Religion/spirituality and adolescent health outcomes: a review

Abstract

Religion/spirituality is important to adolescents, is usually considered a protective factor against a host of negative health outcomes, and is often included in adolescent health outcomes research. Previous reviews of the relationship among spirituality, religion, and adolescent health have been limited by scope, focusing primarily on distal aspects of religion/spirituality (e.g., attendance at religious services). We reviewed the literature examining proximal domains of religion/spirituality (e.g., spiritual coping) in adolescent health outcomes research. Constructs such as spiritual coping and religious decision-making were the ones most often studied and were generally positively associated with health outcomes. Measurement of proximal domains, associations of proximal domains with health outcomes, methodological issues and recommendations for future research were covered in this review.