Sept. 23, 2003

Contact: Todd Little, Department of Psychology, (785) 864-0563.

Study says church congregational support may make teens less prone to depression

LAWRENCE -- Churchgoing teenagers who feel supported by their congregations may be less prone to depression than teens who experience less support from their congregations, said a University of Kansas psychologist in a study published in the Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology.

The study was conducted by Todd Little, associate professor of psychology at KU, and Yale University graduate students Michelle Pearce and John Perez.

"Religion and spirituality are very much a social activity," Little said. "When you're in a congregation that's providing a lot of support -- great. When you're in a congregation that's making a lot of demands -- not so good."

Another finding to come out of the study is that private spiritual practices, such as prayer, have little influence on depression among teenagers, Little said.

Little and colleagues interviewed 744 seventh-, eighth- and ninth-graders about five aspects of religious life. These included attendance at church, synagogue or another place of worship and private practices such as prayer, for example.

The researchers found that the biggest factor affecting depression was whether a teen's social experiences with the congregation were positive or negative. Teens in congregations perceived as more positive scored lower on a test of depression than teens whose experiences were less positive, Little said.

Little said the researchers had predicted that how the teens thought they were viewed by the congregation would be more strongly linked to depression than how often the teens attended church, and they were right. Little said that the nature of the study made it impossible to determine whether the congregation actually was responsible for provoking the depression.

It's possible, he said, that some depressed adolescents turn to organized religion as a solution to their depression and that their perception of the congregation as negative comes from that preexisting condition.

Little added that religiosity and spirituality are greatly understudied in the field of psychology.