The Role of Hope, Spirituality and Religious Practice in Adolescents’ Life Satisfaction: Longitudinal Findings

This longitudinal study presents the first examination of the relation between hope, spirituality, religious practice and life satisfaction of students in Portugal. A sample of 227 adolescents aged 15–19 completed the Portuguese versions of the Children Hope Scale, Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of happiness studies 2013-03, Vol.14 (1), p.251-261
Main Authors: Marques, Susana C., Lopez, Shane J., Mitchell, Joanna
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescents
Age
Anniversaries
Chi-square test
Children
Data collection
Economics
Life Satisfaction
Longitudinal studies
Personality and Social Psychology
Philosophy
Portugal
Positive Psychology
Quality of Life Research
Questionnaires
Religion
Religiosity
Research Paper
Social Sciences
Spirituality
Students
Teenagers
Variables
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Summary:This longitudinal study presents the first examination of the relation between hope, spirituality, religious practice and life satisfaction of students in Portugal. A sample of 227 adolescents aged 15–19 completed the Portuguese versions of the Children Hope Scale, Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale and a single item for each spirituality and religious practice variable. The results from the cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses suggest that hope and spirituality, but not religious practice, were strongly linked to adolescents’ life satisfaction. Hope significantly predicted life satisfaction at a single time point, 6-months and 1-year later, and spirituality scores added significant variance beyond hope scores. All the variables demonstrate moderate to high stability across 6-months and 1-year time frame; no significant changes were found between the variables across the administrations. These results parallel recent studies of adult and child life satisfaction and suggest strategies to promote life satisfaction in adolescents.
ISSN:1389-4978
1573-7780
DOI:10.1007/s10902-012-9329-3