Unpacking the role of adolescent religious affiliation in youth outcomes.

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this study was to unpack the role of adolescent religious affiliation in positive and negative youth outcomes. METHODS: We used data from Wave 1 (2002-2003) of the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR). Participants were a nationally representative sample of 3290 adolescents from across the United States. Measures were adolescent-report or parent-report items of religiousness (individual religiousness, family religiousness, peer religiousness, and religious community supportiveness) and youth outcomes (future orientation, grades, community involvement, alcohol use, sexual activity, and depression). RESULTS: First, ANOVAs revealed that four dimensions of religiousness (individual religiousness, family religiousness, peer religiousness, and religious community supportiveness) and five youth outcomes (future orientation, grades, community involvement, alcohol use, and sexual activity, but not depression), varied significantly across religious affiliation. Second, regressions examining direct effects found that the multicategorical nominal variable of religious affiliation predicted all outcomes except alcohol use and depression after accounting for the four dimensions of religiousness. Third, each of the four dimensions of religiousness mediated relations between religious affiliation and at least one of the outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: In short, religious affiliation seems to play a unique role in youth outcomes, above and beyond other dimensions of religiousness. This role of religious affiliation perhaps functions in part via individual and contextual dimensions of religiousness.

Declines in Religiousness Dimensions across Adolescence as Predictors of Religious Deidentification in Young Adulthood.

The present study examined whether declines in religiousness across adolescence precede religious deidentification in young adulthood. Data came from the National Study of Youth and Religion. Participants were religiously affiliated for the first three waves of the longitudinal study (N = 1144). Latent growth curve models found significant declines across adolescence in church attendance, prayer, scripture study, religious importance, and spirituality, whereas doubt was stable across time. Then, logistic regression models specified the latent intercepts and slopes as predictors of later (Wave 4) deidentification. Significant negative links were found for the intercepts and slopes on church attendance, prayer, scripture study, religious importance, and spirituality. For doubt, a significant, positive link was found for the intercept.

Daily moral identity: Linkages with integrity and compassion.

OBJECTIVE: The present study investigated how much variability in moral identity scores is attributable to individual differences that are stable over time and how much variability reflects daily fluctuations. METHOD: Participants (N = 138, M age = 25.11 years, SD = 10.77; 82% female) were asked to report the self-importance of three moral attributes (being honest, fair, and caring) once a day for 50 consecutive days. Ratings were decomposed into between- and within-person variability and analyzed in relation to individuals' self-reported feelings of integrity and compassion using hierarchical linear modelling. RESULTS: Daily measures of moral identity exhibited more between- than within-person variability (64% vs. 36%). Furthermore, feelings of integrity and compassion were more strongly positively correlated with moral identity on the inter-individual level than the intra-individual level. CONCLUSION: Overall, findings suggest that moral identity has both trait- and state-like characteristics and might be best conceptualized as a characteristic adaptation evidencing both stability and change.

Introduction to Special Issue: Diverse Disciplinary Approaches to the Study of Adolescent Religious and Spiritual Development.

This editorial introduces the special issue on Diverse Disciplinary Approaches to the Study of Adolescent Religious and Spiritual Development. First, a case is made for the importance of the special issue, focusing on the utility of diverse approaches in providing a richer understanding of the phenomena of interest. Second, a summary is given of the six target pieces in the special issue. These target articles were written by scholars from six disciplines doing work relevant to adolescent religious and spiritual development: developmental psychology, sociology, cultural psychology, social and personality psychology, cognitive psychology, and developmental neuroscience. It is hoped that this special issue strengthens the quality of scholarship in this research area, encourages interdisciplinary work, and enriches our understanding of adolescent religious and spiritual development.

The values of religious nones, dones, and sacralized Americans: Links between changes in religious affiliation and Schwartz values.

OBJECTIVE: Religious identification is associated with specific values, particularly conservation values that focus on social rather than personal interest. Recent research, however, suggests that the psychological repercussions of religious commitment can persist after people cease identifying as religious. We examine if this religion residue effect leads to differences in values between those who were once religious but no longer identify as religious and those who never identified as religious. METHODS: We use longitudinal survey data to examine how changes in identification with religion are associated with Schwartz's circle of values. RESULTS: Results show that religious affiliates were more likely than both those who disaffiliated across waves and those who consistently had no affiliation to endorse each of the social focus values except universalism. As hypothesized, when it came to conservation values, those who disaffiliated from religion were more similar to affiliates than were those who were consistently unaffiliated. Additional analyses showed that (a) associations between religious identification trajectories and values were largely consistent across genders, and (b) those who disaffiliated from evangelical Protestant denominations stood out from other disaffiliates. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude with a discussion of how these findings further understanding of the association between religion and personal values.

