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The Role of Spirituality Versus Religiosity in Adolescent Psychosocial Adjustment

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This study investigated the interaction between religiosity (defined as church attendance) and spirituality (defined as personal beliefs in God or a higher power) on psychosocial adjustment. Four groups were created capturing 4 different religious/spiritual orientations. Differences were assessed between the groups on a wide range of psychosocial indicators. Participants included 6578 adolescents ages 13–18 encompassing a school district in Ontario, Canada. Results were striking with regards to the consistency with which religious youth reported more positive adjustment than did non-religious youth, regardless of level of spirituality. Spirituality may not be as salient an influence on behavior as religiosity. The secondary analyses indicated that the advantage for religiosity may not be entirely unique to church attendance, but rather a function of being part of any community. However, where religiosity may be uniquely associated with adjustment (over and above benefits associated with participation in any community) is in lower levels of risk behaviors.

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Notes

  1. The univariate analyses also were conducted including the five additional groups that reported moderate levels of either religiosity or spirituality (i.e. moderate religiosity and moderate spirituality, no religiosity and moderate spirituality, high religiosity and moderate spirituality, moderate religiosity and no spirituality, and moderate religiosity and high spirituality). Identical to the main findings of the study, group differences were significant on each index (smallest F(8, 6746) = 4.70, p < .001 for the wellbeing comparison) with the exception of peer victimization, indirect aggression, and major delinquency (largest F(8, 6746) = 1.50, p > .05 for the major delinquency comparison).

  2. The follow-up results also indicated a consistent pattern of findings, with only the religiosity scores separating the groups. The high religiosity groups consistently reported the most positive adjustment, the no religiosity groups reported the least positive adjustment, and the moderate religiosity groups reported scores in the middle.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research was supported by grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and Human Resources Development Canada.

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Correspondence to Marie Good.

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Department of Family Relations and Applied Nutrition, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Research interests include adolescent psychosocial development, religiosity, and identity formation.

Department of Psychology/Child and Youth Studies, Brock University, St Catharines, Ontario, Canada. Research interests include youth resilience, particularly with regard to academic underachievement and media/technology influence on lifestyle choices.

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Good, M., Willoughby, T. The Role of Spirituality Versus Religiosity in Adolescent Psychosocial Adjustment. J Youth Adolescence 35, 39–53 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-005-9018-1

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