Abstract
This study used hierarchical linear modeling to compare longitudinal patterns of adolescent religious service attendance and club attendance, and to contrast the longitudinal relations between adolescent adjustment and religious service versus club attendance. Participants included 1050 students (47% girls) encompassing a school district in Canada, who completed the survey first in grade nine and again in grades 11 and 12. Results demonstrated that patterns of religious service attendance over time were quite different from other clubs. Religious attendance was uniquely associated with several indicators of positive as well as negative adjustment. Club involvement, conversely, was only associated with positive adjustment––particularly for individuals who reported sustained involvement over time. Findings suggest that religious services may provide some unique experiences––both positive and negative––over and above what may be provided in other clubs, and that sustained, rather than sporadic participation in clubs, may be especially important for adolescent adjustment.
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Notes
While gender was not a focus of this paper, in a supplementary analysis we tested cross-level interactions for gender between religious service/club attendance and the outcome variables. The only outcome variable for which the cross-level interaction was significant was parental relationship. Specifically, for parental relationship, the interaction between religious service attendance and time was significant only for girls.
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Good, M., Willoughby, T. & Fritjers, J. Just Another Club? The Distinctiveness of the Relation Between Religious Service Attendance and Adolescent Psychosocial Adjustment. J Youth Adolescence 38, 1153–1171 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-008-9320-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-008-9320-9