Outcomes, Adolescent

Religion and Well-Being and Thriving

A growing body of research documents a positive relationship between religion and adolescent wellbeing or thriving (see Roehlkepartain, King, Wagener, & Benson, 2005). In these studies religiousness is measured in many ways. Most researchers ask youth how frequently they attend religious services or activities. They also frequently ask how important being religious or spiritual is in their lives. In addition, sometimes they ask about religious commitment, religious values, and what religious beliefs they might have.

When scholars have examined the relationships between religion, spirituality, and thriving, they find a complex pattern of associations. In one case analysis of the Search Institute's Youth and Their Parents dataset (N = 8,165 youth and 10,467 parents), researchers found that spirituality (defined as experiencing transcendence and defining self in relationship to others and having genuine concern for others) and religion (defined as institutional affiliation and participation with a religious tradition and doctrine) both had direct effects on thriving (defined as a concept incorporating the absence of problem behaviors and the presence of healthy development). In addition, religion mediated the effects of spirituality on thriving. These findings suggest that spirituality and religiousness may both play unique roles in the development of thriving. Although most existing research confirms the positive role of religion, this study demonstrated that spirituality may have an influence on youth thriving beyond that of religion.

A number of studies suggest that religion is a constructive resource for enabling youth, who are either physically ill or healthy, to cope with problems. For example, when examining children, early adolescence, and late adolescents, attending church seems to help young people cope with academic achievement. In addition, atrisk youth who attend church are less likely to drop out of school. Church attendance has been found to be a key factor in promoting healthenhancing behaviors, such as exercise, diet, dental hygiene, and seatbelt use. Another study demonstrated that religious youth are more likely to take care of them-selves and less likely to engage in health-compromising behaviors—even after controlling for other relevant factors (Wallace & Forman, 1998).

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