"I am spiritual, but not religious": Does one without the other protect against adolescent health-risk behaviour?

International Journal of Public Health
Klara MalinakovaSijmen A Reijneveld

Abstract

Spirituality and religious attendance (RA) have been suggested to protect against adolescent health-risk behaviour (HRB). The aim of this study was to explore the interrelatedness of these two concepts in a secular environment. A nationally representative sample (n = 4566, 14.4 ± 1.1 years, 48.8% boys) of adolescents participated in the 2014 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children cross-sectional study. RA, spirituality (modified version of the Spiritual Well-Being Scale), tobacco, alcohol, cannabis and drug use and the prevalence of sexual intercourse were measured. RA and spirituality were associated with a lower chance of weekly smoking, with odds ratios (OR) 0.57 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.36-0.88] for RA and 0.88 (0.80-0.97) for spirituality. Higher spirituality was also associated with a lower risk of weekly drinking [OR (95% CI) 0.91 (0.83-0.995)]. The multiplicative interaction of RA and spirituality was associated with less risky behaviour for four of five explored HRB. RA was not a significant mediator for the association of spirituality with HRB. Our findings suggest that high spirituality only protects adolescents from HRB if combined with RA.

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Citations

Aug 21, 2019·International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health·Klara MalinakovaPeter Tavel
Apr 3, 2020·International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health·Radka ZidkovaKlara Malinakova
Dec 19, 2020·International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health·Marie BuchtovaPeter Tavel

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Software Mentioned

SPSS
R
Hmisc

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