title: Religion/Spirituality and adolescent psychiatric symptoms: a review.
abstract: The aim of the current article is to review the literature on religion and spirituality as it pertains to adolescent psychiatric symptoms. One hundred and fifteen articles were reviewed that examined relationships between religion/spirituality and adolescent substance use, delinquency, depression, suicidality, and anxiety. Ninety-two percent of articles reviewed found at least one significant (p < .05) relationship between religiousness and better mental health. Evidence for relationships between greater religiousness and less psychopathology was strongest in the area of teenage substance use. Methods of measuring religion/spirituality were highly heterogeneous. Further research on the relationship of religion/spirituality to delinquency, depression, suicidality, and anxiety is warranted. Measurement recommendations, research priorities, and clinical implications are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA. red@geri.duke.edu
authors.forename: Rachel Elizabeth
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Dew
authors.forename: Stephanie S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Daniel
authors.forename: Tonya D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Armstrong
authors.forename: David B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Goldston
authors.forename: Mary Frances
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Triplett
authors.forename: Harold G
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Koenig
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D012067:Religion; D029181:Spirituality