Aspects of spirituality in adolescents

Abstract

This paper analyses which aspects of spirituality are valued by adolescents, and how they are interconnected with youths’ life satisfaction and ‘self‐centeredness’. The participants were 254 adolescents (11th grade) of four different high schools from west Germany. After re‐validation of the 6‐factorial student’s version of the ASP questionnaire (ASP‐S, Cronbach’s alpha = .90), we found that they appreciated most Conscious interactions, Compassion / Generosity and Aspiring for Beauty / Wisdom, while particularly Religious orientation / Prayer (Trust in God), esoteric Transcendence conviction, or Quest orientation were of lower relevance. The importance of these aspects of spirituality is known to increase with higher age. The correlation pattern between aspects of spirituality and life satisfaction dimensions differed remarkably between female and male adolescents. In particular Conscious interactions correlated with future prospects in females, while in males it correlated much better with family life and school situation. It became obvious that the non‐formal aspects of spirituality in terms of relational consciousness are still vital, particularly secular humanism (i.e. Conscious interactions, Compassion / Generosity). These findings may have implications for religious educational programmes.

Keywords:

• adolescents
• spirituality
• gender
• consciousness
• self‐centeredness
• mutual consideration

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to all the teachers who encouraged their students to fill in the questionnaires, particularly Britta Lehmann, Schwerte, for her encouraging support.