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Korean American Adolescents’ Depression and Religiousness/Spirituality: Are There Gender Differences?

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine depression and religiousness/spirituality (R/S) in Korean American adolescents with an interest in exploring gender differences. The sample consisted of 182 adolescents attending ethnic Catholic churches in the NY and NJ metropolitan area. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale, and R/S was measured by the Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiousness/Spirituality. Results suggest no gender difference in depression, but a high rate of depression in both genders. Additionally, girls showed higher levels of Forgiveness and boys showed higher levels of Negative Religious Coping. Further, we found four R/S variables are associated with depression in each gender: Daily Spiritual Experiences, Forgiveness, Positive Religious Coping, and Negative Religious Coping for girls; and Forgiveness, Negative Religious Coping, Congregational Support, and Overall Self-Ranking for boys. Lastly, the four R/S variables together explained 20 % and 23 % of the variance in depression for boys and girls, respectively, with Forgiveness and Negative Religious Coping remaining significant for girls, and Negative Religious Coping staying significant for boys. The current findings are discussed along with limitations and directions for future research, and clinical implications.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Humboldt State University, 1 Harpst Street, Arcata, CA, 95521, USA

    Sangwon Kim

  2. Counseling and Psychological Services, Humboldt State University, 1 Harpst Street, Arcata, CA, 95521, USA

    Choong Yuk Kim

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  1. Sangwon Kim
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Correspondence to Sangwon Kim.

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Research Involving Human Participants

All procedures performed in the study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Kim, S., Kim, C.Y. Korean American Adolescents’ Depression and Religiousness/Spirituality: Are There Gender Differences?. Curr Psychol 36, 823–832 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-016-9471-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-016-9471-x

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