Spirituality, Religiosity, and Thriving Among Adolescents: Identification and Confirmation of Factor Structures

Abstract

Using a data set from Search Institute's research archive, Young Adolescents and Their Parents (YAP), this study ascertained whether religiosity, spirituality, and thriving could be identified and confirmed as separate latent constructs among a randomly selected subsample of 1,000 youth drawn from the larger YAP sample. Factor analytic and structural equation modeling findings provided evidence of the separate, multidimensional presence of the latent constructs (second-order factors) and confirmed the presence of 4 religiosity first-order factors (e.g., role of a faith institution in one's life), 3 spirituality first-order factors (e.g., orientation to help people other than the self), and 9 thriving first-order factors (e.g., future orientation/path to a hopeful future). Limitations of this analyses and directions for future research with this, and related data sets, are discussed.