Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Patterns of Spiritual Connectedness during Adolescence: Links to Coping and Adjustment in Low-Income Urban Youth

  • Empirical Research
  • Published:
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Religiosity and spirituality are influential experiences that buffer adverse effects of stressors. Spirituality typically declines during adolescence, although not universally. Using Latent Class Growth Analysis, we examined changes in spiritual connectedness among 188 early (52% female; M age = 10.77, SD = 0.65 years) and 167 middle (56% female; M age = 13.68, SD = 0.82 years) predominantly African American adolescents participating in a 4-year longitudinal study. Three distinct profiles of spiritual connectedness emerged: low and steady, moderate with declines over the study period, and high and steady. Profile distributions varied across developmental level: there were more early adolescents in the high and steady profile and more middle adolescents in the decliner profile. Youth in the high and steady profile evidenced more goal-directedness and life satisfaction and more effective emotion management and coping strategies than youth in other profiles. Contributions to the positive development literature are discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adkins, D. E., Wang, V., & Elder, G. H. (2009). Structure and stress: Trajectories of depressive symptoms across adolescence and young adulthood. Social Forces, 88, 31–60. https://doi.org/10.1353/sof.0.0238.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Avent, J. R., & Cashwell, C. S. (2015). The black church: Theology and implications for counselling African Americans. The Professional Counselor, 5, 81–90. https://doi.org/10.15241/jra.5.1.81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ayers, T., & Sandler, S. (1996). Manual for the children’s coping strategies checklist. Tempe, AZ: Arizona State University Program for Prevention Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • Billingsley, A. (1999). Mighty like a river: The black church and social reform. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brougham, R. R., Zail, C. M., Mendoza, C. M., & Miller, J. R. (2009). Stress, sex differences, and coping strategies among college students. Current Psychology, 28, 85–97. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-009-9047-0.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chandler, D. (2010). The underutilization of health services in the Black community. Journal of Black Studies, 40, 915–931. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021934708320723.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chatters, L. M., Taylor, R. J., Bullard, K. M., & Jackson, J. S. (2009). Race and ethnic differences in religious involvement: African Americans, Caribbean Blacks and Non-Hispanic Whites. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 32, 1143–1163.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, E., & Miller, G. E. (2012). “Shift-and-Persist” strategies: Why low socioeconomic status isn’t always bad for health. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7, 135–158.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Compas, B. E., Connor-Smith, J. K., Saltzman, H., Thomsen, A. H., & Wadsworth, M. E. (2001). Coping with stress during childhood and adolescence: Problems, progress, and potential in theory and research. Psychological Bulletin, 127, 87–127.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cotton, S., Larkin, E., Hoopes, A., Cromer, B. A., & Rosenthal, S. L. (2005). The impact of adolescent spirituality on depressive symptoms and health risk behaviours. Journal of Adolescent Health, 36, 529.e7–529.e14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cotton, S., Zebracki, K., Rosenthal, S. L., Tsevat, J., & Drotar, D. (2006). Religion/spirituality and adolescent health outcomes: A review. Journal of Adolescent Health, 38, 472–480.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Denton, M. L., Pearce, L. D., & Smith, C. (2008). Religion and spirituality on the path through adolescence,research report number 8. National Study of Youth and Religion, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. https://youthandreligion.nd.edu/assets/102568/religion_and_spirituality_on_the_path_through_adolescence.pdf. Accessed May 18, 2018..

