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Browsing by Author "Holmes, Christopher Joseph"

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    Differing Religious Motivations are associated with Adolescent Health Behavior through Self-regulation
    Holmes, Christopher Joseph (Virginia Tech, 2014-04-30)
    Previous literature has widely demonstrated the physical and mental benefits of religiousness. However, how religiousness benefits health is not as well known. It has been proposed that self-regulation is the linking mechanism and the current study sought to confirm this theory. Furthermore, religious motivation has been found to have differential effects on a variety of outcomes. The current study hypothesized that higher identification as religious motivation is linked to higher health-promoting behavior and lower health-risk behavior through higher self-regulation, which was composed of behavioral, emotional, and cognitive regulation. It was also hypothesized that higher introjection as religious motivation is linked to lower health-promoting behavior and higher health-risk behavior through lower self-regulation. The current sample included 220 adolescents (mean age = 15 years, 55% male) and their primary caregivers. This study's findings clarified that the motivation to be religious is critical when considering health benefits as it predicts health outcomes distinctly from only religiousness in general and self-regulation mediates this relation. Specifically, higher identification was related to higher self-regulation and subsequently lower health-risk behavior, whereas introjection was linked to lower self-regulation and subsequently higher health-risk behavior. However, when health-promoting behaviors, such as exercise or brushing teeth, were considered, the relation did not exist. In addition, non-significant interaction effects between identification and introjection indicated that these effects are only additive in nature. The current findings are particularly important by providing information about protective factors for risk taking behavior during adolescence, a developmental period associated with greater risk taking behavior.
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    Integrating emotion and cognition in the pathway from adolescent religiousness to risk taking
    Holmes, Christopher Joseph (Virginia Tech, 2016-08-02)
    Existing literature has demonstrated an association between higher adolescent religiousness and lower risk taking via higher self-regulation. However, the present study uniquely sought to elucidate whether particular dimensions of self-regulation (i.e., emotion regulation, effortful control, and executive function) play differential roles in establishing this relation. It was hypothesized in longitudinal analyses over one year that higher religiousness would be associated with higher emotion regulation, which in turn was hypothesized to be associated with higher effortful control and executive function, and, subsequently, higher effortful control and higher executive function to be associated with higher risk taking. Participants included 157 adolescents at Time 1 (mean age = 14 years, 52% male) and 140 adolescents returned for Time 2 (mean age = 15 years, 53% male). Structural equation models, including confirmatory factor analysis and path models tested significant individual paths and mediation via bias corrected bootstrapping supported hypotheses across multiple alternative models, except for hypotheses regarding mediation analyses, which received limited empirical support. The findings highlight that higher religiousness is associated with higher emotion regulation and, in turn, higher emotion regulation is associated with higher executive function and effortful control which, subsequently, are associated with lower adolescent risk taking. In light of this, religiousness is understood as a contextual protective factor for adolescents and intervention strategies targeting emotion regulation, executive function, and effortful control may be associated with lower adolescent risk taking.