Dr. Justin Dyer, Dr. Michael Goodman, and Dr. Mark Ogletree, Department of Church History and Doctrine
Academic Objectives Met
The project met several academic objectives. The first was to collect the initial round of data for the Family Foundations of Faith project. Data were collected from over 600 families and were cleaned and prepared for use. With students, three paper proposals were created and accepted to the 2017 National Council on Family Relations conference. These papers will also be submitted to academic journals for publication. Given the extensiveness of the data, they will be mined for years to come, answering critical questions about youth faith development. In sum, the academic objectives of the project have been realized.
Evaluation of the mentoring environment
The mentoring environment began with a readings class in the Winter 2016 semester for 14 students who had applied to be part of the project. This class trained students in the content area of adolescent faith development as well as in the procedures for studying it. This prepared them to be hired as research assistants (RAs) in Fall 2016. This course was highly rated by the students (4.9 with all students responding) and student responses were very positive, most feeling the course was highly beneficial and a highlight of their BYU experience.
Two students’ whose class performance was outstanding were hired as student leaders on the project for Fall 2016. These students ran the day-to-day operations of the project, having a supervisory role over the other student RAs. These team leaders met with faculty during the week to discuss the project. Faculty also provided support and leadership training to the student leaders. Further, all RA’s met with the faculty in weekly team meetings for updates and trainings.
RAs were also assigned to a faculty member to work on a research project. The primary assignment of the RAs was to gather literature on a particular area, synthesizing the research to be used for conference presentations. Working closely with faculty on these projects was highly beneficial to the students, particularly given the content area they were researching related directly to the data being collected. In all, it was felt the mentoring environment met expectations.
List of students who participated and what academic deliverables they have produced or it is anticipated they will produce
Student Participants
Margaret Aller
Heather Baker
Matthew Benson
Mikilah Braun
Brandon Campbell
Anne Christensen
Leah Damron
Abby Eyre
Madeline Hoyt
Krista Johnson
Landon Martinsen
Sheryl Pryor
Megan Strong
Tristan Torgersen
Cassidy Ogletree
Clark Cressman
Sharleen Nauta
Erin Hemmelgarn
Teisha Hancock
Douglas Belo
Courtney Kenneard
Chrissy Van Ausdal
Cassie Beecher
Literature reviews were produced by students in preparation for conference presentations and articles. One student presented her work at the BYU Mary Lou Fulton student paper conference. Five other students are co-authors on three presentations being given at the National Council on Family Relations’ annual conference this year (these will subsequently become journal articles). We are funding these five students to attend the conference. Now that the data has been collected, we will continue working with students to produce academic work. The conference presentations this year are as follows (students denoted by an asterisk):
o Ogletree, M. & Kennard, C.* (November 2017). Depression, Religiosity, and Parenting Styles Among Young LDS Adolescents. Paper to be presented at the National Council on Family Relations Annual conference, Orlando, FL.
o Dyer, W. J., Ogletree, C. *, & Nauta, S. * (November 2017). Adolescent Suicide: The Moderating and Mediating Role of Family and Faith. Paper to be presented at the National Council on Family Relations Annual conference, Orlando, FL.
o Goodman, M., Dyer, W.J., Ogletree, M., Hemmelgarn, E. *, & Baker, H. * (November 2017). How Does Religion Impact Positive Adolescent Outcomes? Paper to be presented at the National Council on Family Relations Annual conference, Orlando, FL.
Description of the results/findings of the project
Given the extensive scope of the project, data will be mined for many years with new findings produced regularly. Further, this project is the initial phase of a multi-phase study. However, initial findings are represented the conference presentations. One paper examines the rate of suicide ideation within the sample, comparing it to national norms. This paper also examines how various indices of faith and family relate to a teen’s suicide ideation. Preliminary results suggest that while various indices of faith are related to a lower likelihood of suicide ideation, it is fathers’ hostility toward the child that is primarily related to ideation. This has important implications for how faith and family are viewed as they relate to the current and important topic of teen suicide.
Another presentation examines the role of faith in promoting positive youth outcomes. This project investigates which faith indices are most predictive of indicators of child wellbeing (e.g., prosocial skills, confidence, and competence). The final presentation examines how parenting and faith interact together to predict teen depression.
Description of how the budget was spent
All of the monies from the MEG were spent on student wages. In total, over $20,000 was spent on student wages for this project. Other aspects of the project were paid for using monies from the College of Religious Education, the Department of Church History and Doctrine, the Religious Studies Center, and the Psychology Department.