  • Desmond, S. A., Morgan, K. H., & Kikuchi, G. (2010). Religious development: How (and why) does religiosity change from adolescence to young adulthood? Sociological Perspectives, 53, 247–270.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dill, L. J. (2017). “Wearing my spiritual jacket”: The role of spirituality as a coping mechanism among African American Youth. Health Education and Behavior, 44, 696–704.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Douglas, K. B., & Hopson, R. E. (2001). Understanding the black church: The dynamics of change. The Journal of Religious Thought, 56/57, 95–113.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dyson, J., Cobb, M., & Forman, D. (1997). The meaning of spirituality: A literature review. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 26, 1183–11838.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Emmons, R. A., Cheung, C., & Tehrani, K. (1998). Assessing spirituality through personal goals: Implications for research on religion and subjective well-being. Social Indicators Research, 45, 391–422.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fernando, C., & Ferrari, M. (2011). Spirituality and resilience in children of war in Sri Lanka. Journal of Spirituality in Mental Health, 13, 52–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, J. (2011). The four domains model: Connecting spirituality, health and well-being. Religions, 2, 17–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gaylord-Harden, N. K., Cunningham, J. A., Holmbeck, G. N., & Grant, K. E. (2010). Suppressor effects in coping research with African American adolescents from low-income communities. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 78, 843–855.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gallup, G., & Lindsay, D. (1999). Surveying the religious landscape: trends in US Beliefs. Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Good, M., & Willoughby, T. (2008). Adolescence as a sensitive period for spiritual development. Child Development Perspectives, 2, 32–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greening, L., & Stoppelbein, L. (2002). Religiosity, attributional style, and social support as psychosocial buffers for African American and White adolescents’ perceived risk for suicide. Suicide Life Threatening Behaviour, 32, 404–417.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hendricks, L., Bore, S., & Waller, L. R. (2012). An examination of spirituality in the African American Church. National Forum of Multicultural Issues Journal, 9, 1–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hill, P. C., & Pargament, K. I. (2003). Advances in the conceptualization and measurement of religion and spirituality: Implications for physical and mental health research. American Psychologist, 58, 64–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holder, M. D., Coleman, B., & Wallace, J. M. (2010). Spirituality, religiousness, and happiness in children aged 8–12 minority adolescent stress and coping years. Journal of Happiness Studies, 11, 131–150.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holder, D. W., DuRant, R. H., Harris, T. L., Daniel, J. H., Odeidallah, D., & Goodman, E. (2000). The association between adolescent spirituality and voluntary sexual activity. Journal of Adolescent Health, 26, 295–302.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holen, S., Lervag, A., Waaktaar, T., & Ystgaard, M. (2012). Exploring the associations between coping patterns for everyday stressors and mental health in young school-children. Journal of School Psychology, 50, 167–193. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2011.10.006.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • James, W. (1902). The varieties of religious experience: A study in human nature. New York, NY: Longmans, Green and Co.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Jennings, J., Kliewer, W., Gsell, M., & Worthington, E. (2014). Religion and spirituality during adolescence. In T. P. Gullotta & M. Bloom (Eds.), Encyclopedia of primary prevention and health promotion. 2nd ed (pp. 1424–1433). New York, NY: Kluwer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jung, T., & Wickrama, K. A. S. (2008). An introduction to latent class growth analysis and growth mixture modeling. Social and Personality Compas, 2/1, 302–317.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelley, B. S., & Miller, L. (2007). Life satisfaction and spirituality in adolescents. In R. L. Piedmont (Ed.), Research in the social scientific study of religion, Vol. 18 (pp. 233–262). Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Kelsey, J., & Simons, J. (2014). The challenges of adolescence. Journal of Child Health Care. http://journals.sagepub.com/pb-assets/cmscontent/CHC/The%20Challenges%20of%20adolescence.pdf

  • Kim, S., Miles-Mason, E., Kim, C. Y., & Esquivel, G. B. (2012). Religiosity/spirituality and life satisfaction in Korean American adolescents. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 5, 33–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • King, P. E., Clardy, C. E., & Ramos, J. S. (2014). Adolescent spiritual exemplars: Exploring spirituality in the lives of diverse youth. Journal of Adolescent Research, 29, 186–212. https://doi.org/10.1177/0743558413502534.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kliewer, W., & Murrelle, L. (2007). Risk and protective factors for adolescent substance use: Findings from a study in selected Central American countries. Journal of Adolescent Health, 40, 448–455.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York, NY: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, D. B., & Neblett, E. W. (2017). Religious development in African American adolescents: Growth patterns that offer protection. Child Development (Advance Online First). https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12896

  • Lincoln, C. E., & Mamiya, L. H. (1990). The Black Church in the African American experience. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lo, Y., Mendell, N. R., & Rubin, D. B. (2001). Testing the number of components in a normal mixture. Biometrika, 88, 767–778.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luthar, S. S., & Goldstein, A. (2004). Moderators of children’s exposure to community violence: A commentary. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 33, 499–505.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mattis, J. S., & Mattis, J. H. (2011). Religiosity and spirituality in the lives of African American children. In N. E. Hill, T. L. Mann & H. E. Fitzgerald (Eds.), African American children and mental health (pp. 125–149). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Michaelson, V., Brooks, F., Jirasek, I., Inchley, J., Whitehead, R., & King, N., TheHBSC Child Spiritual Health Writing Group. (2016). developmental patterns of adolescent spiritual health in sex countries. SSm-Population Health, 2, 294–303. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2016.03.006.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, W. R., & Thoresen, C. E. (2003). Spirituality, religion, and health: An emerging research field. American Psychologist, 58, 24–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moreira-Almeida, A., & Koenig, H. G. (2006). Retaining the meaning of the words religiousness and spirituality: A commentary on the WHOQOL SRPB group’s “A cross-cultural study of spirituality, religion, and personal beliefs as components of quality of life”. Social Science & Medicine, 63, 843–845. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2006.03.001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moreira-Almeida, A., Neto, F. L., & Koenig, H. G. (2006). Religiousness and mental health: A review. Revista Brasileira Délelőtt Psiquiatria, 28, 242–250.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (1998–2017). Mplus user’s guide. 8th ed. Los Angeles, CA: Author.

