Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 5, No. 1 1988 Page 22
―Madison Avenue‖ type technique during a vulnerable period in their lives. One such instance
occurs when a person goes to college away from home and confronts the need to manage time
and make new relationships. Another point may be just before or after college graduation while
moving from the structured student life into the world of work. The loss of important
relationships, such as breaking up with a boyfriend or girlfriend, o the death of a close relative,
are noted, as are other stressful periods of transition. These periods occur in the lives of most
young people, but some of them are in the wrong place at the wrong time, so to speak, and are
pulled into the cult.
In sum, relatively little professional literature has focused on the psychologies determinants of
cult conversion, and what is available sheds little light on the role of the family in susceptibility to
involvement
Part of the problem with which this study attempts to cope is that in measuring family life, no
unidimensional model suffices to accurately measure family functioning. Recent efforts have
focused on identifying unifying dimensions (family interactions and developing standardized
multidimensional assessment instruments. The Family Environment Scale (FES), which is used in
this study, is a self-report instrument that focuses on the interpersonal relationships among
family members, the directions of personal growth emphasized in the family, and the family's
organization and system-maintenance characteristics.
The FES approach was initially developed by Moos (1974), who adopted a perspective which
assumes that ―environments have unique personalities just as people do.‖ The logic of the family
environment approach is that the environmental climate of the family exerts a directional
influence on the behavior of all its members.
The focus of the present study is on the family environments of 35 families in which one member
has/had a cult involvement. These families are compared with a group of 35 families, randomly
selected from membership lists of suburban community centers and churches, with offspring
between the ages of 18 and 30 who have not entered a cult.
The aims of the study are: a) to assess the family environments, as retrospectively perceived by
the parents, prior to their offspring's cult membership, and, b) to see if and how this environment
differs from that perceived by parents of a matched control sample. It is assumed that such
differences should provide useful insights about vulnerability or non- vulnerability to cult
involvement.
Samples
The sample for the experimental group was drawn from a population of 300 parents who attended
a convention of the Citizens Freedom Foundation in Washington, D.C., in October 1982. (The
Citizens Freedom Foundation, now called the Cult Awareness Network, is an organization
developed by parents to provide information and support for other parents with children in cults.)
Within this population 145 packets were distributed to the parents at the welcoming desk during
registration. The sample of 35 intact families studied, who represented 25% of the packet
recipients, were those who followed all of the instructions and returned all of the materials and
were therefore usable respondents for the research.
The average age of the cult offspring of the sample families was 26.6 at the time of the study and
21.5 at the time of joining the cult. The average number of siblings was 3.5. In 21 families the
cult member was male and in 14 the cult member was female. Seventeen families were
Protestant. 11 were Catholic, and 7 were Jewish. All were Caucasian with an average income
between $25,000 and $30,000.
The following cults are represented in this study: the Unification Church, Children of God, Church
of Scientology, Divine Light Mission, Hare Krishna, and the Way International.
―Madison Avenue‖ type technique during a vulnerable period in their lives. One such instance
occurs when a person goes to college away from home and confronts the need to manage time
and make new relationships. Another point may be just before or after college graduation while
moving from the structured student life into the world of work. The loss of important
relationships, such as breaking up with a boyfriend or girlfriend, o the death of a close relative,
are noted, as are other stressful periods of transition. These periods occur in the lives of most
young people, but some of them are in the wrong place at the wrong time, so to speak, and are
pulled into the cult.
In sum, relatively little professional literature has focused on the psychologies determinants of
cult conversion, and what is available sheds little light on the role of the family in susceptibility to
involvement
Part of the problem with which this study attempts to cope is that in measuring family life, no
unidimensional model suffices to accurately measure family functioning. Recent efforts have
focused on identifying unifying dimensions (family interactions and developing standardized
multidimensional assessment instruments. The Family Environment Scale (FES), which is used in
this study, is a self-report instrument that focuses on the interpersonal relationships among
family members, the directions of personal growth emphasized in the family, and the family's
organization and system-maintenance characteristics.
The FES approach was initially developed by Moos (1974), who adopted a perspective which
assumes that ―environments have unique personalities just as people do.‖ The logic of the family
environment approach is that the environmental climate of the family exerts a directional
influence on the behavior of all its members.
The focus of the present study is on the family environments of 35 families in which one member
has/had a cult involvement. These families are compared with a group of 35 families, randomly
selected from membership lists of suburban community centers and churches, with offspring
between the ages of 18 and 30 who have not entered a cult.
The aims of the study are: a) to assess the family environments, as retrospectively perceived by
the parents, prior to their offspring's cult membership, and, b) to see if and how this environment
differs from that perceived by parents of a matched control sample. It is assumed that such
differences should provide useful insights about vulnerability or non- vulnerability to cult
involvement.
Samples
The sample for the experimental group was drawn from a population of 300 parents who attended
a convention of the Citizens Freedom Foundation in Washington, D.C., in October 1982. (The
Citizens Freedom Foundation, now called the Cult Awareness Network, is an organization
developed by parents to provide information and support for other parents with children in cults.)
Within this population 145 packets were distributed to the parents at the welcoming desk during
registration. The sample of 35 intact families studied, who represented 25% of the packet
recipients, were those who followed all of the instructions and returned all of the materials and
were therefore usable respondents for the research.
The average age of the cult offspring of the sample families was 26.6 at the time of the study and
21.5 at the time of joining the cult. The average number of siblings was 3.5. In 21 families the
cult member was male and in 14 the cult member was female. Seventeen families were
Protestant. 11 were Catholic, and 7 were Jewish. All were Caucasian with an average income
between $25,000 and $30,000.
The following cults are represented in this study: the Unification Church, Children of God, Church
of Scientology, Divine Light Mission, Hare Krishna, and the Way International.
