Abstract
A positivist orientation that marginalized the study of religion and spirituality in social science research has limited both its scope and focus. Given a primarily cognitive orientation to this inquiry, children, adolescents, and emerging adults were typically not the focus of research. More recently, the scope of research has been broadened to emphasize the need to understand contextual and developmental nuances, which are increasingly being reflected in a range of research designs, methods, and samples. The burgeoning scholarship on the role of religion and spirituality in the development of youth during this particularly formative developmental period has begun to shed light on how religion promotes and challenges positive youth development. While this expanding focus has begun to describe youth’s developmental experiences, the deep interconnections between individual youth, religious and spiritual systems, and the contexts and relationships in which youth develop remain understudied. This special issue on the role of religion and spirituality on positive youth development asserts the import of exploring ecological perspectives and influences when studying the role of religion and spirituality in the development of diverse youth and draws from interdisciplinary and lifespan perspectives to continue mapping the terrain of this area of study and ways to navigate it.
Highlights
A positivist orientation that marginalized the study of religion and spirituality in social science research has limited both its scope and focus
Religion and spirituality have been central to the human experience, their study within human development and psychology has been marginalized given the dominance of a positivist orientation, a school of thought that argues that knowledge generation is based on empirically verified data
Embedded in an ecological perspective, this special issue focuses on positive youth development from a lifespan perspective and centers on children’s and adolescents’ development in the contexts of parenting, schools, religious and ethnic
Summary
Religion and spirituality have been central to the human experience, their study within human development and psychology has been marginalized given the dominance of a positivist orientation, a school of thought that argues that knowledge generation is based on empirically verified data. Given that there remain multiple underexplored processes and contexts that shape how religion informs the positive development and outcomes for diverse youth and families, we encourage designing scholarship to fill these gaps. Such issues can be addressed by drawing from more inclusive and representative samples (e.g., study participants from different backgrounds), by acknowledging religious content, and by embedding studies in the range of ecological contexts and the interactions between the individuals and the context in a relational systems manner (Lerner et al 2015)
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