Are Adolescent Religious Attendance/Spirituality Associated with Family Characteristics?

Klara Malinakova, Radek Trnka, Ludmila Bartuskova, Petr Glogar, Natalia Kascakova, Michal Kalman, Jitse P. van Dijk and Peter Tavel
Additional contact information
Klara Malinakova: Olomouc University Social Health Institute, Palacký University Olomouc, 771 11 Olomouc, Czech Republic
Radek Trnka: Olomouc University Social Health Institute, Palacký University Olomouc, 771 11 Olomouc, Czech Republic
Ludmila Bartuskova: Olomouc University Social Health Institute, Palacký University Olomouc, 771 11 Olomouc, Czech Republic
Petr Glogar: Olomouc University Social Health Institute, Palacký University Olomouc, 771 11 Olomouc, Czech Republic
Natalia Kascakova: Olomouc University Social Health Institute, Palacký University Olomouc, 771 11 Olomouc, Czech Republic
Michal Kalman: Faculty of Physical Culture, Institute of Active Living, Palacký University Olomouc, 771 11 Olomouc, Czech Republic
Jitse P. van Dijk: Olomouc University Social Health Institute, Palacký University Olomouc, 771 11 Olomouc, Czech Republic
Peter Tavel: Olomouc University Social Health Institute, Palacký University Olomouc, 771 11 Olomouc, Czech Republic

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 16, 1-16

Abstract: The family environment is associated with religiosity and spirituality as well as many aspects of adolescent lives, including their health behaviour. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess family environment associations with adolescent religious attendance (RA), i.e., weekly participation in religious services, and spirituality in a highly secular country. A nationally representative sample ( n = 4182, 14.4 ± 1.1 years, 48.6% boys) of Czech adolescents participated in the 2014 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children cross-sectional study. RA, spirituality and the family environment, i.e., family communication, perceived emotional support, and parental monitoring, were measured. Higher adolescent RA was associated with lower self-reported easiness of communication with mother (odds ratio (OR) = 0.68; 99% confidence interval (99% CI) = 0.47–0.99; p < 0.01). In contrast, spiritual respondents were more likely to report both easier communication with their father (OR per standard deviation (SD) change = 1.12, 99% CI 1.02–1.23; p < 0.01) and mother (OR per SD change = 1.38 (1.23–1.55); p < 0.001) and higher perceived emotional support (OR per SD change = 1.73 (1.55–1.92); p < 0.001). Parents of respondents who attended religious services at least once a week, as well as parents of spiritual respondents, were generally more likely to monitor adolescent behaviour. Thus, this study provides information for parents, mental health workers, and pastoral carers. Further research should assess the association of a lower easiness of family communication with dissonances in adolescent–parent religiosity/spirituality and with higher parental monitoring.

Keywords: adolescent; family; communication; emotional support; parental monitoring; religion; spirituality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/16/2947/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/16/2947/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:16:p:2947-:d:258204

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().