In plain language
Many studies have linked religiousness to better wellbeing in young people, but almost none have directly compared teenagers who believe in God with those who identify as agnostic or atheist. Most previous research relied on indirect indicators like church attendance rather than asking about belief itself. This study set out to fill that gap by comparing the psychological profiles of adolescent believers, agnostics, and atheists.
The researchers surveyed 1,925 Grade 8 students enrolled in Catholic schools in two Australian states. Students completed ten measures of psychological functioning covering positive adjustment (such as subjective wellbeing, self-esteem, and hope), social wellbeing (such as empathy and support from parents, friends, and teachers), and negative outcomes (such as general mental health problems and antisocial behaviour). The team used profile analysis to compare not only how high each group scored, but the distinctive shape of each group's psychological profile.
Belief in God was associated with distinct profiles of psychological adjustment. Believers scored significantly higher than atheists on virtually every measure, and on several measures scores declined stepwise from believers to agnostics to atheists — suggesting that even uncertainty about God's existence was associated with better functioning than outright disbelief. Importantly, a follow-up analysis showed the effects were tied to belief itself, not simply to being Catholic in a Catholic school. The findings shed light on how different value and meaning systems relate to wellbeing during a critical developmental stage, though the cross-sectional design means the study cannot show that belief causes better adjustment.
Key findings
- Believers scored significantly higher than atheists on all measures of psychological functioning except cognitive empathy, in a MANOVA that was significant overall (partial eta squared = .045).
- For several outcomes, scores declined sequentially from believers to agnostics to atheists, and agnostics scored significantly higher than atheists on subjective wellbeing, self-esteem, parental support, general mental health, and (lower) antisocial and rule-breaking behaviour.
- Group profiles differed in shape as well as level: believers had higher subjective wellbeing than self-esteem, while agnostics and atheists showed the reverse pattern.
- Believers reported more support from parents than friends, whereas all groups reported the most support from teachers.
- Controlling for religious affiliation (Catholic vs. non-Catholic) did not explain the results — the effect of belief in God remained significant, indicating belief rather than affiliation was the key factor.
- The sample comprised 1,925 Grade 8 students from Catholic schools in two Australian states, one of the few studies to directly contrast adolescent believers, agnostics, and atheists.
How to cite
APA
Huuskes, L. M., Heaven, P. C. L., Ciarrochi, J., Parker, P., & Caltabiano, N. (2016). Is belief in God related to differences in adolescents' psychological functioning? Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 55(1), 40–53. https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12249
BibTeX
@article{huuskes2016is,
author = {Huuskes, Lee M. and Heaven, Patrick C. L. and Ciarrochi, Joseph and Parker, Philip and Caltabiano, Nerina},
title = {Is Belief in God Related to Differences in Adolescents' Psychological Functioning?},
journal = {Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion},
year = {2016},
volume = {55},
number = {1},
pages = {40--53},
doi = {10.1111/jssr.12249}
}
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- All publications by Joseph Ciarrochi (searchable, with free PDFs)
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Author: Joseph Ciarrochi (ORCID 0000-0003-0471-8100). Free copy hosted with permission for scholarly use. Please cite the published version via the DOI above.