Declines in Religiousness Dimensions across Adolescence as Predictors of Religious Deidentification in Young Adulthood.

The present study examined whether declines in religiousness across adolescence precede religious deidentification in young adulthood. Data came from the National Study of Youth and Religion. Participants were religiously affiliated for the first three waves of the longitudinal study (N = 1144). Latent growth curve models found significant declines across adolescence in church attendance, prayer, scripture study, religious importance, and spirituality, whereas doubt was stable across time. Then, logistic regression models specified the latent intercepts and slopes as predictors of later (Wave 4) deidentification. Significant negative links were found for the intercepts and slopes on church attendance, prayer, scripture study, religious importance, and spirituality. For doubt, a significant, positive link was found for the intercept.

Unpacking the role of adolescent religious affiliation in youth outcomes.

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this study was to unpack the role of adolescent religious affiliation in positive and negative youth outcomes. METHODS: We used data from Wave 1 (2002-2003) of the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR). Participants were a nationally representative sample of 3290 adolescents from across the United States. Measures were adolescent-report or parent-report items of religiousness (individual religiousness, family religiousness, peer religiousness, and religious community supportiveness) and youth outcomes (future orientation, grades, community involvement, alcohol use, sexual activity, and depression). RESULTS: First, ANOVAs revealed that four dimensions of religiousness (individual religiousness, family religiousness, peer religiousness, and religious community supportiveness) and five youth outcomes (future orientation, grades, community involvement, alcohol use, and sexual activity, but not depression), varied significantly across religious affiliation. Second, regressions examining direct effects found that the multicategorical nominal variable of religious affiliation predicted all outcomes except alcohol use and depression after accounting for the four dimensions of religiousness. Third, each of the four dimensions of religiousness mediated relations between religious affiliation and at least one of the outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: In short, religious affiliation seems to play a unique role in youth outcomes, above and beyond other dimensions of religiousness. This role of religious affiliation perhaps functions in part via individual and contextual dimensions of religiousness.

Daily moral identity: Linkages with integrity and compassion.

OBJECTIVE: The present study investigated how much variability in moral identity scores is attributable to individual differences that are stable over time and how much variability reflects daily fluctuations. METHOD: Participants (N = 138, M age = 25.11 years, SD = 10.77; 82% female) were asked to report the self-importance of three moral attributes (being honest, fair, and caring) once a day for 50 consecutive days. Ratings were decomposed into between- and within-person variability and analyzed in relation to individuals' self-reported feelings of integrity and compassion using hierarchical linear modelling. RESULTS: Daily measures of moral identity exhibited more between- than within-person variability (64% vs. 36%). Furthermore, feelings of integrity and compassion were more strongly positively correlated with moral identity on the inter-individual level than the intra-individual level. CONCLUSION: Overall, findings suggest that moral identity has both trait- and state-like characteristics and might be best conceptualized as a characteristic adaptation evidencing both stability and change.

The values of religious nones, dones, and sacralized Americans: Links between changes in religious affiliation and Schwartz values.

OBJECTIVE: Religious identification is associated with specific values, particularly conservation values that focus on social rather than personal interest. Recent research, however, suggests that the psychological repercussions of religious commitment can persist after people cease identifying as religious. We examine if this religion residue effect leads to differences in values between those who were once religious but no longer identify as religious and those who never identified as religious. METHODS: We use longitudinal survey data to examine how changes in identification with religion are associated with Schwartz's circle of values. RESULTS: Results show that religious affiliates were more likely than both those who disaffiliated across waves and those who consistently had no affiliation to endorse each of the social focus values except universalism. As hypothesized, when it came to conservation values, those who disaffiliated from religion were more similar to affiliates than were those who were consistently unaffiliated. Additional analyses showed that (a) associations between religious identification trajectories and values were largely consistent across genders, and (b) those who disaffiliated from evangelical Protestant denominations stood out from other disaffiliates. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude with a discussion of how these findings further understanding of the association between religion and personal values.

Longitudinal relations between substance use abstinence motivations and substance use behaviors in adolescence: A self-determination theory approach.