Religious Identity and Morality: Evidence for Religious Residue and Decay in Moral Foundations.

Religion provides a powerful social identity. Building on previous work demonstrating that formerly religious individuals (i.e., religious dones) more closely resemble currently religious individuals than do never religious individuals (i.e., religious nones), we report three studies examining a potential religious residue effect for the endorsement of moral foundations. In Study 1 (N = 312), we found evidence of a stairstep pattern of endorsement of the five moral foundations, descending from currently religious to formerly religious to never religious individuals. Study 2 (N = 957) replicated these findings with a larger sample. In Study 3 (N = 2,071), we found evidence for the religious residue effect in a 4-wave longitudinal study of adolescents and young adults and suggest that the residual effects of religion on endorsement of moral foundations may erode over time. These studies add to a recently burgeoning line of work on the nature and consequences of religious deidentification.

Web Application for the Automated Extraction of Diagnosis and Site From Pathology Reports for Keratinocyte Cancers.

PURPOSE: Keratinocyte cancers are exceedingly common in high-risk populations, but accurate measures of incidence are seldom derived because the burden of manually reviewing pathology reports to extract relevant diagnostic information is excessive. Thus, we sought to develop supervised learning algorithms for classifying basal and squamous cell carcinomas and other diagnoses, as well as disease site, and incorporate these into a Web application capable of processing large numbers of pathology reports. METHODS: Participants in the QSkin study were recruited in 2011 and comprised men and women age 40-69 years at baseline (N = 43,794) who were randomly selected from a population register in Queensland, Australia. Histologic data were manually extracted from free-text pathology reports for participants with histologically confirmed keratinocyte cancers for whom a pathology report was available (n = 25,786 reports). This provided a training data set for the development of algorithms capable of deriving diagnosis and site from free-text pathology reports. We calculated agreement statistics between algorithm-derived classifications and 3 independent validation data sets of manually abstracted pathology reports. RESULTS: The agreement for classifications of basal cell carcinoma (κ = 0.97 and κ = 0.96) and squamous cell carcinoma (κ = 0.93 for both) was almost perfect in 2 validation data sets but was slightly lower for a third (κ = 0.82 and κ = 0.90, respectively). Agreement for total counts of specific diagnoses was also high (κ > 0.8). Similar levels of agreement between algorithm-derived and manually extracted data were observed for classifications of keratoacanthoma and intraepidermal carcinoma. CONCLUSION: Supervised learning methods were used to develop a Web application capable of accurately and rapidly classifying large numbers of pathology reports for keratinocyte cancers and related diagnoses. Such tools may provide the means to accurately measure subtype-specific skin cancer incidence.

Transcendent motivations and virtue development in adolescent marathon runners.

OBJECTIVE: To understand how health, prosocial, and spiritual motivations correspond to changes in the virtues of self-control, patience, and interpersonal generosity among adolescents and emerging adults. METHOD: Participants included adolescent and emerging adult athletes (N = 396; 12-22 years, M = 18.42, SD = 2.03) on marathon training teams fundraising for a faith-based charity. Participants completed self-report questionnaires four times over six months. Participants were 63% female and identified as 61% Caucasian, 17% Latino/a, 10% African American, 6% Asian American, and 6% other. RESULTS: Bivariate latent growth curve models showed positive relations between baseline levels of transcendent motivations (spiritual, prosocial) and all three virtues (self-control, patience, interpersonal generosity) as well as baseline health motivation and self-control. Linear slopes in all three motivations were positively correlated with change in patience, and greater decreases in these motivations from wave 1 to wave 2 before recovering motivation in subsequent waves correlated with less change in patience. Only the linear slope in prosocial motivation positively correlated with change in generosity. None of the motivation slopes correlated with change in self-control. CONCLUSIONS: More than just sport participation is required to cultivate virtue in adolescents; instead, transcendent and non-transcendent motivations are concurrently developing for athletes who increase in prosocial virtues.

Dynamic associations between religiousness and self-regulation across adolescence into young adulthood.

