Maintaining Family Relationships After Religious Disaffiliation: A Grounded Theory

Religious disaffiliation, the act of leaving or choosing to no longer affiliate with a religious tradition, has individual and relational consequences. While not every family experiences challenges after the disclosure of religious disaffiliation, many report relational consequences including loss of family and community ties, secret keeping, lying, and tension in family relationships. Although disaffiliation research is becoming more common, there are still large gaps in the literature about the relational impacts of disaffiliation, as well as information about families who navigate these changes well. The current study aimed to begin filling these gaps in the literature by focusing on how families maintain family relationships after religious disaffiliation from the perspective of the disaffiliated individual. Using constructivist grounded theory, 20 individuals in the United States of America were interviewed about their disaffiliation experience and the factors that allowed them to maintain family relationships. The analysis resulted in the development of a dynamic model characterized by two processes: disaffiliated individual actions and perceived joint actions. Both processes are built upon a foundation of love and the desire to maintain family relationships. Clinical implications, such as facilitating perspective taking, communication skills training, and aiding clients in building community, are discussed.