Chelsea Schnabelrauch, Laura DeHaan & Julie Yonker

RELIGIOSITY AND SPIRITUALITY AMONG

ADOLESCENTS AND EMERGING ADULTS

ADOLESCENCE Rapid physical, cognitive & social

growth second only to infancy

Brain development places focus on: Sensation seeking Social networks Novelty

Other issues Identity development Adolescent egocentrism

Risk taking Preoccupation with self

EMERGING ADULTHOOD

Arnett’s view of emerging adulthood Age of identity exploration

especially in love and work. Age of instability Most self-focused age of life Age of feeling in-between adolescent & adult Age of possibilities

hopes flourish unparalleled opportunity to transform your life

CHILDREN AND CHRISTIANITY

8 – 12 year olds Church makes a positive difference 33%

Prayer makes difference 30%

Would choose popularity over a moral choice 63%

•64% of Christians come to faith as children•Strong correlation between age and depth of faith•Lots of programming for children, age-segregated

RELIGIOUS BELIEFS IN ADOLESCENCE

Belief in God -- about 85% Stable throughout life span

Declining importance of organized religion belief in Bible as inerrant

Girls more religious – especially in adolescence

Period of questioning stronger adult faith

CHRISTIAN SMITHSOUL SEARCHING (2005)

SOULS IN TRANSITION (2009)

Moral therapeutic deism God as cosmic therapist Little ability to express religious

content 1/3 of adolescents very active religiously

1/3 nominally active 1/3 not religious Religiosity is largely conventional

Religiosity declines in emerging adulthood Parents biggest predictor of E/A faith

STUDY OF RELIGIOSITY AND SPIRITUALITY

Religiosity and spirituality (R/S) is an understudied topic among adolescents

Less than 1% address R/S

Much bias and assumption in field Are there stages of R/S development?

Is this process the same across religion?

What is the mechanism that makes R/S protective?

STUDY 1:HOW IS R/S DEFINED?

We examined all empirical studies where R/S was examined as a variable during the years 1990 to 2010

92 studies of adolescents and emerging adults

We developed four coding categories for both how they defined and then measured R/S

CATEGORIES Church Service Attendance refers to a characterization of R/S

solely on the basis of attendance.

Religious behaviors are overt and measurable actions, but do not included service attendance. Examples include: prayer, involvement in youth group, and Bible reading.

Salience of beliefs is the degree to which one’s religious faith matters in the life of the individual. Salience of belief is covert and must be self-reported. Examples include: born again status, identity of the individual, degree of commitment, connectedness with God , and religion as a source of refuge or solace.

Religious searching refers to how much one is actively questioning the content of one’s religious faith. This is also covert and self-reported. Examples include: quest of life’s meaning, search for the sacred, and questioning final causes and ultimate end of humankind.

RESULTSCategory Definition in literature

reviewMeasurement employed

R/S not defined 16% 0

Church attendance 3% 7%

Behavioral 13% 17%

Salience 26% 29%

Quest 2% 2%

Behavior + Salience 23% 24%

Behavior + Salience + Quest

8% 3%

DISCUSSION Few studies (26%) used measures of R/S that

matched their theoretical definition

Few studies used methodology matching best developmental psychology practices

20% were longitudinal (most of these were data sets not designed to study R/S)

Most studies compared R/S to a risk behavior or protective factor, rather than examining the development of R/S itself.

STUDY 2:HOW DOES R/S EFFECT

ADOLESCENT & EMERGING ADULT OUTCOMES?

Meta-analysis = Quantitative “survey” approach in which individual study findings investigating a common problem are statistically integrated and analyzed

META-ANALYSIS

Meta-analyses permit moving away from individual studies to an aggregate that allows a bigger picture with better focus due to reduction of sampling error

STUDY 2:HOW DOES R/S EFFECT

ADOLESCENT & EMERGING ADULT OUTCOMES?

Database searches found 320 studies on R/S

Criteria for inclusion in meta-analysis

Published between 1990 and August 2010

Empirical studies

Provide commonly used effect size statistic (r, t-values, F-values, means & SD)

Measurable outcome of R/S

75 studies used in meta-analysis

PARTICIPANT CHARACTERISTICS

Number of individual participants = 66,273 Life stage

57% of studies: adolescents 39% of studies: emerging adults 4% of studies: combined life stages

Race 32% of studies: majority white 23% of studies: majority non-white 44% of studies: did not specify race

Gender 28% of studies did not report gender 56% of reported studies: females 44% of reported studies: males

R/S MEASUREMENT IN STUDIES

attendancebehaviorsaliancesearchingmixed

ADOLESCENT & EMERGING ADULT OUTCOMES

Risk taking behavior Underage drinking, binge drinking,

marijuana use, drug use, smoking Sexual activity Deviant behavior

Well Being Depression, anxiety, self-esteem, well

being/happiness

Personality Big-5 Trait theory (Agreeableness,

Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Neuroticism, Openness)

OVERALL META-ANALYSIS

Effect Sizes of Religiosity with Outcome Variables N ESRisk Taking 27 -0.1728**Alcohol 16 -0.1667**Deviant Behavior 10 -0.2109**Marijuana 9 -0.1173*Smoking 7 -0.1329**Personality Conscientiousness 9 0.1915**Extraversion 7 0.0873Agreeableness 6 0.1769**Neuroticism 6 -0.0228Openness 5 0.1414*Well-Being Depression 24 -0.1064**Anxiety 16 -0.0572Self-Esteem 15 0.1101**Well-Being/Happiness 8 0.1541** * p < .05 ** p < .001

MODERATORS - LIFE STAGE

Risk Ta

king

Alcohol U

se

Substa

nce Use

Depres

sion

Well Bein

g

Self-E

steem

Conscien

tiousness

-0.3

-0.2

-0.1

-2.77555756156289E-16

0.0999999999999997

0.2

0.3Eff

ect S

ize

*p<.05, ** p<.001

** ** ** ** ** **** ** ** ** **

* *

p<.10 p<.05

MODERATORS - RACE

Risk Taking Alcohol Use Substance Use Depression

-0.25

-0.2

-0.15

-0.1

-0.05

0Eff

ect S

ize

** ** * **

*p<.05, ** p<.001 p<.10

MODERATORS – R/S MEASUREMENT

Risk Taking Alcohol Use Substance Use

Deviant Behavior

Depression

-0.4

-0.35

-0.3

-0.25

-0.2

-0.15

-0.1

-0.05

0

Effec

t Siz

es

** * ** **

*p<.05, ** p<.001

** *** **

p<.05

** **

DISCUSSION – OVERALL META-ANALYSIS

R/S can act as a protective factor against negative outcomes such as:

Risk taking behaviors

Depression

R/S can enhance well-being and self-esteem

R/S is associated with the personality traits of Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Openness

POSSIBLE EXPLANATIONS

R/S offers the following: Rules for acceptable behavior

Community accountability/expectations

Structured time

risk taking as unacceptable behavior

participation in R/S by individuals with Conscientiousness & Agreeableness

personality traits

POSSIBLE EXPLANATIONS

R/S offers the following:

Community acceptance & love of individual

Message of worth of individual to God and community

depression

self-esteem and well-being

participation in R/S by individuals with Conscientiousness, Agreeableness & Openness personality traits

DISCUSSION - LIFE STAGES

Emerging Adults

R/S matters more for decreasing risk taking behavior

R/S matters more for enhancing well-being & self-esteem

Possible explanations

Emerging adults have choice to participate (or not) in R/S activities

Emerging adults have greater cognitive capacity and self-awareness therefore R/S carries more significance and meaning

DISCUSSION - RACE Majority White

R/S more salient in beneficial impacting on risk taking behavior and depression

Possible explanations

Limitation of database white vs. non-white; therefore could be statistical artifact

Less variability in non-white R/S; therefore when whites are religious, R/S makes more impact

DISCUSSION – MEASUREMENT OF R/S

Salience

Most risk taking behaviors are strongly influenced by the degree that R/S matters to the individual

Possible explanation

Salience represents intrinsic motivation for R/S, which often result in more positive and longer duration of individual behaviors

DISCUSSION – MEASUREMENT OF R/S

Church Attendance

Deviant behavior is curtailed more by church attendance than other R/S measures

Possible explanation

Church attendance is often considered a global measure of psychosocial support systems more conducive to positive achievements

Time in church activities, therefore minimal extra time for deviant behaviors

DISCUSSION – MEASUREMENT OF R/S

Mixed Measure

Multiple measures of R/S did not provide stronger associations with outcomes than basic measures of salience or church attendance

Future Directions

Salience and church attendance are suitable measures of R/S, however, they should be analyzed independently rather than combined

CONCLUSIONS R/S is important in the lives of adolescents

and emerging adults in reducing risk taking behaviors and enhancing mood and self-worth.

Multiple definitions and measures of R/S are currently used in the literature Our results suggest coalescence around

church attendance and salience for these stages in the life span

“Evidently, then, the science and the religion are both of them genuine keys for unlocking the world’s treasure-house to him who can use either of them practically.”

William James (1902)

THANK YOU!

Calvin Center for Christian Scholarship - Grant

Carolyn Affholter – Research Assistant, Study 1

Chelsea Schnabelrauch – Research Assistant, Study 2

Blake Riek – Statistical Consultant