Spirituality — religion — health. Youth’s mental health in light of the indicators of spiritual well-being

Abstract

In positive psychology, spirituality has been viewed as an element of human strengths and adaptation-prone characters. Adolescent spirituality has particularly a great significance since it may be an effective protective factor and developmental asset. In the present study, we investigated how spiritual well-being might be related to two indicators of mental health, namely, depressive symptomatology and satisfaction with life. The data collection of the questionnaire survey was going on among 656 high school students in Szeged, Hungary (age range between 14-21 years, mean = 16.5 years, SD = 1.5 years of age, 49.1% of the sample was female). Associations between depression and satisfaction with life (as dependent variables) and indicators of spiritual well-being (religious and existential well-being as independent variables) were assessed using multiple linear regression analysis (stepwise method) including other potential protective factors, such as optimism and internal/external locus of control. Correlational coefficients characterizing bidirectional connections reassured the relationship of optimism, internal locus of control, and existential well-being with lower level of depression scale points and greater amount of satisfaction with life. According to the multivariate analysis, optimism was the strongest predictor of depression that was followed by existential well-being; in terms of life satisfaction, the order was the reverse. Besides, external locus of control proned to depression as well as it worsened the level of life satisfaction. Based on these findings, we may conclude that adolescents who are optimistic, find an answer for existential requests, and do not make their decisions based on external locus of control, are less likely to have depression and more likely to be satisfied with their lives.