Relations between youths' conceptions of spirituality and their developmental outcomes

This study uses a positive youth development (PYD) approach to explore whether differences in youths' conceptions of spirituality were linked to patters of difference regarding 6 domains of PYD. Using data from the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development, findings revealed a consistent trend across 6 domains of positive development. Youth who had coherent conceptions of being spiritual generally scored highest on measures of positive development, whereas youth in the ambiguous spirituality group (i.e., less coherent) scored the lowest. However, follow-up analyses reveal that such relations did not hold over time. Implications of findings include youth development professionals aiming to nurture the spiritual growth of youth should encourage more coherent notions of spirituality among the youth they serve.