There has been substantial research evidence with adults linking religion and spirituality to improved health over the life span, including mental health. Usually, religion refers to attendance at more formal services while spirituality can include religious participation as well as private contemplation. Some of those previous studies have shown that adults who are more religious often are happier and more resilient to stress. A new study finds that children and teens raised with religious and/or spiritual practices tend to have better health and mental health outcomes as they age (Y. Chen and T. VanderWeele: Associations of religious upbringing with subsequent health and well-being from adolescence to young adulthood; American Journal of Epidemiology, Vol. 187, N. 11, 2018).
In the study, over 5000 children/teens were studied over a period of 8-14 years until they were in their 20s. The investigators examined how frequently the youth attended religious services with parents or prayed/meditated on their own. They correlated those measures with health and mental health outcomes over the study period. There were many findings. Youth who attended religious services at least once per week were 18% more likely to report being happier in their 20s than those who did not attend services. They were less likely to use drugs (33% less) and had lower risks of mental illness including depression. There also were found lower risks of some health behaviors including later age of onset of sexual activity and lessened frequency of sexually transmitted disease.
Frequent religious/spiritual practice in adolescence was found to be associated with reports of greater psychological well-being, reduced onset of smoking, and development of a more forgiving attitude contributing to a more active stress coping style. In contrast to service attendance, prayer or meditation had positive associations with a number of outcomes including emotional processing, emotional expression, and lessened physical health problems and prescription drug misuse. The study authors concluded that many children are raised religiously, and this can exert a significant effect on their mental and physical health behaviors as well as overall happiness and well-being.
So what is going on here? One line of thinking is that religious/spiritual practices may serve as a protective or buffer against adolescent tendencies toward risky and thrill seeking behavior. Religious/spiritual factors may serve as a resilience building factor as well. Certainly, the finding that many religious groups provide directives to help maintain self-control as well as fostering forgiveness and meditation, which can help youth actively cope with stress, is yet another factor underlying the effects of religious/spiritual practices. We already know that meditation alone has physically calming effects on the brain beneficial to enhanced mental health and well being. It may be that just spending time in silence, contemplation, in nature, all involve mechanisms like those seen in the study.
I remember some years back examining and presenting on similar beneficial associations of religious/spiritual practices in older adults including even slowing the progression of cognitive decline. There were some studies indicating that such practices increase the production of hormones such as endorphins which trigger a positive feeling in the body.
Therefore, parents may want to consider encouragement of service attendance and practices for their youth. These may be useful ways to help build better health and well-being. Even if you are not particularly religious in the usual sense, there may be a benefit to encouragement of fostering your youth to appreciate something bigger than themselves, such as nature. These practices of praying and meditating may be of far more value than we’ve thought. If you want more information about stress management, please see our book (I Can’t Take It Anymore: How to Manage Stress So It Doesn’t Manage You; Paul G. Longobardi, Ph.D., and Janice B. Longobardi, R.N., B.S.N., P.H.N.), available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1542458056. For more information about the book, authors, and stress, please see our website at www.manageyourhealthandstress.com.
Good luck on your journey.
Dr. Paul Longobardi
For more information about this and related topics, please see my website at www.successandmindset.com