Mental Disorders Among Nonreligious Adolescents

• In Event: 250 - Section on Sociology of Religion Paper Session. Religion, Youth, and Inequality

Abstract

The present study is the first of its kind to investigate mental illness among non-religious adolescents. In this paper, we report three main findings based on data from the National Comorbidity Study of Adolescents. First, non-religious adolescents on average have higher rates of mental illness than adolescents who identify as religious. Second, there is variability in rates of mental illness among the three types of non-religious adolescents, with atheists/agnostics experiencing the highest rates. Third, the mental health disadvantage of being non-religious is strongest among non-religious adolescents with two religious parents. In fact, non-religious adolescents with two non-religious parents experience no mental health disadvantage whatsoever, relative to religious adolescents raised in religious households. Explanations for these results are explored.

Authors

• Heather Kugelmass, Princeton University

• Alfredo Garcia, Princeton University