Cotton Sian, Larkin Elizabeth, Hoopes Andrea, Cromer Barbara A, Rosenthal Susan L
Health Services Research and Development, Department of Veterans Affairs, VA Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
J Adolesc Health. 2005 Jun;36(6):529. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2004.07.017.
The purpose of this study was to examine spirituality as a meaningful construct in adolescents' lives, and to examine the contribution of spirituality above and beyond that of religiosity to depressive symptoms and health-risk behaviors.
A total of 134 adolescents from a suburban high school completed a questionnaire assessing spirituality, religiosity, depressive symptoms, and health-risk behaviors. Spirituality was measured with 2 subscales: (1) religious well-being ("I believe that God loves/cares about me") and (2) existential well-being ("Life doesn't have much meaning"). Religiosity was assessed via belief in God/Higher Power and importance of religion. The Children's Depression Inventory-Short Form and the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) were used to assess depressive symptoms and health-risk behaviors.
The majority of the sample was Caucasian, with a mean age of 16.2 years. Eighty-nine percent reported a belief in God/Higher Power and 77% stated that religion was important in their lives. After controlling for demographics and religiosity, existential well-being and religious well-being accounted for an additional 29% of the variability in depressive symptoms and 17% of the variability in risk behaviors. Existential well-being was the only predictor significant in both final models (p < .01).
Most of these adolescents reported some connection with religious and spiritual concepts, and those with higher levels of spiritual well-being, in particular, existential well-being, had fewer depressive symptoms and fewer risk-taking behaviors. This supports the inclusion of these concepts in our efforts to help promote resilience and healthy adolescent development, and in expanding our investigations beyond religious identification or attendance at religious services to broader concepts of spirituality.
本研究旨在探讨灵性作为青少年生活中有意义的概念，并检验灵性超越宗教信仰对抑郁症状和健康风险行为的影响。
来自郊区一所高中的134名青少年完成了一份问卷，评估灵性、宗教信仰、抑郁症状和健康风险行为。灵性通过两个子量表进行测量：（1）宗教幸福感（“我相信上帝爱我/关心我”）和（2）存在幸福感（“生活没有太多意义”）。宗教信仰通过对上帝/更高力量的信仰和宗教的重要性来评估。儿童抑郁量表简版和青少年风险行为调查（YRBS）用于评估抑郁症状和健康风险行为。
样本中的大多数是白人，平均年龄为16.2岁。89%的人报告相信上帝/更高力量，77%的人表示宗教在他们的生活中很重要。在控制了人口统计学和宗教信仰因素后，存在幸福感和宗教幸福感分别额外解释了抑郁症状变异的29%和风险行为变异的17%。存在幸福感是两个最终模型中唯一显著的预测因素（p <.01）。
这些青少年中的大多数报告了与宗教和灵性概念的某种联系，特别是那些具有较高灵性幸福感，尤其是存在幸福感的青少年，抑郁症状较少，冒险行为也较少。这支持将这些概念纳入我们促进青少年恢复力和健康发展的努力中，并将我们的研究范围从宗教认同或参加宗教仪式扩展到更广泛的灵性概念。
