Not by Faith Alone: Religion, Law, and Adolescence

3 Religiosity’s Potentially Paradoxical Influences

Religiosity’s Potentially Paradoxical Influences Massive amounts of data now detail how religion influences and is influenced by other aspects of one’s personal and social life. Most notably, research continues to examine religion’s effects on mental health and its numerous pernicious social dispositions, especially religion’s role in fostering intolerance, prejudice, and bigotry (see Batson, Schoenrade, & Ventis, 1993). Recent research also explores religion’s impact on more prosocial dispositions, namely the extent to which religion increases concern for others in need and the desire to relieve those needs (Wilson & Janoski, 1995). Many reviews report significant trends and even suggest conclusive links between religion and specific psychological and social dispositions (see Koenig, McCullough, & Larson, 2001). Despite important findings that have emerged from the study of religion ’s place in peoples’ lives, the nature of religion’s influences on some periods of human development is ill explored and frequently overlooked (Trusty & Watts, 1999). Research has yet to focus systematically on the relationship between religion and adolescents’ developmental outcomes (c.f. Wallace & Forman, 1998). The general failure to examine the potential peculiarities of religion’s roles in adolescents’ lives does not mean that research has ignored religion’s role in adolescence altogether. When researchers do examine religion’s roles, however, their analyses tend to assume positive effects—that is, they highlight how religious participation, experiences, beliefs, and values produce beneficial outcomes, such as reduced rates of delinquency (See Benda, 1995; Johnson, Jang, Larson, & Li, 2001; Baier & Wright, 2001). The focus on positive outcomes is not accidental; the empirical study of adolescence emerged as the study of religion turned its attention to religion’s positive effects. Much of the study of adolescence devotes itself to identifying and preventing dispositions 3 50 deemed harmful in adulthood. The broader study of the impact of religion on psychological and social dispositions suggests, however, that the focus on religion’s salubrious effects on adolescent development presents an incomplete picture. Religion may also negatively shape communal, familial , and individual experiences. Although it may seem important to consider religion as both a positive and a negative influence, the trend toward focusing on its positive impact makes it difficult to examine religion’s negative effects. Much more controversy surrounds research that identifies negative outcomes than attaches to research that finds positive links. More important, however, there is much less research on religion’s problematic influences on adolescent outcomes than on its benefits. As a result, a comprehensive analysis of religion’s role in adolescents’ experiences must rely heavily on literature on adolescent development that has not traditionally been classified as belonging to either the psychology or the sociology of religion, the two dominant fields that empirically study religion. Broader research on adolescence and the influences on it, then, must serve as the organizing context for understanding the nature of religion’s influences on adolescent development. Although the approach may be necessary given the state of the field, even if there were more research on the specific influence of religion on adolescents, the research would be understood best in the context of our broader understanding of adolescence. Religiosity’s Salutary Influences Studies that examine religious influences on adolescents most consistently focus on adolescents’ own religious orientations, rather than on religious influences on the social environments in which adolescents find themselves . That research reveals that, compared to their less religious peers, religious adolescents seemingly not only exhibit a heightened concern for others but also behave in ways that do not place undue burdens on themselves . Given that analyses focus on adolescents’ own religiosity, the findings appear quite powerful and lead many to conclude that addressing social ills requires increasing adolescents’ religiosity (DiIulio, Larson, & Johnson, 1999). Although such conclusions may be premature, especially given that what precisely constitutes positive adaptations and healthy social orientations remains controversial (see Levesque, 2002), this research orientation has produced at least four major areas of adolescent research Religiosity’s Potentially Paradoxical Influences | 51 that highlight the tendency among religious adolescents to adopt more prosocial and socially desirable orientations. Delinquency research most often provides evidence of religious adolescents ’ concern for themselves and for abiding by societal prescriptions. Adolescents who hold religious beliefs and participate in religious activities tend to engage in less criminal and delinquent activity (Stark, 1996; Welch, Tittle, & Petee, 1991; Rodell & Benda, 1999). For example, research typically finds an inverse relationship between religiosity and use of numerous types of drugs, ranging from cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, and amphetamines to...