YOUTH IDENTITY CRISIS: GOD IMAGES AND SELF IMAGES

Transcription

1 Youth Identity Crisis: Finding God Without Losing Yourself 2015 YOUTH IDENTITY CRISIS: GOD IMAGES AND SELF IMAGES A. Victor Counted

2 A parent-child relationship Early abandonment Attachment Abuse Internal working models Attachment figures Substitute Attachment figures Divine Attachment Figure (DAF) God as a DAF ATTACHMENT

3 God Attachment and the God Image? God becomes a Divine Attachment Figure because He is - Safe haven - Security base - Response for separation and loss - Stronger and Wiser 2 Reasons - Compensation - Correspondence (or Modelling) Two forms - Secure attachment to God (God image) experience - Insecure attachment to God (God image) experience - Attachment-anxiety with God - Attachment-avoidance with God

4 THE GOD IMAGE AN ATTACHMENT CONTAGION? MAY BE!!!

5 AUTHENTICITY Consistency with feelings and thoughts Self-experience as a conscious awareness Awareness from environment Awareness from attachment influences such as: early abandonment, parent-child relationship, depleting ego, peer pressure, etc Consistency between: A person s primary experience (authentic living); symbolized awareness (self-alienation); outward behaviour and communication (accepting external influences) Congruence between these 3 experiences shapes one s authenticity But through splitting (self-fragmentation)

6 TRINITARIAN RELATIONALITY? Is the relationship between God the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit an example of an authentic relationship? MAY BE!!!

7 Authenticity and Self Image? Levels of correspondence in self-experience through splitting? Splitting and Correspondence between these 3 levels: - Authentic living - Self alienation - Accepting external influence

8 PHASE 1 Quantitative study Survey (n=100) Christian youths year old millennials? Male (n=48) and Female (n=52) White Africans (n=57), Black Africans (n=14), Coloured Africans (n=28) Three church traditions/denominations Church denomination X (n=41) Church denomination Y (n=31) Church denomination Z (n=28) Instruments 28 items AGI (Attachment to God Inventory) Attachment anxiety with God Attachment avoidance with God 12 items AS (Authenticity Scale) Authentic living Self-alienation Accepting external influence Demographic questionnaire Church denomination Christian natives Ethnicity /race Gender

9 Church denomination on their God Attachment and Authenticity orientations?

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15 Gender on God attachment and Authenticity?

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21 CORRELATIONS AND RELATIONSHIPS Avoidance and Self Alienation (r =.204, p<.05). 4% of common variance. Anxiety and Accepting External Influence (r =.324, p<.01). 10% of variance. Anxiety and Self Alienation (r =.279, p<.01). 7% commonality. Higher Authentic Living suggests lower Accepting External Influence (negative correlation of r = -.373, p<.01). 13% of variance. Authentic Living and Self Alienation also predicted each other negatively (r = -.339, p<.01). Variance of about 11%. Accepting External Influences and Self Alienation had a strong correlation matrix of (r =.430, p<.01). Variance of roughly 18%. It is a case of attachment anxiety (48% over Avoidance 35%) It is a case of authentic living (24% over Accepting External Influence 13% and Self-alienation 11% ) They are therefore ANXIOUS BUT AUTHENTIC!!! Gender and Denominational affiliation (.001 α =.05) as predictors Being a Christian native and race/ethnicity (.036 α =.05 ) does not statistically influence God attachment and authenticity.

