Abstract

Despite numerous studies on adolescent well-being, longitudinal research on the influence of religion on well-being is lacking, and limited studies have looked at how family and religion may work in conjunction with one another to influence adolescent well-being. This study addresses these limitations by using longitudinal data on 5,739 youth to explore whether family structure, changes in family structure, parent-child relationship quality, and religious attendance (overall and with parents) influence trajectories of psychological well-being independently and in conjunction with one another. Results support previous research in showing that parental interaction and attending religious services with parent(s) in late childhood are associated with higher psychological well-being, whereas conflict with parents and residing in a nontraditional family in late childhood are associated with lower well-being among youth. Finally, there is evidence suggesting that attending religious services with parent(s) amplifies the positive influence of parental interaction on psychological well-being, and overall levels of religious attendance over time are less likely to increase well-being among adolescents raised by single parents than for adolescents raised by married parents. Keywords: adolescence, family, parenting, religious attendance, psychological well-being Childhood and adolescence are key stages in the life course during which youth undergo a number of transitions including increased independence as well as physical and emotional changes. Although many youth are able to handle these transitions, the stress of these changes places youth at an increased risk of experiencing psychological and emotional problems (Ge, Lorenz, A large body of research has focused on exploring factors that may help to understand why adolescents may experience divergent levels of psychological well-being. Two important social factors in this discussion are family and religion. For example, residing in a family with few social or economic resources and experiencing family transitions is linked to lower psychological well-being Despite the sizable body of literature on psychological wellbeing, and the influence of family and religion on adolescent well-being in particular, the vast majority of research on religion and adolescent well-being uses cross-sectional data, and longitudinal research often focuses on only two or three waves of data This study attempted to address these gaps in the literature by using 15 years of data from the Child and Young Adult Sample of the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and focusing on four research questions. First, how do childhood family structure, parent-child relationship quality (measured as parental interaction, parental affection, and parent-child conflict), and changes in family structure throughout adolescence influence trajectories of well-being? Second, how do attending religious services with parent(s) in late childhood as well as overall rates of religious attendance throughout adolescence influence trajectories of well-being? Third, does attending religious services with parent(s) in late childhood moderate the relationship between parent-child relationship quality and psychological well-being? Finally, does family structure moderate the relationship between overall rates of religious attendance (i.e., attendance both by oneself and with others) and psychological well-being? Attending religious services with parents may add greater meaning to family relationships. Youth raised in nontraditional families may also be more likely to benefit from the social support provided by religious attendance.