Religiousness and Depressive Symptoms Among Adolescents

Abstract

Examined the relations between depressive symptoms and (a) 3 standard indicators of religiousness and (b) a potentially more age-specific indicator in a sample of 744 adolescents (M age = 13.06 years, SD = 0.45). Adolescents completed the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) and the Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiousness/Spirituality. Results indicate that several dimensions of religiousness are associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms (i.e., attendance, self-ranking, and positive interpersonal religious experience), whereas negative interpersonal religious experience was associated with higher levels. These relations were not moderated by sex or ethnicity. Interpersonal religious experience had a stronger relation with depressive symptoms than did the standard dimensions of religiousness. The importance of social support during adolescence and future directions for this relatively new area of research are discussed.