OBJECTIVE: We employed self-determination theory (SDT) as a framework for examining longitudinal relations between adolescents' motivations to abstain from substances and their subsequent substance use. METHOD: Participants were 475 adolescents in the United States. The data came from annual surveys following adolescents from age 16 to 19. The measures included self-reports of controlled and autonomous motivations to abstain from substances, as well as substance use frequency. RESULTS: We used structural equation modeling to estimate autoregressive cross-lagged models of controlled and autonomous abstinence motivations predicting substance use a year later (with 3 years of data on abstinence motivations and 4 years of data on substance use). Autonomous motivation predicted decreases in substance use, while controlled motivation predicted increases. Follow-up analyses also revealed that relations between abstinence motivations and substance use increase in strength with greater time lags, and decreases in autonomous abstinence motivation partially mediate the link between controlled abstinence motivation and later substance use. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated the usefulness of SDT in understanding motivations to abstain from substance use during adolescence. In line with this theoretical approach, autonomous motivations for abstinence were adaptive while controlled motivations for abstinence were maladaptive.

Transcendent motivations and virtue development in adolescent marathon runners.

OBJECTIVE: To understand how health, prosocial, and spiritual motivations correspond to changes in the virtues of self-control, patience, and interpersonal generosity among adolescents and emerging adults. METHOD: Participants included adolescent and emerging adult athletes (N = 396; 12-22 years, M = 18.42, SD = 2.03) on marathon training teams fundraising for a faith-based charity. Participants completed self-report questionnaires four times over six months. Participants were 63% female and identified as 61% Caucasian, 17% Latino/a, 10% African American, 6% Asian American, and 6% other. RESULTS: Bivariate latent growth curve models showed positive relations between baseline levels of transcendent motivations (spiritual, prosocial) and all three virtues (self-control, patience, interpersonal generosity) as well as baseline health motivation and self-control. Linear slopes in all three motivations were positively correlated with change in patience, and greater decreases in these motivations from wave 1 to wave 2 before recovering motivation in subsequent waves correlated with less change in patience. Only the linear slope in prosocial motivation positively correlated with change in generosity. None of the motivation slopes correlated with change in self-control. CONCLUSIONS: More than just sport participation is required to cultivate virtue in adolescents; instead, transcendent and non-transcendent motivations are concurrently developing for athletes who increase in prosocial virtues.

Processes of Religious and Spiritual Influence in Adolescence: Introduction to a Special Section.

This paper serves as the lead article introducing the special section of the Journal of Research on Adolescence focused on processes of religious and spiritual influence during adolescence. The purpose of the special section is to review prior theory and research on the processes by which religiosity and spirituality might influence youth outcomes, present original cutting-edge theory and research on processes of religious and spiritual influence, and point to the most fruitful directions and methodological approaches for future work in the area. The special section is guided by eight research questions which push researchers to go beyond mere bivariate associations between religion/spirituality and youth outcomes to unpacking the processes of influence at work.

Processes of Religious and Spiritual Influence in Adolescence: A Systematic Review of 30 Years of Research.

This is a systematic review of 30 years (1988-2017) of empirical research on processes of religious/spiritual influence in adolescence. We followed a multi-step process that resulted in 241 studies organized according to eight research questions and the corresponding methods and analyses typically used to address them. We coded these studies based on the dimensions of religiosity/spirituality and the youth outcomes involved. In some cases (quantitative studies of mediation and moderation, as well as qualitative studies) we also coded a third process variable. Results of the coding process revealed a number of interesting patterns. First, religiosity/spirituality is generally adaptive for adolescents, protecting them from negative outcomes (e.g., risk behaviors and mental illness), and promoting positive youth development and flourishing. Nevertheless, in some contexts, religiosity/spirituality may be at least partially maladaptive. Second, there is some evidence, from experimental and longitudinal studies, that relations between religiosity/spirituality and adaptive outcomes are causal. Third, there are numerous complex and dynamic processes by which religiosity/spirituality relate to youth outcomes. In terms of mediation studies, the most salient mediating processes seem to involve religiosity/spirituality dimensions, peers, values/attitudes, and social control/norms. Fourth, religiosity/spirituality is multidimensional, involving various interwoven facets at the individual and ecological levels. Private or personal aspects of religiosity/spirituality (e.g., religious/spiritual importance) tend to be more salient predictors of outcomes than public aspects of religiosity/spirituality (e.g., religious worship service attendance). The results of this systematic review point to promising directions for future research. First, more research is needed studying a broader range of dimensions of religiosity/spirituality, processes of influence, and outcomes. In terms of religiosity/spirituality, much of the prior work has focused on overall religiosity/spirituality, and religious/spiritual behaviors (e.g., worship service attendance). In terms of outcomes, the emphasis has been on religiosity/spirituality protecting against maladaptive outcomes (e.g., substance use). Second, more research is needed examining the role of culture, and using more rigorous methods (e.g., experience sampling, experimental design, longitudinal design, or mixed methods). This systematic review provides a detailed analysis of what is known regarding processes of religious/spiritual influence in the lives of adolescents, and hopefully better positions researchers to move the field forward.

