The role of religion in adolescent mental health: faith as a moderator of the relationship between distrust and depression

Tsomokos, D. I. and Dunbar, R. I.M. (2023) The role of religion in adolescent mental health: faith as a moderator of the relationship between distrust and depression. Religion, Brain and Behavior, (doi: 10.1080/2153599X.2023.2248230) (Early Online Publication)

Abstract

It has recently been shown that interpersonal distrust predicts depressive symptoms in middle adolescence, and this finding has been interpreted in light of Social Safety Theory, which views distrust as an index of social threat. Here we hypothesize that religiousness provides social safety and may counteract the sense of social threat indexed by distrust. Religiousness should therefore act as a moderator between interpersonal distrust and depression. Using a nationally representative birth cohort from the UK, we provide evidence in favor of this hypothesis, even after controlling for stratum disadvantage and socioeconomic characteristics, sex, ethnicity, and multiple confounders on the level of the individual (BMI, chronic illness, cognitive ability, risk-taking, experiencing bullying, dietary habits, chronotype, physical activity and screen time), family context (frequency of eating meals together, maternal mental health), and neighborhood ecology (NO2 levels of air pollution).

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This study is the joint work of its authors. D.I.T. was partially funded by Alphablocks Nursery School Ltd (UK).
• Status: Early Online Publication
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: UNSPECIFIED
• Authors: Tsomokos, D. I., and Dunbar, R. I.M.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Psychology & Neuroscience
• Journal Name: Religion, Brain and Behavior
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• ISSN: 2153-599X
• ISSN (Online): 2153-5981
• Published Online: 02 October 2023
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Religion, Brain and Behavior 2023
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License