22 The Mixing First phase mixed with the objectives of the second phase Key themes: Early abandonment experiences; narratives of an attachment abuse; attachment anxiety conditions; splitting process; God image experiences in relation to God attachment orientation; attachment language in their narratives; Relation between God attachment and self-behaviours; ways of staying true to self; self-regulations and ways of coping

23 Phase 2 Purposeful sampling (n=15) Anxious and Authentic youths? 15 informants or outliers with high anxiety and high authenticity levels)

24 THE CRISIS The God image and Externalizing an Internal Conflict Early abandonment Attachment abuse Compensation? Correspondence? Caregiver reflection of God

25 Jerome s father alcohol addiction and Jerome s abandonment was big on me because both of my brothers weren't there and lot of times i didn t know what to do when i did get home and then i would always ask my dad for help and you know he was not that father figure because i did get home and my dad will be drunk and sleepy and when he wakes up he doesn't say much he just carries on drinking and sleeping and in that way. Jerome now relates with God as an attachment Figure and compensates himself for the emotional absence of his earthly father figure

26 June s abandonment and anxiety June admits of her anxiety with God Yes i am anxious about my relationship with God. I wanted to be stronger but i tend not to get there. I want to have this relationship...and get myself again. I am not there where i wanted to be i know it is important in one's life. I know what miracles He can do if he is in your life. June laments about mum leaving her since grade 1 : and she is still working there...so...yeah she is distant from me. But we communicate and we talk but it is not enough. And that is why i say i have been praying to God...when is the time going to come when...? I feel sort of abandoned, and because of that i don't want people to get close to me.

27 CHRIS Attachment experience with mum reflects in his relationship with God The same way i do with my mum where i feel a connection in the things we share so i would feel a connection with God doing His work, being part of what he is doing at the moment. And also with the counselling and receiving counselling from God the same way i would have gone to my mother for counsel. CORRESPONDING?

28 Caregiver Reflection of God God as a target for proximity seeking (connected but conflicted) God as a Safe haven God as a Secure base God as a response to separation and loss Perceiving God as stronger and wiser

29 God as a target for proximity seeking: connected but conflicted??? Connected I trust in God with my whole life. God definitely exist you just wonder why bad things happen to such good people. Sometimes this shakes the way i feel about God but i still have a personal relationship with Him and i feel that i trust him. - Cara I do feel connected to God but i mean I am sort of...this idea of me not knowing who i really am...is depressing to me not knowing what God wants me to do. - Jarome Conflicted of abusing His love by putting God aside no personal relationship with God I am not strong enough not getting what I hope God would give me unclear about my purpose is difficult to stay hooked to God all the time

30 God as a response to separation and loss Sharon s emotional separation with the mother is restored after a relationship with God These days I can experience God in my life in supernatural ways I experience God and he shows me his love and his caring towards me.

31 God, the Provider God, the Rewarder God, the true friend God, the Father of love God as a secure base and a safe haven

32 God perceived as Stronger and Wiser Sees the all-knowing and powerful love of God Sees God as a pillar of strength I see Him as a higher power. Someone who needs to be respected. Though he takes people by accidents and diseases but he is loving June God will carry me through it is not by might nor by power but by the spirit. Sharon He (God) is the pillar of her strength. Wendy

33 THE CRISIS Self image and Externalizing an Internal Conflict Splitting Self-regulation Borderline self (Masterson, 1976) Promissory self (Moltmann, 1996) Hyphenated self (Dykstra, 1997) Religious self (Muck, 1997)

34 SELF IMAGES THE BORDERLINE SELF (Masterson, 1976): A response to separation and abandonment crisis it depends on how busy I am, I keep people distant from me, I won t trust people or I have distrust for trusting people THE PROMISSORY SELF (Moltmann, 1996): A response to selfdystopia and the borderline self I love to be positive I see myself as a very enthusiastic person THE HYPHENATED SELF (Dykstra, 1997): A response to an emerging hope I think I have leadership qualities scripture says you can do all things I think I have got a very good sense of the self THE RELIGIOUS SELF (Muck, 1997): A response to weak selfintegration Mediating transcendence Multidirectional, never-ending journeying Chosenness to choose

35 THE OPPORTUNITY How can we heal and redeem the broken connections of the past?

36 The 4 Bs By understanding the direction of our experience By understanding the purpose of our experience By understanding our experience as influenced by culture By having a prophetic voice in our experience