The socialization of attitudes about sex and their role in adolescent pornography use.

INTRODUCTION: This study examines the socialization of conservative attitudes about sex and pornography use in later adolescence. We tested a socialization model whereby we anticipated that parent conservative sex attitudes would more strongly predict teen conservative sex attitudes when more frequent and higher quality parent-teen communication was present. We further hypothesized that teen conservative sex attitudes would mediate relations between parent conservative sex attitudes and teen pornography use over time. METHODS: The data come from three waves of the National Survey of Youth and Religion (N = 3290; ages 13 through 18; M age = 15.5). RESULTS: Path analyses found that teen sex attitudes mediated the negative link between parent sex attitudes and subsequent teen pornography use, but frequency and quality of parent-teen communication extensiveness (operationalized as frequency) and quality (operationalized as comfort) did not moderate the association between parent and teen sex attitudes. However, communication extensiveness did moderate relations between parent sex attitudes and later teen pornography use. The model was largely consistent across teen gender. CONCLUSIONS: In short, parent and teen conservative sex attitudes are developmentally linked and predictive of later teen pornography use, but the role of parent-teen communication and teen gender are complex and in need of further research.

Youth motivation as a predictor of treatment outcomes in a community mental health system.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between youth motivation and psychotherapy outcomes in routine community mental health settings. METHOD: One hundred fifty youth, ages 12-17, from three community mental health clinics completed the Youth Outcome Questionnaire and Treatment Support Measure at frequent intervals over the course of treatment. RESULTS: Increases in motivation followed a curvilinear trajectory. On average, youth motivation significantly increased over the course of therapy according to both self- and parent reports (p < .001). The slope for youth motivation over the course of therapy was negatively associated with the slope for mental health symptoms (p < .001). Initial youth motivation did not predict overall change or the rate of change in symptoms. However, there was significant individual variability in patterns of youth motivation. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings demonstrate that youth show increases in motivation over the course of therapy with most gains occurring in the first few sessions. Because increases in motivation over the course of therapy were related to decreases in mental health symptoms, further research is needed to examine how treatment interventions or other factors such as parent motivation may moderate this relationship. Additional research examining the likely complex relationship between initial youth motivation and treatment outcomes in community mental health settings is needed.

Adolescent Motivations to Engage in Pro-Social Behaviors and Abstain From Health-Risk Behaviors: A Self-Determination Theory Approach.

The present study used self-determination theory to examine adolescents' motivations to engage in charitable donating and community volunteering and to abstain from sexual intercourse and marijuana use. The sample consisted of 419 late adolescents recruited from across the country through an online survey panel. Participants completed online measures of motivations to engage in donating and volunteering, motivations to abstain from sex and marijuana, and single-item indexes of the four behaviors. Variable-centered analyses (correlation and regression) found evidence for a general motivational factor, motivational specificity by behavioral domain (positive and negative behaviors), motivational specificity by particular behavior (charitable donating, volunteering, sexual risk-taking, and marijuana use), and a stronger relative role for autonomous motivations than controlled motivations. Person-centered analyses (cluster analysis) found four motivation profiles (low motivation, medium motivation, high motivation, and mixed motivation) for all four behaviors and suggested that level of autonomous motivation was a key factor differentiating the groups on levels of behavior. The findings suggest different levels of motivational specificity and highlight the importance of autonomous motivations in predicting behaviors as compared to controlled motivations. Further, similar patterns were found for motivations to engage and to abstain.

Moral Identity and Adolescent Prosocial and Antisocial Behaviors: Interactions with Moral Disengagement and Self-regulation.

