Belief, Not Religion: Youth Negotiations of Religious Identity in Canada

Differential Adaptation to Adversity: A Latent Profile Analysis of Youth Engagement With Resilience-Enabling Cultural Resources and Mental Health Outcomes in a Stressed Canadian and South African Community

“…The Canadian community appreciated family and community ties, but also valued independence; neither religiosity nor spirituality were overtly encouraged (Theron et al, 2021). These trends fit with studies elsewhere in Canada (Russell et al, 2015; Statistics Canada, 2020; Young & Shipley, 2015) and South Africa (Mhlongo, 2019; Phasha, 2010; Ramphele, 2012; van Breda & Theron, 2018). Nevertheless, SA authors caution that traditional African ways-of-being and -doing are eroding with youths’ growing preference for “Western” ways (Mhlongo, 2019; Ramphele, 2012).…”

“…For Canadian youth, the greatest difference between their nominal and robust profiles related to religiosity and spirituality; for SA youth, it related to family and community tradition. Put differently, there is potential protective value in Canadian youth resisting the trend of disengaging from organized religion/spirituality (Statistics Canada, 2020; Young & Shipley, 2015), and in SA youth honoring family or community traditions despite growing preference for non-interdependent ways-of-being (Mhlongo, 2019; Ramphele, 2012). Whilst bucking these trends, so to speak, could be about conforming to time-honored expectations (Panter-Brick, 2015), it could also relate to youths’ experience that cultural engagement yields benefits (e.g., a sense of community; Werner & Brendtro, 2012).…”

“…What stood out in the nominal Canadian profile, however, was very low levels of supportive spiritual beliefs and participation in organized religious activities. Such context-specific profile detail was probably predictable: an increasing number of Canadian youth report being non-religious/-spiritual (Statistics Canada, 2020; Young & Shipley, 2015); increasing numbers of young South Africans are ambivalent about their cultural heritage, particularly customs of family and community interdependence (Mhlongo, 2019; Ramphele, 2012). Still, the across-context variation in the profiles highlights the importance of better understanding which protective resources matter more, and less, for which youth in which contexts (Ungar, 2019; Wright et al, 2013).…”

“…A subsequent meta-analysis of 62 studies (majority North American) reported a negative relationship between religion and delinquency among youth younger than 18.5 years (average age 15.53; Kelly et al, 2015). However, given that an increasing number of Canadian youth report being non-religious/-spiritual (Statistics Canada, 2020; Young & Shipley, 2015), it is unclear whether the reported protective effects remain current. Similarly, despite the centrality of religion/spirituality to the mental health of Africans (Ojagbemi & Gureje, 2020), including South Africans (Tomita & Ramlall, 2018), African youth are not represented in the systematic reviews of the relationship between religion/spirituality and youth mental health.…”

“…Given our review of the relevant literature, we anticipated at least one profile showing robust engagement with all four cultural resources and we anticipated that strong engagement with cultural resources would relate positively to mental health. For Canada, we expected one profile characterized by lower levels of engagement with religious and/or spiritual resources given the growing number of non-religious/-spiritual Canadian youth (Statistics Canada, 2020; Young & Shipley, 2015). Although gender is underexplored in the resilience literature (Sanders et al, 2017) and complex (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013), we anticipated traditional gender effects (i.e., heightened depression for adolescent girls/young women, Salk et al, 2017; heightened conduct disorder for adolescent boys, Eme, 2007).…”