Role of fathers in the spiritual experiences of high school students

Background and Objectives: The child’s perceived attachment to parents plays an important role in the establishment of attachment to God. Given the importance of the father’s role in forming the child’s attachment system, the present study aimed to investigate the role of fathers in the daily spiritual experiences of high school students in Zabol, Iran, based on the attachment theory. Methods: This retrospective comparative study was conducted on 100 students with father and 50 fatherless students with the mean age of 15.88 years, selected from two male and female Shahed high schools in Zabol, Iran. The fatherless volunteers were selected by referring to each class. The sampling of the students with fathers was also performed by matching them with the fatherless students using convenience sampling method. The data were collected using the Daily Spiritual Experience Scale, which measures the three factors of God's presence, connection with God, and sense of responsibility towards others. Data analysis was performed in SPSS (version 20) using MANOVA and independent t-test. Results: The results revealed a significant difference between the two groups of students in terms of feeling God's presence (t=-2.36, P=0.02). However, there was no significant difference between the two groups regarding the connection with God (P=0.52) and sense of responsibility towards others (P=0.46). In addition, the examination of the interactive effects of group and gender demonstrated a significant difference only in boys (P=0.04). Conclusion: The findings indicated the importance of childhood attachment to father in explaining the sense of God's presence. Consequently, the reconstruction of the psychological models of God facilitates the basis of safety (the function of attachment to God) to deal with problems.