation to the World. The Proclamation outlines core values of family life, which ifconsistently practiced can lead to successful family relationships. Through a study of hispersonal journals, letters, and recorded anecdotes from his life, these values can be identified inHeber J. Grants life. As one studies the Proclamation alongside President Grant (particularly theinteractions he had with his mother, wives and children), a portrayal of the man came into focusthat has not been previously scrutinized through scholarly work, Heber J. Grant as a family man.Chapter one begins with the special relationship Heber shared with his mother Rachel. Itoutlines some of the trials and successes they faced together. As Heber grew into manhood,chapter two focuses on his plural marriage relationships during era of the Edmunds-Tucker act. Itexplains some of the challenges the Grant family faced as they lived in a plural marriage during atime when plural marriages were deemed illegal. Chapter three highlights Heber as a care takerfor his aging mother, wives Lucy Stringham, Emily Wells, and numerous sick children. Thepractices of President Grant in the home, including holding Family Home Evening are exploredin chapter four. Chapter five emphasizes President Grants example of personal righteousnesswithin his familial relationships. The leisurely activities of the Grant family are emphasized inchapter six as Heber shared family vacations, cultural events, golf games, and even honeymoonswith his immediate and extended family. Chapter seven details the generosity of President Grantand his desire to share of his material wealth with family members, friends, and strangers. Theteachings of President Grant on the doctrine of the family as taught to the Church of Jesus Christof Latter-day Saints are presented in chapter eight. The final chapter concludes with the agingPresident nearing death and how his legacy of love and family devotion continued through hisliving relatives. This thesis provides research into how President Grant implemented principles of theFamily Proclamation in his own home. This research can serve as a model for members of TheChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints desiring to strengthen their relationships and unitywithin the family.