A gender specific comparative study of single parent concerns and issues and their association with church participation

Aaron H Gaddis

Etd

A gender specific comparative study of single parent concerns and issues and their association with church participation

Public Deposited

MLA citation style (9th ed.)

Aaron H Gaddis. A Gender Specific Comparative Study of Single Parent Concerns and Issues and Their Association with Church Participation. Dallas Theological Seminary. rim.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/3485e72b-5037-497c-b9f6-914455542eda?q=2015.

APA citation style (7th ed.)

A. H. Gaddis. A gender specific comparative study of single parent concerns and issues and their association with church participation. https://rim.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/3485e72b-5037-497c-b9f6-914455542eda?q=2015

Chicago citation style (CMOS 17, author-date)

Aaron H Gaddis. A Gender Specific Comparative Study of Single Parent Concerns and Issues and Their Association with Church Participation. Dallas Theological Seminary. https://rim.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/3485e72b-5037-497c-b9f6-914455542eda?q=2015.

Note: These citations are programmatically generated and may be incomplete.

Creator

Aaron H Gaddis

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Abstract

This research project conducted a gender specific comparative study on single parent concerns and issues and their association with church attendance and participation. The study answers the following research question. What are the differences between selected male and female single parent concerns and issues that affect their church attendance and participation? The growth of the single parent family in American society necessitates this study. Single parent ministry is a vast mission field that has not been sufficiently infiltrated by the local church. The goal of this research is to begin the discussion securing gender-specific reactions to selected concerns and issues that are associated with attendance and participation in the local church. Six concerns and their associated issues have been selected. Concerns involving the Judgment of Others; Care for Children; Time management and Financial Resources; The Local Church's Response to Single Parenting; Personal Spiritual Growth; and Faith Transference to Children. A core group comprised of unwed single parents, divorced single parents, and widowed single parents, guided the study. Exclusions from the study were: Non-custodial single parents, cohabiting parents, parents who are married and parenting single. The custodial parent was chosen because of his/her reliability and consistency. Published literature beginning with the Bible offers clear guidance on how to approach the good and bad widow, the orphan, the divorced, the unwed, and the poor. Other literature offers sociological and historical data on the single parent family in America. Literature offers limited comparative data on male and female single parents and their religious practices. Because of the limited empirical data this study will contribute to the resources available for future studies. The comparative research data was collected from 112 custodial single parents currently raising children between the ages of birth to eighteen years of age. There are 74 women and 38 men who volunteered to participate using the 37-question online survey research instrument. For greater understanding, five individuals were personally interviewed on seven fundamental questions taken from the survey. More details on the data collection and research procedure will be shared in chapter three. This pioneering study offers estranged single parents inclusion in the local family of faith so that the trend of single parenting will be changed as they launch their children as arrows against the darkness of a secular society.

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