Date of Award

Spring 2026

Degree Type

Thesis

Department

Psychology

Director of Thesis

Kate Flory

Second Reader

Abigail de Arellano

Abstract

Previous research indicates that religion and spirituality can have a beneficial impact on the well-being of individuals, both promoting health and reducing poor mental and physical health outcomes. Religiosity often shifts across the lifespan, but some experiences can predict those changes. For example, stressful life events (SLEs; e.g., loss of a family member, serious illness) are often associated with a decrease in religiosity. Past research has shown that in adults, the experience of SLEs predicts less identification with previously held religious beliefs. This relation could be influenced by a number of factors, but many are likely related to the use of coping strategies – for example, social support and self-regulation skills. Many studies have examined the role of social support in religiosity and well-being, but very few have investigated the potential moderating effect of emotion regulation (ER; the control an individual exerts over their emotional experience and expressions). Additionally, most existing religiosity research has been conducted with adult populations. The present study, therefore, seeks to identify whether SLEs at ages 15/16 predict changes in religiosity from age 12/13 to 16/17, as well as whether adaptive ER skills at ages 15/16 moderates this change.

Data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, a multisite longitudinal cohort study, was analyzed utilizing both caregiver and youth self-report measures for SLEs (Life Events Checklist), religiosity (Mexican American Cultural Values Scale), and emotion regulation (Emotion Regulation Questionnaire). Participants (n= 3,333; 52.42% male; 54.44% White; 14.28% Black; 17.59% Hispanic/Latiné; 2.02% Asian/Pacific Islander; 11.11% Multiracial; 0.45% Other) contributed data at three time points, beginning at age 12/13 (Mage = 12.96; SD= 0.65). To investigate the role of adaptive ER, we examined longitudinal models with a latent change score in lavaan in R Studio. Greater SLE exposure at ages 15/16 predicted small but statistically significant decreases in religiosity from ages 12/13 to 16/17 (β = -.04, p = .035); adaptive emotion regulation skills at ages 15/16 did not moderate this change. These findings indicate that adversity may have a long-term impact on adolescent religiosity, similar to the impact of adversity on adulthood religiosity. Future studies could seek to identify both risk and protective factors that predict patterns of religious beliefs after adversity in adolescence, which could have implications for understanding and preventing distress and mental health problems.

First Page

1

Last Page

41

Rights

© 2026, Catharine Mann

Download

Share

COinS