Relationships between religion, risk behaviors and prosociality among secondary school students in Peru and El Salvador

Abstract

How young people spend time out of school is important for their character development. In this article we explore the relationships between adolescents’ leisure time and other aspects of their lives, with a particular focus on religion. Using a data set generated by secondary school students in Peru and El Salvador (n = 6085) for a public health project, YOURLIFE, we conducted multiple logistic regression analyses of the relationships between religious identification, salience and practice; five indicators of adolescent risk behaviors; and, four indicators of prosocial attitudes and behaviors. In addition to not participating in risk behaviors such as sex, smoking, drinking alcohol and taking illicit drugs, these analyses show significant relationships between religion and prosocial activities and attitudes. These data are considered in the context of the wider debate over the role of religion in adolescent character development in Latin America and elsewhere.

Keywords:

• Religion
• Latin America
• character
• secondary schools
• Peru
• El Salvador

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Intermedia Consulting (Italy), who collaborated in the collection of the data.