The contribution of personal, family and community characteristics to risk behaviors among religious adolescents

Adolescence is a period of emotional and social biological transition. This period includes many developmental tasks. In the background of the process of achieving separation and the formulation of autonomous self-identity there is an increased tendency of the adolescent for behaviors involving risk. Therefore, many studies have addressed risk behaviors in adolescents. Taken together, however, only a few studies have focused on risk behaviors among adolescents growing up in a national religious society in Israel. This population is unique because, in parallel with the process of identity formation that every adolescent undergoes, it has to undergo another process of identity formation in the religious- spiritual realm. This process often involves a cultural struggle with the society surrounding the adolescents.

The main aim of the present study was to examine the personal, family, and community characteristics that may explain risk behaviors among religious adolescents. The personal characteristics examined are: estrangement from religion, self-esteem, and future orientation. The family characteristic was parental acceptance and rejection and the community characteristic was sense of community.

The study was conducted according to the theoretical framework of Blos (Blos, 1979), which perceives adolescence as a developmental stage in which a second individuation process occurs. According to Blos, during adolescence, the adolescent's developmental task is to achieve a relative release of parental dependence and develop psychological independence. This developmental process requires regression to earlier stages of development. This is an important developmental stage and the crucial task of normal adolescent development is a separate experience and the ability of the adolescent to act separately from the family. Blos's novelty is that he saw this regression as an important developmental process. When failures occur in this process, the adolescent will, according to Blos, distress and in the current study language - exhibit a high level of risk behaviors. In the context of this study, the model provides a theoretical platform for understanding the personal, family, and community process that the religious adolescent is going through.

The study included 645 adolescents aged 14-19, who grew up in religious-national families in Israel. The contact with them was made after the approval of the School of Social Work Ethics Committee of Bar-Ilan University. Participants were recruited using the "snowball" method through social networks and personal and professional connections of the researcher. The study was a sectional, quantitative and correlational study. Participants were asked to complete online questionnaires that addressed the six variables: estrangement from religion, self-esteem, parental acceptance and rejection, sense of community, future orientation, risk taking, and demographic questionnaire built for the present study. It was made clear to participants that they could stop filling out the questionnaire at any stage they wanted.

The findings of the study confirmed his central hypotheses. It was found in the personal context that adolescents who reported greater estrangement from religion also reported more risk behaviors. Adolescents who reported lower self-esteem and lower future orientation, were also highly characterized by risk behaviors. In the family context, it was found that the more adolescents reported feeling that their parents were rejecting them, the more they were characterized by risk behaviors. Whereas in the community context adolescents who felt more belonged to the community in which they lived were characterized by fewer risk behaviors. When examining the unique and combined contribution of the study variables to explain the variance of risk behaviors, it was found that after deducting the contribution of the demographic variables that were associated with adolescent risk behaviors (age, gender, locality or city and diagnosis of ADHD), the variables that made a unique contribution to the variance explanation Risk behaviors were estrangement from religion and mother acceptance. In addition, sense of community was found to partially mediate the association between estrangement from religion and risk behaviors.

This study is one of the first to examine the specific associations to risk behaviors among religious adolescents and thus is unique. Theoretically, the findings of this study extend Blos's theory (Blos, 1979), and state that in conservative societies, such as the religious-national society, where the community is a significant factor in adolescents and their families, adolescents undergo a process of separation not only from their parents and their families, but also from the community they lives in. This separate process has great significance in the way in which he succeeds adolescence and his level of involvement in risk behaviors during this period. The findings pertaining to estrangement from religion and sense of community indicate that an adolescent growing up in religious-national society and examining his or her religious identity, as part of the natural identity formation process that takes place at this age, is at increased risk for risk behaviors. Also, the adolescent's sense of belonging to the community in which he lives has a significant association to both estrangement from religion and risk behaviors. Moreover, the adolescent's perception of himself, at the level of self-esteem, the perception of the future and the way in which he perceives his parents as rejecting or accepting him, has something to do with risk behaviors.

On a practical level, in recent years there has been change in the patterns of risk behaviors in the population of the religious community in Israel and a marked exacerbation in their recreational patterns. The findings of this study may help build interventions for the benefit of these adolescents. The findings can also serve as a basis for educational, community, and therapeutic program models targeting religious adolescents. Finally, understanding the meaning and role of the community in the risk behaviors of religious adolescents, even if they move away from religion, may reduce and prevent risk behaviors in this population.