Family Health and Its Threats in the Physical, Mental, Religious–Moral, and Social Dimensions

Dear Colleagues,

Every person coming into the world has a father and a mother. Parents together with their child form a natural family. The family unit is a place of expressing love and transmitting life. For the child, it is a place of growth and development, providing opportunities to acquire basic knowledge and education through shaping attitudes based on professed norms and values. The section Religions and Health/Psychology/Social Sciences of Religions is open to publications concerning family. Following the success of another topic that interested authors and readers, “The Role of Religion in Marital and Family Life”, we propose another interesting and scientifically worthy issue: “Family Health and Its Threats in the Physical, Mental, Religious–Moral, and Social Dimensions”.

Just as a human exists in the somatic, mental, spiritual, and social spheres, so too can the family, created by people, be characterized in each of these four elements. In each of them, both development and disruption can occur. Various conditions can either favor development or pose serious threats to it. The value of family is crucial both for individuals and society. Moral norms taught by various religions provide special protection for marriages and families. Psychosocial, medical, theological, and ethical guidelines can offer development opportunities, threat prevention, advisory, and therapeutic assistance. Undertaking international collaboration among scientists, experts, and followers of different religions can contribute to a broad, interesting, and highly practical approach to the issue with genuine care for individuals, marriage, and family.

We encourage specialists from various fields to submit articles to this collection. These can be psychologists, pedagogues, theologians, sociologists, family scholars, lawyers, ethicists, and medical doctors. Their investigations can deepen existing knowledge by pointing out similarities and differences in various approaches; form the basis for human education and formation; help satisfy the reader’s curiosity; and increase motivation to spread good for the benefit of individuals and society. Articles by specialists from different fields, religions, and countries can be useful for family development, promoting education in line with ethical principles and pastoral care, preventing pathologies in marital and family life, overcoming crises, and providing professional support in solving problems for spouses, parents, and children.

We encourage the creation of articles in collaboration with multiple authors (from different countries, religions, and professional specialties). This will enable multi-faceted presentations of the topic and the division of costs related to manuscript preparation and publication.

The submitted articles should address the following questions:

• Why is family a value?
• What significance do healthy families have for husband, wife, child, and the entire society?
• What are the duties of a family?
• How should we understand the concepts of a healthy marriage and healthy family?
• What constitutes healthy functioning of the family system?
• What does somatic health concern?
• What is the psychological health of a family, and what is spiritual health?
• What does society gain from the existence of healthy families?
• What promotes family health?
• What threatens the physical, mental, and spiritual health of the family?
• What moral norms protect marital and family life?
• How do different religions relate to respecting and breaking moral norms that protect marriage and family life?
• What is the purpose of married life?
• What are the virtues of premarital chastity, marital fidelity, and marriage indissolubility?
• Which religions allow divorce, and which oppose it?
• What is responsible parenthood, preconception and prenatal care?
• How does natural family planning differ from contraception?
• What positions do religions take on abortion and in vitro fertilization?
• What factors promote marital bonds?
• What factors can disrupt the bond between spouses?
• What helps parents in proper child-rearing?

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 200–300 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the Guest Editor (urszula.dudziak@kul.pl) or to the Religions Editorial Office (religions@mdpi.com). Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editor for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of this Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review.

Prof. Dr. Urszula Dudziak
Dr. Piotr Guzdek
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• religions
• marriage
• family
• moral norms
• health
• raising
• Christianity
• Judaism
• Islam
• Hinduism
• Buddhism