Spirituality is key to kids' happiness
January 8, 2009To make children happier, we may need to encourage them to develop a strong sense of personal worth, according to Dr. Mark Holder from the University of British Columbia in Canada and his colleagues Dr. Ben Coleman and Judi Wallace. Their research shows that children who feel that their lives have meaning and value and who develop deep, quality relationships - both measures of spirituality - are happier. It would appear, however, that their religious practices have little effect on their happiness. These findings have been published in the online edition of Springer's Journal of Happiness Studies.
Both spirituality (an inner belief system that a person relies on for strength and comfort) and religiousness (institutional religious rituals, practices and beliefs) have been linked to increased happiness in adults and adolescents. In contrast, very little work has been done on younger children. In an effort to identify strategies to increase children's happiness, Holder and colleagues set out to better understand the nature of the relationship between spirituality, religiousness and happiness in children aged 8 to 12 years. A total of 320 children, from four public schools and two faith-based schools, completed six different questionnaires to rate their happiness, their spirituality, their religiousness and their temperament. Parents were also asked to rate their child's happiness and temperament.
The authors found that those children who said they were more spiritual were happier. In particular, the personal (i.e. meaning and value in one's own life) and communal (i.e. quality and depth of inter-personal relationships) aspects of spirituality were strong predictors of children's happiness. Spirituality explained up to 27 percent of the differences in happiness levels amongst children.
A child's temperament was also an important predictor of happiness. In particular, happier children were more sociable and less shy. The relationship between spirituality and happiness remained strong, even when the authors took temperament into account. However, counter intuitively, religious practices - including attending church, praying and meditating - had little effect on a child's happiness.
According to the authors, "enhancing personal meaning may be a key factor in the relation between spirituality and happiness." They suggest that strategies aimed at increasing personal meaning in children - such as expressing kindness towards others and recording these acts of kindness, as well as acts of altruism and volunteering - may help to make children happier.
Reference: Holder MD, Coleman B, & Wallace J (2008). Spirituality, religiousness, and happiness in children aged 8-12 years. Journal of Happiness Studies DOI 10.1007/s10902-008-9126-1
Source: Springer
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Jan 08, 2009
Rank: 3 / 5 (2)
Neither of those are in any way a measure of spirituality.
Jan 08, 2009
Rank: 1 / 5 (1)
Some better examples are...
Jan 08, 2009
Rank: 2.3 / 5 (3)
Spirituality is belief in superstition, and ignorance to the truths of the universe.
You do not need to be blind in order to have deep quality relationships or value in your life.
Jan 08, 2009
Rank: 1 / 5 (1)
In my early training in science I received the command that I HAVE TO BELIEVE in randomness to become a scientist. Recently it has been demonstrated that (deterministic) algorithms can produce numbers that pass statistical tests for randomness.
It would be interesting if the atheists would be right and spirituality would be unnecessary, but study over study confirm that is not like that, that spirituality indeed makes people happier. If atheist would be read more of history would learn what happens when atheism rules....
Jan 09, 2009
Rank: 5 / 5 (1)
Religion, on the other hand, is taught by third parties and involves mostly non-practical concepts of existance that are more confusing and much less guiding to the child.
This probably accounts for the difference.
Jan 09, 2009
Rank: 4 / 5 (1)
is a bit suspect.
It would mean that a paranoid schizophrenic is very spiritual!
Jan 09, 2009
Rank: 4 / 5 (1)
Jan 09, 2009
Rank: not rated yet
What happens?
Jan 09, 2009
Rank: not rated yet
Spiritual does not mean religious in any context, nor does it deny rationalism. More so the article itself says that "attending church, praying and meditating - had little effect on a child's happiness".
Also, smiffy, having an inner belief system does not mean you are schizophrenic. You should give the dictionary a chance really. I have to admit though that the expression "inner belief system" is a bit unfortunate since all beliefs are ultimately INNER. However in agreeing with what some other commenters say, I believe the authors want to say that a multi-faceted approach to education is needed, one that incorporates feeling, reasoning and culture, as well as moral structure.
Jan 09, 2009
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Jan 11, 2009
Rank: 3 / 5 (2)
These are just measures of a mentally healthy person.
-Belief in a spirit.
-An inner sense of something greater than oneself.
-Belief in feelings over evidence.
I would never trust a science teacher that told me I had to BELIEVE anything.
The entire point of science is to make belief unnecessary.
Yes, randomity is a mathematical illusion.
What studies? Are they unbiased studies or financed by churches? If I "would be read more of history" (whatever that means) I'm sure I would find one or two inflammatory mentions of Atheism in total. History has been decisively clear as to what happens when spirituality rules I.E. WWII, 9/11, 100 years war, and countless other human atrocities.
I'm not sure what dictionary you're reading. If you type define:spirituality into Google almost all of the definitions pertain to religion. I'd call that quite a bit of context. Furthermore the belief in the invisible DOES denote the denial of rationalism.