Relationship Between Perception of the Character of God and a Father's Parenting Style Using Christ Images as a Projective Assessment Tool

Graduation Date

Summer 2002

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Document Form

Print

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy

Degree Granting Institution

Notre Dame de Namur University

Program Name

Art Therapy

Dean

Lizbeth Martin, PhD

First Reader

Richard Carolan, EdD, ATR-BC

Second Reader

Roseanne Murphy, PhD

Abstract

It is hypothesized that subjects will project the character traits demonstrated by their father onto God. Students were acquired as subjects at an InterVarsity Christian Fellowship sponsored activity taking place at Saint Mary’s College, Moraga, California. Subjects range in age from 18 years to 23 years of age. The subject pool consists of 5 females and 4 males. Subjects were administered the Parental Authority Questionnaire (PAQ). In addition, subjects were informed that they would be presented with 8 different images of Christ and asked to respond verbally to questions asked concerning the various images. It is hypothesized that a subject’s PAQ score will correlate positively with the parenting style attributed to the image of Christ chosen by the subject as reminding them most of their earthly father. Furthermore, it is hypothesized that there will be a positive correlation between a subject’s PAQ score and the verbal response a subject offers to describe the Christ image chosen as reminding them most of their earthly. And lastly, it is hypothesized that there will be a positive correlation between a subject’s PAQ score and the verbal response a subject offers to describe all 8 Christ images. Results reveal that there is a positive correlation between all three sets of variables mentioned prior.

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