CCC 27-2_LR

PASS IT ON

John Trent, Ph.D. CONFIRMING THE PROBLEM AND EMBRACING THE CURE “ FLOURISHING ” :

c

Clinical studies and counseling practices have long known that there is a significant relationship between childhood parenting experiences and adult well-being. However, a vast project by Gallup and Baylor University’s Global Flourishing Study program has cemented that reality. Working together across the globe, researchers inter viewed more than 200,000 people in 21 countries. Adults were asked questions like, “Did you feel loved by your mother or father while growing up?” or “Did you feel like an ‘outsider’ in your family?” Then, based on their answers of how positively or negatively attached they were to their parents, they asked questions about how well, as adults, they are doing now at “flourishing.” These ques tions touched on their current attributes, like hope, virtue,

satisfaction, and physical and mental health, as well as measures of gratitude for where they are today. You can dig into this truly epic study, 1 but here is the summary. Two findings stood out in every country they sampled, across every socio-economic, ethnic, and social divide. First, there was a substantial effect on both flour ishing and mental health in adulthood if someone came from a home where they were loved and valued as a child. And their main secondary finding? Again, across all 21 countries, more religious parents tended to have better relationships with their children. In clinical study terms, the breadth and depth of this study are undoubtedly “mic-drop” moments when it comes to nailing the problem that broken attachment in

38 Christian Counseling Connection