Spiritual Health and the Well-Being of Urban Young People

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not covered by topics in the survey which balance out the negative indicators above. Forexample, other research has raised questions about the potential for social exclusion amongstyoung people in rural areas (Harrop & Palmer, 2002) It may also be that there are protectivefactors which are more prevalent amongst urban young people. More research is needed whichcompares young people’s well-being in urban and rural areas.Differences between females and malesDifferences between females and males came out strongly in a number of respects throughoutthe analysis.In some respects, males appeared to fare relatively well. They tended to have higher well-beingscores within the personal domain and were less concerned about bullying at school. On theother hand they tended to be less likely to have close friends they felt able to talk to; were moreconcerned about issues such as crime in their local area; were less positive about immigrationand ethnic diversity; and were less concerned about environment and global issues. They werealso less likely to have a strong spiritual dimension to their lives. There are therefore a numberof areas for concern in relation to urban young males’ well-being in a broad sense.Females, on the other hand, had lower personal well-being scores, and were more concernedabout bullying, but tended to emphasise social networks and support more than males. Theywere more engaged with environmental and global issues; more positive about immigration andethnic diversity; and tended to have a stronger connection with religious and spiritual matters.Family issuesResearch studies of young people have often found differences according to the family structurein which young people live. The findings described in this report indicate some importantdifferences between young people according to whether they were still living with both birthparents at the time of the survey or not. Young people who were not living with both birthparents had lower personal well-being scores, and tended to be less likely to feel they hadaccess to a parent who they could talk to about their problems. They were also less happyabout the area they lived in and were less concerned about environmental issues. Thissuggests substantial variation in well-being according to family structure. Population trendsindicate that an increasing number of young people will experience the break-up of therelationship of their birth parents by the time they are teenagers (Stewart & Vaitilingam, 2004).The findings summarised above suggest the importance of ensuring young people with theseexperiences have adequate support as teenagers.It is notable, however that, in the multivariate analysis presented in the last section of Chapter 2,family structure did not come out strongly as an independent influence on well-being. Thissuggests that other factors may act in a protective wayEconomic factorsSimilar conclusions may be drawn according to the economic status of the families within whichyoung people lived. There were some indications that young people with unemployed parentsfared worse in key areas, particularly in the personal domain. Young people in these familiesalso had less positive views about the area they lived in, but this may have been due to living inless advantaged areas rather than to do with specific family economic factors.As with family structure, family economic status was not one of the factors that emerged frommultivariate analysis as being most strongly associated with well-being. Again, this is a complexarea but other research has also raised questions about the extent of the link between povertyand well-being. For example, a research review by Quilgars (2002) cited contrasting findingsdepending on whether economic status was measured by social class, family income, andparental employment status. In some cases a significant link was found between economicfactors and young people’s mental/psychological well-being – for example, Meltzer et al (2000)found higher rates of mental disorders amongst young people if both parents were unemployed.In other cases no evidence of a link was found – for example Clarke et al (2000) found littleevidence of a link between poverty and well-being amongst 11- to 15-year-olds based onmeasures of income and household assets. Research in other developed countries (Kerr,2004) has also found a relatively weak link between income poverty and outcomes for children.26
This is evidently a highly complex area and it is beyond the scope of this report to provide acomprehensive review. However, our findings raise questions about the nature and strength ofthe link between economic factors and young people’s well-being.It should also be noted that there is an association between family breakdown and poverty –half of all poor children live in lone-parent households (Bradshaw, 2002). So any patterns inrelation to well-being of young people according to family structure and economic factors arelikely to be inter-related.The North-South divideThe North-South divide is a recurring subject of interest in the UK. Hence, we were interestedin exploring the evidence for such a divide amongst urban young people and have considerationof this factor in the analysis presented in this report.The findings suggest that there are not that many clear-cut differences between the well-beingof young people in the North and the South of England. However, some noteworthy differencesdid emerge.Young people in the North were more worried about bullying and about their personal safety intheir local area. They were also more likely to think that crime and anti-social behaviour weregrowing problems in their local area. Nevertheless, they were more likely to feel that their areacared about young people. On the other hand, young people in the North held more positiveviews about immigration and ethnic diversity than young people in the South. If, as suggestedelsewhere in the report, there is a link between the ethnic constitution of an area and youngpeople’s attitudes, then demographic differences between urban areas in the North and theSouth may explain this pattern.Religion as a protective factor?The report set out to explore the interaction between spirituality and well-being amongst urbanyoung people. Key findings from the analysis indicate that young people who identified ashaving a religious affiliation, were regularly involved in prayer, and believed in eternal lifeseemed to fair better than other young people on a number of different measures of well-being.They were more likely to feel a sense of purpose (which has knock-on benefits as identifiedabove). They were also more likely to have an active and constructive relationship with theircommunity and their environment, and positive views towards ethnic diversity and immigration.Additionally, young people with a religious affiliation tended to score higher on other measuresof well-being within the personal domain.The significance of these factors was not diminished in the multivariate analysis presentedtowards the end of Chapter 2. This analysis suggests that religious factors are independentlyassociated with a greater sense of purpose and hence with higher well-being across all fourdomains, even when other factors such as age, sex, family structure, poverty and personalityare taken into account.The findings presented in this report raises an important question about the extent to which aspiritual dimension to young people’s lives might act as a protective factor which promotes wellbeingeven when other aspects of the context are less positive.The role of a ‘sense of purpose’Overall the analysis presented in the report suggests an important central role for youngpeople’s ‘sense of purpose’. Having a sense of purpose was strongly associated with a numberof other, generally positive, tendencies as reviewed in Chapter 2.These patterns suggest that having ‘a sense of purpose’ may be an important factor in youngpeople’s lives and this highlights the importance of understanding the underlying characteristicsand contexts which predispose young people to feel a sense of purpose.27
Page 7 and 8: 1IntroductionThis report has been c
Page 9: Contemporary approaches to measurin
Page 14 and 15: 2Research findingsIn this central c
Page 16 and 17: Table 3: Environmental domain: Over
Page 18 and 19: However, there were more substantia
Page 20 and 21: also see minority ethnic communitie
Page 22 and 23: Figure 3: Factors associated with f
Page 24 and 25: There were no differences on this i
Page 26 and 27: To summarise the findings here:•
Page 28 and 29: complex and detailed set of finding
Page 30 and 31: • Religion, however, does offer s
Page 34 and 35: Measuring the well-being of young p
Page 36 and 37: Federal Interagency Forum on Child
Page 38: Annex: RecommendationsOn the basis

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