Sacred Conversations and Connections: Resources and Risks for Diverse Families and Religious Communities

This presentation will highlight research on spiritual behaviors and beliefs about family life that can function as resources and risk factors across diverse families and religious communities. Findings will be presented on dyadic dialogues that are helpful (spiritual intimacy) and harmful (spiritual one-up-manship) as well as spiritual perceptions that strengthen healthy families (sanctification) and intensify distress when family relationships go awry (desecration, sacred loss). These findings will then be placed in a broader context to illustrate ways that diverse partners and parents can access spiritual resources or reduce spiritual struggles via participation in supportive religious communities of their choice. Recommendations will be offered on ways scientists and practitioners could work collaboratively with religious groups to expand basic and applied research with the goal of enhancing the well-being of all types of community and clinic-referred families.

Objectives

(1)    Participants will learn about two specific spiritual resources that function as resources for couples and families: spiritual intimacy and sanctification. (2) Participants will learn about three specific spiritual risk factors that can intensify relational and personal distress for couples and families: spiritual one-up-manship, desecration, and sacred loss. (3) Participants will gain perspective on ways that diverse partners and parents can access spiritual resources or reduce spiritual struggles via participation in supportive religious groups of their choice. (4) Participants will learn ways to expand basic and applied research with the goal of enhancing the well-being of all types of families.