Poster #167 - The Unique Roles of Religious and Existential Well-being in Predicting Adolescent Mental Health Service Utilization

• In Event: 3-003 - Poster Session 09
  In Poster Session: PS 09 Section - Prevention and Interventions

Integrative Statement

Objective: Past research has generally supported the notion that youth spirituality/religiosity is related to higher levels of well-being and self-esteem; lower levels of depression, anxiety, and risky behaviors; and higher levels of positive personality traits (Wong, Rew, & Slaikeu, 2006; Yonker, Schnabelrauch, & DeHaan, 2012). However, research findings are relatively scarce regarding how spirituality/religiosity may relate to adolescent professional mental health service utilization. Considering the protective effect of spirituality/religiosity on mental health needs (fewer symptoms and less impairment), lower rates of service use would be expected among adolescents with higher spirituality/religiosity. Nonetheless, some qualitative studies reported that ethnic minority families may encourage the use of spiritual/religious practice and willpower to overcome mental health concerns (Cauce et al., 2002, Moreno & Cardemil, 2013), suggesting that spirituality/religiosity may hinder professional help seeking even for adolescents with significant emotional and behavioral problems. Given the amount of evidence supporting the protective effect of spirituality/religiosity, we hypothesized a mediation model such that spirituality/religiosity would link to less mental health need, and therefore associate with lower likelihood of using services. Of note, the many definitions and dimensions of spirituality/religiosity likely complicate the interpretation of research findings (Florez, Allbaugh, Harris, Schwartz, & Kaslow, 2018; Weber & Pargament, 2014). To help clarify the differential effects of various aspects of spirituality/religiosity, the current study aimed to compare two dimensions, namely religious well-being (relationship with any divine beings) and existential well-being (purpose and direction of life; concepts of spirituality that were not explicitly religious in nature) in how they may differentially predict mental health status and service use.
Methods: The sample was 86 predominately African American (81.4%), low-income (60.7% with household annual income under $30,000) dyads of youth and their primary caregivers in an urban community. Adolescents and parents completed measures of interest during structured interview separately. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to examine the hypothesized mediation effect (Figure 1).
Results: As expected there was a moderately to strong pathway between caregiver’s perceived (symptoms and impairment) and youth attending services (β = .54). Moreover, higher existential well-being predicted lower likelihood of service use, fully mediated by symptoms and impairment. However, religious well-being did not significantly predict service use, nor did it predict mental health need. Additional analyses did not support an interaction between spirituality/religiosity and mental health need.
Conclusions: Results suggested that the protective power of spirituality/religiosity on mental health needs was supported only when operationalized as existential well-being, a construct closely related to religious well-being and reflects general hope and future orientation. Existential well-being may also indirectly decrease the use of services through protecting youth against mental health problems. In contrast, youth-reported religious well-being (i.e., endorsing a positive relationship with a higher being) did not impact symptoms and impairment in this sample. It also did not encourage nor hinder service use. Implications regarding future spirituality/religiosity research as well as mental health service dissemination among adolescents were discussed.

Authors

• Yi Tak Tsang, Wayne State University
  Presenting Author

• Kelsey J Sala-Hamrick, Wayne State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Bridget Murphy, Wayne State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Marilyn Franklin, Wayne State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ty Partridge, Wayne State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Douglas Barnett, Wayne State University
  Non-Presenting Author