Prior research has demonstrated that religiousness is associated with and potentially facilitative of self-regulation, though most of the research has been cross-sectional. The present longitudinal study examined dynamic relations between religiousness development and self-regulation formation from early adolescence into young adulthood. The sample included 500 U.S. adolescents and their parents. The data were restructured by adolescent age and analyzed from ages 11-22. The analyses involved latent curve models with structured residuals (LCM-SR). First, univariate latent growth curve models were estimated for religiousness, as well as adolescent-reports and parent-reports of adolescent behavioral self-regulation, cognitive self-regulation, and emotional self-regulation. Religiousness decreased over time while self-regulation increased (except for adolescent-report behavioral self-regulation, which followed a u-shape). Bivariate latent growth curve models pairing religiousness with each self-regulation variable found significant positive correlations between change in religiousness and change in adolescent-report cognitive and emotional self-regulation and parent-report emotional self-regulation. After adding in cross-lagged paths, relations between these slopes went away, but positive bidirectional cross-lagged associations in both directions were found between religiousness and adolescent-report cognitive self-regulation and parent-report emotional self-regulation. These results provide evidence for dynamic relations between religiousness and self-regulation across adolescence and into young adulthood. Further, the findings point to possible specificity based on the self-regulation dimension and whether data are adolescent-report or parent-report. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Longitudinal relations between substance use abstinence motivations and substance use behaviors in adolescence: A self-determination theory approach.

OBJECTIVE: We employed self-determination theory (SDT) as a framework for examining longitudinal relations between adolescents' motivations to abstain from substances and their subsequent substance use. METHOD: Participants were 475 adolescents in the United States. The data came from annual surveys following adolescents from age 16 to 19. The measures included self-reports of controlled and autonomous motivations to abstain from substances, as well as substance use frequency. RESULTS: We used structural equation modeling to estimate autoregressive cross-lagged models of controlled and autonomous abstinence motivations predicting substance use a year later (with 3 years of data on abstinence motivations and 4 years of data on substance use). Autonomous motivation predicted decreases in substance use, while controlled motivation predicted increases. Follow-up analyses also revealed that relations between abstinence motivations and substance use increase in strength with greater time lags, and decreases in autonomous abstinence motivation partially mediate the link between controlled abstinence motivation and later substance use. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated the usefulness of SDT in understanding motivations to abstain from substance use during adolescence. In line with this theoretical approach, autonomous motivations for abstinence were adaptive while controlled motivations for abstinence were maladaptive.

Processes of Religious and Spiritual Influence in Adolescence: A Systematic Review of 30 Years of Research.

This is a systematic review of 30 years (1988-2017) of empirical research on processes of religious/spiritual influence in adolescence. We followed a multi-step process that resulted in 241 studies organized according to eight research questions and the corresponding methods and analyses typically used to address them. We coded these studies based on the dimensions of religiosity/spirituality and the youth outcomes involved. In some cases (quantitative studies of mediation and moderation, as well as qualitative studies) we also coded a third process variable. Results of the coding process revealed a number of interesting patterns. First, religiosity/spirituality is generally adaptive for adolescents, protecting them from negative outcomes (e.g., risk behaviors and mental illness), and promoting positive youth development and flourishing. Nevertheless, in some contexts, religiosity/spirituality may be at least partially maladaptive. Second, there is some evidence, from experimental and longitudinal studies, that relations between religiosity/spirituality and adaptive outcomes are causal. Third, there are numerous complex and dynamic processes by which religiosity/spirituality relate to youth outcomes. In terms of mediation studies, the most salient mediating processes seem to involve religiosity/spirituality dimensions, peers, values/attitudes, and social control/norms. Fourth, religiosity/spirituality is multidimensional, involving various interwoven facets at the individual and ecological levels. Private or personal aspects of religiosity/spirituality (e.g., religious/spiritual importance) tend to be more salient predictors of outcomes than public aspects of religiosity/spirituality (e.g., religious worship service attendance). The results of this systematic review point to promising directions for future research. First, more research is needed studying a broader range of dimensions of religiosity/spirituality, processes of influence, and outcomes. In terms of religiosity/spirituality, much of the prior work has focused on overall religiosity/spirituality, and religious/spiritual behaviors (e.g., worship service attendance). In terms of outcomes, the emphasis has been on religiosity/spirituality protecting against maladaptive outcomes (e.g., substance use). Second, more research is needed examining the role of culture, and using more rigorous methods (e.g., experience sampling, experimental design, longitudinal design, or mixed methods). This systematic review provides a detailed analysis of what is known regarding processes of religious/spiritual influence in the lives of adolescents, and hopefully better positions researchers to move the field forward.

Processes of Religious and Spiritual Influence in Adolescence: Introduction to a Special Section.

