Religiosity and spirituality in the prevention and management of depression and anxiety in young people: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Level 2 - randomized trial
Systematic review and meta-analysis primarily pooling observational longitudinal cohort studies, with a narrative synthesis of heterogeneous intervention studies.
PubMed 37817143 · doi:10.1186/s12888-023-05091-2
What was done
Authors systematically reviewed 45 longitudinal studies and 29 intervention studies from Medline, PsycINFO, and Scopus to evaluate the role of religiosity and spiritual involvement in preventing and managing depression and anxiety in young people aged 10 to 24 years. Study quality was evaluated using Joanna Briggs Institute tools, and meta-analyses were conducted across 25 high-quality longitudinal studies.
What was found
Spiritual wellbeing demonstrated a significant protective association against depressive symptoms over time (Pearson's r = -0.153, 95% CI -0.187 to -0.118). Negative religious coping showed a non-significant trend toward greater depressive symptoms (Pearson's r = 0.09, 95% CI -0.009 to 0.188). Personal importance of religion was not significantly associated with depressive symptoms (Pearson's r = -0.024, 95% CI -0.053 to 0.004). Intervention studies were reported as mostly effective, but low quality and heterogeneity precluded meta-analysis.
Why it matters
This review distinguishes spiritual wellbeing from general religious importance, showing that internal spiritual wellbeing rather than religious salience correlates with small longitudinal reductions in youth depressive symptoms.
Limits
Most studies originated from high-income countries and exhibited low to moderate methodological quality. Substantial design heterogeneity prevented quantitative pooling of intervention trials. Effect sizes were small, and the abstract reported no meta-analytic effect estimates specifically for anxiety or low- and middle-income country populations.
Cited by
- context Acts of faith and spiritual rituals have established positive health benefits.