  • Pew Research Center (2014). Religious landscape study. http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/racial-and-ethnic-composition/black/

  • Reynolds, N., Mrug, S., & Guion, K. (2013). Spiritual coping and psychological adjustment of adolescents with chronic illness: The role of cognitive attribution and disease group. Journal of Adolescent Health, 52, 559–565.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sawatzky, R., Gadermann, A., & Pesut, B. (2009). An investigation of the relationships between spirituality, health status and quality of life in adolescents. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 4, 5–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shields, A., & Cicchetti, D. (1997). Emotion regulation among school-age children: The Development and Validation of a New Criterion Q-sort Scale. Developmental Psychology, 33, 906–916.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, C. (2003). Theorizing religious effects among American adolescents. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 42, 17–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, C. (2005). Soul searching: The religious and spiritual lives of American teenagers. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Souza, V. D., Frizzo, H. C. F., de Paiva, M. H. P., Bousso, R. S., & Santos, A. S. (2015). Spirituality, religion and personal beliefs of adolescents with cancer. Revista Brasileira Délelőtt Emfermagem, 68, 509–514.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, R. J., Chatters, L. M., & Brown, R. K. (2014). African American religious participation: A multi-sample comparison. Review of Religious Research, 56, 513–538.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, R. J., Chatters, L. M., & Levin, J. (2004). Religion in the Lives of African Americans: Social, Psychological and Health Perspectives. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tingen, M. S., Andrews, J. O., Heath, J., Turnmire, A. E., Waller, J. L., & Treiber, F. A. (2013). Comparison of enrollment rates of African-American families into a school-based tobacco prevention trial using two recruitment strategies in urban and rural settings. American Journal of Health Promotion, 27, e91–e100. https://doi.org/10.4278/ajhp.110204-QUAN-53.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vaillant, G. E. (1998). Where do we go from here? Journal of Personality, 66, 1147–1157.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Valois, R. F., Zullig, K. J., Huebner, E. S., & Drane, J. W. (2001). Relationship between life satisfaction and violent behaviors among adolescents. American Journal of Health Behavior, 25, 353–366.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vishkin, A., Bigman, Y. E., Porat, R., Solak, N., Halperin, E., & Tamir, M. (2016). God rest our hearts: religiosity and cognitive reappraisal. Emotion, 16, 252–262.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vishkin, A., Bigman, Y., & Tamir, M. (2014). Religion, emotion regulation, and well-being. In C. Kim-Prieto (Ed.), Positive psychology of religion and spirituality across cultures (pp. 247–270). New York, NY: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wallace, J. M., Forman, T. A., Caldwell, C. H., & Willis, D. S. (2003). Religion and U.S. secondary school students: Current patterns, recent trends, and sociodemographic correlates. Youth & Society, 35, 98–125.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weinberg, A., & Klonsky, E. D. (2009). Measurement of emotion dysregulation in adolescents. Psychological Assessment, 21, 616–621.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weinstein, S. M., Mermelstein, R., Shiffman, S., & Flay, B. (2008). Mood variability and cigarette smoking escalation among adolescents. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 22, 504–513.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whitley, R. (2012). “Thank you God:” Religion and recovery from dual diagnosis among low-income African Americans. Transcultural Psychiatry, 49, 87–104. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363461511425099.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wills, T. A., Pokhrel, P., Morehouse, E., & Fenster, B. (2011). Behavioral and emotional regulation and adolescent substance use problems: A test of moderation effects in a dual-process model. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 25, 279–292.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilmore, G. S. (1998). Black religion and black radicalism: An interpretation of the religious history of African Americans. 3rd ed. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Winters, K. C., & Henly, G. A. (1989). Personal Experience Inventory (PEI) test and manual. Los Angeles, CA: Western Psychological Services.

    Google Scholar 

  • Winters, K. C., Latimer, W. W., Stinchfield, R. D., & Egan, E. (2004). Measuring adolescent drug abuse and psychosocial factors in four ethnic groups of drug-abusing boys. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 12, 227–236.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank the families who participated in this study and the research staff who supported this work.

Authors’ Contributions

A. W. W. drafted portions of the manuscript and participated in interpretation of the data. J. S. Y. drafted and edited portions of the manuscript. W. K. conceived of the study, participated in its design and coordination, performed the statistical analysis, and drafted portions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Data Sharing and Declaration

This manuscript’s data will not be deposited.

Funding

This research was supported by National Institute on Drug Abuse Grants K01 DA015442-01A1 and R21 DA 020086-02 awarded to Wendy Kliewer.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, 23284, USA

    Anna W. Wright & Wendy Kliewer

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana

    Joana Salifu Yendork

Authors
  1. Anna W. Wright
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Joana Salifu Yendork
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Wendy Kliewer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wendy Kliewer.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards of Virginia Commonwealth University and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Written informed consent was provided by the maternal caregiver and assent was provided by the adolescent prior to initiating the data collection.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wright, A.W., Yendork, J.S. & Kliewer, W. Patterns of Spiritual Connectedness during Adolescence: Links to Coping and Adjustment in Low-Income Urban Youth. J Youth Adolescence 47, 2608–2624 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-018-0886-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-018-0886-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation