Publication year
2015
Citation Title
Relations between youths' conceptions of spirituality and their developmental outcomes
Journal Name
Journal of Adolescence
Journal Volume
43
Page Numbers
171-180
DOI
10.1016/j.adolescebce,2015.05.014
Summary
Spirituality among youth has repeatedly been shown to be associated with positive youth development, conceptualized as including components of competence, confidence, character, connection, caring, and contribution. This study examined views of spirituality in relation to positive youth development to assess whether different views had different effects on positive youth development. Findings suggest that, overall, more coherent views of spirituality are associated with more positive youth development.
Key Findings
Youth’s views of what it meant to be spiritual were characterized by three subtypes: finding meaning in life (n = 683), being generous (n = 294), and having ambiguous meaning (n = 865).
Youth with a finding meaning or generosity view of spirituality reported greater competence, character, connection, caring, and contribution than those with ambiguous views of spirituality.
Youth with a finding meaning view of spirituality reported greater competence and confidence than those with generosity or ambiguous views of spirituality.
Views of spirituality did not impact positive youth development components at a one-year follow-up.
Implications for Military Professionals
Collaborate between military youth programs and spiritual organizations to provide military youth opportunities to explore their spiritual beliefs
Facilitate support groups for military youth who are unsure of their spiritual beliefs
Implications for Program Leaders
Provide activities to allow military youth to express and explore their spiritual beliefs with peers
Disseminate information regarding spirituality and positive youth development to military parents
Implications for Policy Makers
Recommend integrating spiritual exploration into existing programs for military youth
Encourage education for service providers who work with military youth around the potential effects of spirituality and coherent views on positive youth development
Methods
Participants included youth from a larger, longitudinal 4-H study of positive youth development, which recruited more than 8,000 youth from an after-school program.
Youth completed annual youth development surveys for eight years.
Differences in youth’s views of spirituality, and their associations with each positive youth development component, were examined.
Participants
Participants included 1,842 youth, 64% female and ages 10 through 18 years, who completed the spirituality question of the 4-H survey in 2008.
Youth identified as White (79%), Latino (6%), Black (5%), or Multiracial (3%).
Participants primarily reported their religious affiliations as Atheist (14%), Protestant (39%), Catholic (27%), or other (18%); less than 2% reported being Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, or Hindu.
Limitations
The sample included primarily White, high socioeconomic status, Christian youth in after-school programs, and results may not generalize to other groups of youth.
No analyses regarding the relationship between each spiritual view and positive youth development were completed; only comparisons between groups were analyzed.
Youth’s spiritual views were coded into three groups based on a single question.
Cross-sectional data do not allow for an analysis of the directions of effects between spirituality and positive youth development.
Avenues for Future Research
Explore the effects of parent spiritual views on child views and positive youth development
Examine how spiritual views change across youth development, particularly during adolescence
Investigate differences in spiritual views between military and civilian youth
Focus
Civilian
Target Population
Population Focus
Abstract
This study uses a positive youth development (PYD) approach to explore whether differences in youths' conceptions of spirituality were linked to patterns of difference regarding 6 domains of PYD. Using data from the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development, findings revealed a consistent trend across 6 domains of positive development. Youth who had coherent conceptions of being spiritual generally scored highest on measures of positive development, whereas youth in the ambiguous spirituality group (i.e., less coherent) scored the lowest. However, follow-up analyses reveal that such relations did not hold over time. Implications of findings include youth development professionals aiming to nurture the spiritual growth of youth should encourage more coherent notions of spirituality among the youth they serve.
Abstract Document
PRTW Document
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