This paper serves as the lead article introducing the special section of the Journal of Research on Adolescence focused on processes of religious and spiritual influence during adolescence. The purpose of the special section is to review prior theory and research on the processes by which religiosity and spirituality might influence youth outcomes, present original cutting-edge theory and research on processes of religious and spiritual influence, and point to the most fruitful directions and methodological approaches for future work in the area. The special section is guided by eight research questions which push researchers to go beyond mere bivariate associations between religion/spirituality and youth outcomes to unpacking the processes of influence at work.

The socialization of attitudes about sex and their role in adolescent pornography use.

INTRODUCTION: This study examines the socialization of conservative attitudes about sex and pornography use in later adolescence. We tested a socialization model whereby we anticipated that parent conservative sex attitudes would more strongly predict teen conservative sex attitudes when more frequent and higher quality parent-teen communication was present. We further hypothesized that teen conservative sex attitudes would mediate relations between parent conservative sex attitudes and teen pornography use over time. METHODS: The data come from three waves of the National Survey of Youth and Religion (N = 3290; ages 13 through 18; M age = 15.5). RESULTS: Path analyses found that teen sex attitudes mediated the negative link between parent sex attitudes and subsequent teen pornography use, but frequency and quality of parent-teen communication extensiveness (operationalized as frequency) and quality (operationalized as comfort) did not moderate the association between parent and teen sex attitudes. However, communication extensiveness did moderate relations between parent sex attitudes and later teen pornography use. The model was largely consistent across teen gender. CONCLUSIONS: In short, parent and teen conservative sex attitudes are developmentally linked and predictive of later teen pornography use, but the role of parent-teen communication and teen gender are complex and in need of further research.

Factor Structure of the Brief Comprehensive Effects of Alcohol Scale in Adolescents.

Alcohol use among adolescents is a public health concern; therefore, it is important that studies that examine factors associated with adolescent drinking behaviors utilize measures that are well-validated for use with this population. The current study examined the factor structure and convergent validity of the Brief Comprehensive Effects of Alcohol scale, a measure of alcohol outcome expectancies and evaluations of expected outcomes, among adolescents ( N = 1,074; 50% girls; Mage = 15.96 years, SD = 1.13, range = 13-18; 74% White) drawn from three independent studies ( nsite 1 = 594; nsite 2 = 97; and nsite 3 = 383). Results yielded support for a four-factor structure for alcohol expectancies and two-factor structure for valuations. Moreover, the factor structure was partially or fully invariant across gender, age, and site. Thus, findings are similar, yet unique, to those identified in college samples. The convergent validity of the modified measure was supported, suggesting that the Brief Comprehensive Effects of Alcohol scale may be useful for assessing adolescents' beliefs about alcohol.

Youth motivation as a predictor of treatment outcomes in a community mental health system.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between youth motivation and psychotherapy outcomes in routine community mental health settings. METHOD: One hundred fifty youth, ages 12-17, from three community mental health clinics completed the Youth Outcome Questionnaire and Treatment Support Measure at frequent intervals over the course of treatment. RESULTS: Increases in motivation followed a curvilinear trajectory. On average, youth motivation significantly increased over the course of therapy according to both self- and parent reports (p < .001). The slope for youth motivation over the course of therapy was negatively associated with the slope for mental health symptoms (p < .001). Initial youth motivation did not predict overall change or the rate of change in symptoms. However, there was significant individual variability in patterns of youth motivation. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings demonstrate that youth show increases in motivation over the course of therapy with most gains occurring in the first few sessions. Because increases in motivation over the course of therapy were related to decreases in mental health symptoms, further research is needed to examine how treatment interventions or other factors such as parent motivation may moderate this relationship. Additional research examining the likely complex relationship between initial youth motivation and treatment outcomes in community mental health settings is needed.

Bidirectional relations between different forms of prosocial behaviors and substance use among female college student athletes.

Bidirectional, longitudinal relations between alcohol and marijuana use and prosocial behaviors in women college student athletes were examined. Participants were 187 female college students (Mage = 19.87 years; 91% White) who completed questionnaires on their use of marijuana and alcohol, and six forms of prosocial behaviors across 6 years (2004-2010). The findings yield overall evidence that earlier marijuana use predicted lower levels of most specific forms of prosocial behaviors for women athletes in later young adulthood. Early expressions of altruistic behaviors predicted less marijuana use in later young adulthood. Expression of public prosocial behaviors early in young adulthood predicted higher levels of hazardous drinking in late young adulthood. These novel findings have important implications for links between prosocial development and substance use in women college athletes.

Religiousness and Levels of Hazardous Alcohol Use: A Latent Profile Analysis.