Moral identity has been positively linked to prosocial behaviors and negatively linked to antisocial behaviors; but, the processes by which it is linked to such outcomes are unclear. The purpose of the present study was to examine moral identity not only as a predictor, but also as a moderator of relationships between other predictors (moral disengagement and self-regulation) and youth outcomes (prosocial and antisocial behaviors). The sample consisted of 384 adolescents (42 % female), ages 15-18 recruited from across the US using an online survey panel. Latent variables were created for moral identity, moral disengagement, and self-regulation. Structural equation models assessed these latent variables, and interactions of moral identity with moral disengagement and self-regulation, as predictors of prosocial (charity and civic engagement) and antisocial (aggression and rule breaking) behaviors. None of the interactions were significant predicting prosocial behaviors. For antisocial behaviors, the interaction between moral identity and moral disengagement predicted aggression, while the interaction between moral identity and self-regulation was significant in predicting aggression and rule breaking. Specifically, at higher levels of moral identity, the positive link between moral disengagement and aggression was weaker, and the negative link between self-regulation and both antisocial behaviors was weaker. Thus, moral identity may buffer against the maladaptive effects of high moral disengagement and low self-regulation.

Religiousness and Levels of Hazardous Alcohol Use: A Latent Profile Analysis.

Prior person-centered research has consistently identified a subgroup of highly religious participants that uses significantly less alcohol when compared to the other subgroups. The construct of religious motivation is absent from existing examinations of the nuanced combinations of religiousness dimensions within persons, and alcohol expectancy valuations have yet to be included as outcome variables. Variable-centered approaches have found religious motivation and alcohol expectancy valuations to play a protective role against individuals' hazardous alcohol use. The current study examined latent religiousness profiles and hazardous alcohol use in a large, multisite sample of ethnically diverse college students. The sample consisted of 7412 college students aged 18-25 (M age = 19.77, SD age = 1.61; 75% female; 61% European American). Three latent profiles were derived from measures of religious involvement, salience, and religious motivations: Quest-Intrinsic Religiousness (highest levels of salience, involvement, and quest and intrinsic motivations; lowest level of extrinsic motivation), Moderate Religiousness (intermediate levels of salience, involvement, and motivations) and Extrinsic Religiousness (lowest levels of salience, involvement, and quest and intrinsic motivations; highest level of extrinsic motivation). The Quest-Intrinsic Religiousness profile scored significantly lower on hazardous alcohol use, positive expectancy outcomes, positive expectancy valuations, and negative expectancy valuations, and significantly higher on negative expectancy outcomes, compared to the other two profiles. The Extrinsic and Moderate Religiousness profiles did not differ significantly on positive expectancy outcomes, negative expectancy outcomes, negative expectancy valuations, or hazardous alcohol use. The results advance existing research by demonstrating that the protective influence of religiousness on college students' hazardous alcohol use may involve high levels on both quest and intrinsic religious motivation.

Identity in young adulthood: Links with mental health and risky behavior.

The present study was conducted to contribute to our understanding of young adult identity development by deriving latent profiles from intrapersonal and interpersonal indices of identity synthesis and confusion. A sample of 9737 college-attending young adults completed measures of identity, mental health, and health risk behaviors. Four latent profiles emerged: Synthesized (high synthesis, low confusion), Diffused (moderate synthesis, high confusion), Elevated (high synthesis and confusion), and Moderate (moderate synthesis and confusion). The Synthesized profile was associated with the highest well-being and the lowest levels of internalizing, externalizing, and health risks. The Diffused and Elevated profiles were both associated with low well-being and with high internalizing, externalizing, and risky behaviors - with the Elevated profile highest on all of the negative outcomes. The Moderate profile scored intermediately on well-being, internalizing, externalizing, and health risks. These results are discussed in terms of the role of identity within a successful transition to adulthood.

Religiousness and hazardous alcohol use: a conditional indirect effects model.

The current study examined a conditional indirect effects model of the association between religiousness and adolescents' hazardous alcohol use. In doing so, we responded to the need to include both mediators and moderators, and the need for theoretically informed models when examining religiousness and adolescents' alcohol use. The sample consisted of 383 adolescents, aged 15-18, who completed an online questionnaire. Results of structural equation modeling supported the proposed model. Religiousness was indirectly associated with hazardous alcohol use through both positive alcohol expectancy outcomes and negative alcohol expectancy valuations. Significant moderating effects for alcohol expectancy valuations on the association between alcohol expectancies and alcohol use were also found. The effects for alcohol expectancy valuations confirm valuations as a distinct construct to that of alcohol expectancy outcomes, and offer support for the protective role of internalized religiousness on adolescents' hazardous alcohol use as a function of expectancy valuations.

The roles of identity formation and moral identity in college student mental health, health-risk behaviors, and psychological well-being.

