Adolescent Religious Development

Dear Colleagues,

Adolescence is the period of biological, psychological, sexual and social development in human life that immediately follows childhood and precedes youth. It is difficult to define an exact age range for this critical period of maturational transition, and although the World Health Organization defines this period as between 10 and 19 years (UNICEF. 2021), it varies according to region, culture or the educational system in place.

Religion plays an important role in human social relations. The set of beliefs or dogmas about divinity, moral norms for individual and social conduct and ritual practices influence interpersonal and social relations.

Therefore, it may be useful to explore adolescents' religious beliefs and values, taking into account their family relationships, social support networks and relationships in schools and in their communities in general (Rymarz and Graham. 2006).

Religion/spirituality in adolescents is also often considered a protective factor in the area of health (Cotton et al. 2006). Of interest are the experiences and learning processes of adolescents' religious education taking into account different learning environments such as the family, places of worship, at school and on the Internet (Mehmet, Kolb and Sejdini 2023).

Understanding the influence of religion on people during this period of the human maturation process is undoubtedly an interesting area of research, since points such as religious practice or the human values that underlie the observance of religious doctrine in adolescents are areas of study that are seldom dealt with.

All this can promote peaceful development through education through knowledge, self-reflection and dialogue as pedagogical tools (Benjamin et al. 2022).

The integration of the religious fact within the maturational stage of adolescence and the relationship that adolescents have with religion, the influence of religious experiences in this context of change and the learning of religion during adolescence, whether in a formal or informal context, may be interesting research topics to investigate and share results for in this Special Issue.

This Special Issue aims to:

- Study the relationship that adolescents maintain with religion.

- Investigate the role of religion in the maturation process of adolescents.

- Find out about the formal and informal teaching of religion given to adolescents in the different educational systems.

- Investigate the influence of different educational systems on adolescents' conception of religion.

- Understand the human values underlying the observance of religious doctrine in adolescents.

- Deepen our knowledge of the religious practices of adolescents.

- Share any scientific point of view that can illuminate the knowledge of the religious development of adolescents.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Religion;
• Education;
• Education and Educational Research;
• Social Sciences;
• Sociology;
• Psychology

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Reference:

• Benjamin, S., Koirikivi, P., Gearon, L. and Kuusisto, A. Addressing Hostile Attitudes in and through Education-Transformative Ideas from Finnish Youth. Youth 2202, 2, 556-569; https://doi.org/10.3390/youth2040040
• Cotton, S., Zebracki, K., Rosenthal, S.L., Tsevat, J. and Drotar, D. Religion/spirituality and adolescent health outcomes: a review. Journal of Adolescent Health 2006, 38, 472-480. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2005.10.005
• Fuhrmann, D, Knoll, L-J and Blakemore, S-J. Adolescence as a Sensitive Period of Brain Development. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 2015, 19, 10. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2015.07.008
• Mehmet H, T., Kolb, J., and Sejdini Z. . Religious Learning Environments of Austrian Muslim Youth: An Empirical Analysis of Religious Educational Processes" Religions 2023, 14, 1002. https://doi.org/3390/rel14081002
• Rymarz, R. and Graham, J. Drifting from the mainstream: The religious identity of Australian core Catholic youth. International Journal of Children s Spirituality 2006, 11, 371-383. https://doi.org/10.1080/13644360601014114
• UNICEF. 2021. Programming Guidance for Parenting of Adolescents. https://www.unicef.org/documents/parenting-adolescents-programming-guidance

Dr. Rafael López-Cordero
Dr. María del Carmen Olmos-Gómez
Guest Editors

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• adolescent religiosity
• religion
• education
• values
• spirituality
• adolescence
• sociology of religion
• religious beliefs and practices