Religion and the Well‐Being of Adolescents

Abstract

A literature review of the relation between religiousness and adolescent well‐being is presented, along with new analyses from a large adolescent data base. It is found that the average level of religiousness of U.S. adolescents has not declined recently, although it does appear to decrease on average across the years of adolescence. African Americans are more religious than whites, and girls are more religious than boys. Religiousness is positively associated with prosocial values and behavior, and negatively related to suicide ideation and attempts, substance abuse, premature sexual involvement, and delinquency. It is unrelated to self‐esteem. These results are found to be robust after controlling for sociodemographic characteristics. The article concludes with policy suggestions for integrating religion's prosocial influences into larger societal programs.