OBJECTIVES: This study examined the roles of identity formation and moral identity in predicting college student mental health (anxiety and depressive symptoms), health-risk behaviors (hazardous alcohol use and sexual risk taking), and psychological well-being (self-esteem and meaning). METHOD: The sample comprised 9,500 college students (aged 18-25 years, mean = 19.78, standard deviation = 1.61; 73% female; 62% European American), from 31 different universities, who completed an online self-report survey. RESULTS: Structural equation models found that identity maturity (commitment making and identity synthesis) predicted 5 of the health outcomes (except sexual risk taking), and moral identity predicted all of the health outcomes. In most cases identity maturity and moral identity also interacted in predicting mental health and psychological well-being, but not health-risk behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: The maturity and specific contents of identity may both play unique and often interactive roles in predicting college student health. Thus, college student health might be bolstered by helping them establish appropriate identity commitments.

Identity dimensions and related processes in emerging adulthood: helpful or harmful?

OBJECTIVES: The current study evaluated the mediational role of well-being in the relationship between identity development and psychosocial functioning. METHOD: A sample of 7,649 undergraduate students (73% female; mean age = 19.95, standard deviation = 1.98; 62% Caucasian) completed measures of personal identity, well-being, internalizing symptoms, externalizing problems, and health-risk behaviors. RESULTS: Results revealed that (a) identity exploration and commitment were negatively associated with internalizing symptoms, health-risk behaviors, and externalizing problems through well-being, (b) ruminative exploration was negatively associated with well-being and positively associated with externalizing problems, and (c) increased levels of ruminative exploration appear more detrimental for men than for women. CONCLUSION: The study shed light on the mechanisms through which identity processes are related to internalizing symptoms, externalizing problems, and health-risk behaviors. The role of well-being in these associations, and the potentially deleterious "side effects" of exploration and commitment appear to suggest new and important directions for identity research.

Adolescent-parent attachment as a mediator of relations between parenting and adolescent social behavior and wellbeing in China.

The purpose of this study was to examine links between parenting dimensions (authoritative parenting, psychological control, and parental authority) and adolescent wellbeing (self-esteem, autonomy, and peer attachments) as mediated by parent-teen attachment, among Chinese families. The sample included 298 Chinese adolescents, ages 15-18 years (M(age) = 16.36, SD = .68; 60% female). The mediation model was examined using path analyses (one model with parental authority as overprotection, and one with it as perceived behavioral control). To improve model fit a direct path was added from authoritative parenting to autonomy. Authoritative parenting was positively predictive of attachment, while psychological control and overprotection (but not behavioral control) were negative predictors. In turn, adolescent-parent attachment was positively related to the three outcomes. Lastly, the model paths did not differ by adolescent gender. These findings suggest that parenting behaviors may play a crucial role in adolescent social behaviors and wellbeing via adolescent-parent attachment.

Relational and social-cognitive correlates of early adolescents' forgiveness of parents.

This study examined how mother and father-child relationship quality and marital forgiveness were related to early adolescents' forgiveness of mothers and fathers. Adolescents' social-cognitive skills (empathy and emotional regulation) and parents' forgiveness of child were examined as mediators. Mother, father, and child self-reported questionnaires and observational data were taken from Time 1 and Time 3 (two years later) of the Flourishing Families Project, and included 334 two-parent families with an early adolescent (M age at Time 1 = 11.24; 51% male; 76% Caucasian). Using path analyses via structure equation modeling, mother-child relationship quality and adolescents' own social-cognitive skills were salient correlates of adolescents' forgiveness toward parents. The unique contributions of mothers and fathers, differences by reporter, and the importance of studying forgiveness within the parent-child relationship are discussed.

Examining the light and dark sides of emerging adults' identity: a study of identity status differences in positive and negative psychosocial functioning.

Identity is a critical developmental task during the transition to adulthood in Western societies. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate an empirically based, cluster-analytic identity status model, to examine whether all four of Marcia's identity statuses (diffusion, foreclosure, moratorium, and achievement) would emerge empirically, and to identify different patterns of identity formation among American college-attending emerging adults. An ethnically diverse sample of 9,034 emerging-adult students (73% female; mean age 19.73 years) from 30 U.S. universities completed measures of identity exploration (ruminative, in breadth, and in depth) and commitment (commitment making and identification with commitment), identity synthesis and confusion, positive and negative psychosocial functioning, and health-compromising behaviors. The identity status cluster solution that emerged provided an adequate fit to the data and included all four of Marcia's original identity statuses, along with Carefree Diffusion and Undifferentiated statuses. Results provided evidence for concurrent validity, construct validity, and practical applicability of these statuses. Implications for identity research are discussed.