Children with religious parents are better behaved? Whatever

If they say so....

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,268081,00.html

Am I the only one here who had friends whose parents were religious that were just as rowdy, if not more, than ones with non-religious parents?
I dated a girl who had Catholic parents and went to a private Catholic school and her and her friends used to do coke and ritalin and all kinds of stuff.

Maybe that study came about because religious parents had children who were better liars rather than better behaved.

Religious parent: Oh, my child is so well behaved.

Everyone else who isn't blinded: No, your child just knows how to hide their behavior.

 

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Actually, I don't doubt it. Very religious people tend to discipline their kids more, because they tend to be more prudish. Children who are disciplined tend to behave better.

 

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Not always, as my first post was trying to indicate. You have a lot of kids that will rebel against stricter discipline. Or did the rhetoric of my first post elude you?
Take the movie Footloose for example. Remember John Lithgow's character, the preacher? His daughter, Ariel was one of the wildest kids at that HS. I remember quite a few friends that had churchgoing parents that were hellions/party animals. I'm not saying that they all turned into criminals, but prudish they were not. Kids know when their parents are strict and are smart enough to hide any hellionish behavior. So maybe the parents think their kids are angels when they're really not.

 

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Depends on your definition of "behave".

If you ask me, HOW they make them behave is most important. Conservative religious types tend to employ spankings and other harsh methods that instill a "bigger = always right" methodology.

I also agree with Mike on the subject.

All in all, whether religious types report better child behavior or not is irrelevant. how harsh their discipline actions are is much more important.

 

Those studies may show a correlation to religiosity, but the question may really be "do kids with structured activity and group memberships behave better?" Previous studies have shown that religiosity has no impact on serious juvenile delinquency and, in some cases, negative correlations were demonstrated (Regnerus 2003). Other factors contribute to the decisions to delinquency, for instance, teenage boys are more likely than girls to participate in delinquent activities when their parents are devoutly religious.

Certainly, it should be expected that the structured and organized lifestyle of religion can assist in shaping a child's behavior -as can any positively oriented activity that has a routine and organized structure (Karate classes, ballet, gymnastics, swimming, little league, etc.). The real question is what are the benefits to society and childhood behavior in the long run? Religion doesn't do as well as it advertises.


Reference:

Regnerus, Mark D. (2003) Linked Lives, Faith, and Behavior: Intergenerational Religious Influence on Adolescent Delinquency. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 42(2), 189-203.

 

Quite likely they are better behaved in that they don't use bad language and they do what they are told.

They're probably also severely damaged, and in later years frustrated and angry.

 

Don't judge an entire group of people by the actions of only few. That will do nothing but lead you completely astray ....as your post indicates you've become.

Baron Max

 

You clearly seem to think that the "few" are a minority. Pull your head out of the ground!

 

No, but the point of a study is to get around what one person observes throughtout their life and get the big picture, the hard facts and the statistics. My parents are Baptist and I am well behaved. Oh and so you know, there are like maybe 20-30 rowdy kids in my church. Of the 500 or so I would say that your assumption is wrong. Most christian children are not rowdy. I think that non-christian kids are rowdy because of what I saw every day on the street. The christian isnt the one to come and shoot up your school, sell drugs to you, kill you, or rape you.
As Oniw17 said, more discipline = better behaved children

 

Positron...Cho Seung Hui is the product of a christian home.

I personally met a number of christian children bullies in my life. I can think of eight I witnessed off the top of my head from one year in high school.

Many of the people you think are "well-behaved" simply put on that front for PR reasons

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I was spat on, shoved around and slapped for not being a Christian at one primary school I went to.

 

They might tend to listen to authority more but this does not mean they behave better. If the authority says gay people are evil, they believe it and to varying degrees act from it. They tend to be more easily manipulated by dictators and other lying authorities to support wars including civil ones of all kinds.

Very religious people have tend to oppress women and teach both men and women that women are the source of evil in the world. 'Good' children grow up into 'good' adults that perpetuate this.

Religous children are more controlled and in turn controlling. And in this way they can be used to support evils that are officially good.

 

visceral,

I did not ask if a christian beat you up did I?

Enterprise,

1 down about 500 million to go. HOw many non-christians have done these things?

I'm not arguing here if some are violent, personally I dont believe those people to be true christians then. The point here of this thread is to say that the majority of christians are violent people.

 

The point of this thread is to discuss the notion that there is a positive correlation between the behavior of children and their Christianity.

I contend that such a correlation hasn't been demonstated that cannot be explained by chance or by examining the correlation between the behavior and structured routine.

 

Do you really think these kids are better behaved, or just being brain washed?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_EKHK1C2IE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqNLMuijRyU&mode=related&search=

 

You missed my point entirely dude. Being unruly and rowdy does not just include being a troublesome hellion. It can also include more docile actions, like sneaking out past curfew, going out and partying, underage drinking and just all and all having a good time (in the child's eyes, but not in the parents' or Christian point of view). You can have a child/teen like that, that goes out and parties, yet still be well behaved. My apologies for not conveying that to you better.

See above. Apparently you misinterpreted my posts just like Positron did.

 

I see, very well then I apologize. Unfortunatley I have nothing more to contribute to this thread so bye bye for now!

 

So do you know, personally, the "majority" of Christians? Because unless you do, then your point is fucked up and useless.

Baron Max

 

Just like the survey I started this thread about, which apparently went over your head.
And no, I don't know the majority of Christians, but since I was raised Baptist and did know quite a few of them, I did just like the survey did, and based that small group (compared to all Christians) and by hypothesis, applied it to the whole group. Which, you do know, is what most surveys are, right? They ask just a few and base that on the whole populous. Kinda like when you take a pulse for 10 or 20 seconds (to get the beats per minute) and however many beats you count during that time, multiply it by however much to get to 60 (seconds) and you base your 'beats per minute' off that.

 

Do you even know what my point was? Well it was to show that you CANNOT base such a derivation from only a personal experience. I am afraid you have mistaken me as disagreeing with you. Did you read my other post?

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