Relatively few studies have examined the strengths of the African American family, while several have highlighted social issues that have affected the African American family such as divorce, single-parent households, and absentee fathers. This focus on deficit and dysfunction contributes to a research-based gap in understanding the African American marital dyad. Given that religion influences the lives of many African American couples, it is important to understand the impact that religious coping can have on marital stability in the African American community. The purpose of this study is to explore the underlying processes of religious coping for those African American couples that identify as highly religious and happily married. Specifically, this study seeks to answer the two following questions: 1) How do highly religious, happily married African American couples use religion as a coping resource for common stressors that impact the marriage?, and 2) How are the three approaches to religious coping, identified as self-directed, deferred, and collaborative, used to contribute to the marital stability of highly religious, happily married African American couples? In-depth, qualitative interviews were conducted with 35 African American couples, married for at least 7-years and highly involved with an Abrahamic (Christian, Jewish, Mormon, and Muslim) faith. Grounded theory methods and a Numeric Content Analysis were used to analyze the narrative data. Three a priori themes related to the variations of religious coping were presented: 1) Often, We Can Manage Our Stress, 2) Ive Laid My Burdens Down, and 3) Dear God, Help Us to Help Us. Emergent subthemes related to each of these a priori topics were also presented. Implications, related to theory, policy, and practice, that consider the intersections of religion and marriage for African American families are also discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-06102016-194109 |
| Date | 15 June 2016 |
| Creators | Skipper, Antonius Delvecco |
| Contributors | Mitchell, Roland, Wilks, Scott, Monroe, Pamela, Marks, Loren, Chaney, Cassandra |
| Publisher | LSU |
| Source Sets | Louisiana State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-06102016-194109/ |
| Rights | restricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached herein a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below and in appropriate University policies, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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