Prior person-centered research has consistently identified a subgroup of highly religious participants that uses significantly less alcohol when compared to the other subgroups. The construct of religious motivation is absent from existing examinations of the nuanced combinations of religiousness dimensions within persons, and alcohol expectancy valuations have yet to be included as outcome variables. Variable-centered approaches have found religious motivation and alcohol expectancy valuations to play a protective role against individuals' hazardous alcohol use. The current study examined latent religiousness profiles and hazardous alcohol use in a large, multisite sample of ethnically diverse college students. The sample consisted of 7412 college students aged 18-25 (M age = 19.77, SD age = 1.61; 75% female; 61% European American). Three latent profiles were derived from measures of religious involvement, salience, and religious motivations: Quest-Intrinsic Religiousness (highest levels of salience, involvement, and quest and intrinsic motivations; lowest level of extrinsic motivation), Moderate Religiousness (intermediate levels of salience, involvement, and motivations) and Extrinsic Religiousness (lowest levels of salience, involvement, and quest and intrinsic motivations; highest level of extrinsic motivation). The Quest-Intrinsic Religiousness profile scored significantly lower on hazardous alcohol use, positive expectancy outcomes, positive expectancy valuations, and negative expectancy valuations, and significantly higher on negative expectancy outcomes, compared to the other two profiles. The Extrinsic and Moderate Religiousness profiles did not differ significantly on positive expectancy outcomes, negative expectancy outcomes, negative expectancy valuations, or hazardous alcohol use. The results advance existing research by demonstrating that the protective influence of religiousness on college students' hazardous alcohol use may involve high levels on both quest and intrinsic religious motivation.

Identity in young adulthood: Links with mental health and risky behavior.

The present study was conducted to contribute to our understanding of young adult identity development by deriving latent profiles from intrapersonal and interpersonal indices of identity synthesis and confusion. A sample of 9737 college-attending young adults completed measures of identity, mental health, and health risk behaviors. Four latent profiles emerged: Synthesized (high synthesis, low confusion), Diffused (moderate synthesis, high confusion), Elevated (high synthesis and confusion), and Moderate (moderate synthesis and confusion). The Synthesized profile was associated with the highest well-being and the lowest levels of internalizing, externalizing, and health risks. The Diffused and Elevated profiles were both associated with low well-being and with high internalizing, externalizing, and risky behaviors - with the Elevated profile highest on all of the negative outcomes. The Moderate profile scored intermediately on well-being, internalizing, externalizing, and health risks. These results are discussed in terms of the role of identity within a successful transition to adulthood.

Identity Centrality and Psychosocial Functioning: A Person-Centered Approach.

There has been increased recognition that identity operates within several "components" and that not every component is likely to be equally central to one's sense of self. The aim of the current study was to determine the extent to which identity components (i.e., personal, relational, collective, and public) are differentially central to emerging adults' identity. We used a two-step cluster analytic procedure to identify distinct clusters and determine how these configurations might differ in relation to psychosocial functioning (i.e., well-being, externalizing and internalizing symptoms, illicit drug use, risky sex, and impaired driving). The sample consisted of 8,309 college students (72.8% female; M age = 19.94 years, 18-29, SD = 2.01) from 30 U.S. colleges and universities. Analyses identified six unique clusters based on the centrality of the four identity components. The findings indicated that a more well-rounded identity was associated with the most favorable psychosocial functioning. Results are discussed in terms of important directions for identity research and practical implications.

Moral Identity and Adolescent Prosocial and Antisocial Behaviors: Interactions with Moral Disengagement and Self-regulation.

Moral identity has been positively linked to prosocial behaviors and negatively linked to antisocial behaviors; but, the processes by which it is linked to such outcomes are unclear. The purpose of the present study was to examine moral identity not only as a predictor, but also as a moderator of relationships between other predictors (moral disengagement and self-regulation) and youth outcomes (prosocial and antisocial behaviors). The sample consisted of 384 adolescents (42 % female), ages 15-18 recruited from across the US using an online survey panel. Latent variables were created for moral identity, moral disengagement, and self-regulation. Structural equation models assessed these latent variables, and interactions of moral identity with moral disengagement and self-regulation, as predictors of prosocial (charity and civic engagement) and antisocial (aggression and rule breaking) behaviors. None of the interactions were significant predicting prosocial behaviors. For antisocial behaviors, the interaction between moral identity and moral disengagement predicted aggression, while the interaction between moral identity and self-regulation was significant in predicting aggression and rule breaking. Specifically, at higher levels of moral identity, the positive link between moral disengagement and aggression was weaker, and the negative link between self-regulation and both antisocial behaviors was weaker. Thus, moral identity may buffer against the maladaptive effects of high moral disengagement and low self-regulation.