Considering personal religiosity in adolescent delinquency: The role of depression, suicidal ideation, and church guideline.

Despite an impressive array of studies on the subject, relatively little has been explored regarding the causal structures that may connect personal religion and adolescent delinquency. The premise behind this study is that religiosity is linked with delinquency mainly indirectly through an impact on different intervening factors. This hypothesis found support from an extensive survey of teenagers in an evangelical church. Personal religiosity affects depression/suicidal ideation and endorsement of church instruction, which subsequently determine the propensity to substance use and criminal misdemeanor behavior involvement. Besides, overall, the study finds deterrent effects of intrinsic religiosity, doctrinal orthodoxy, and vertical faith on adolescent delinquency. Extrinsic religiosity leads to increased substance use and criminal misdemeanor, while horizontal faith brings about a mixed pattern of causal effects.