The Effect of Spiritual Practices on Resilience

Abstract

This study aims at understanding the effect of the spiritual practices on building resilience among adolescents. The review of literature for spirituality and resilience around the globe has shown that there is a positive correlation between the two.The research hypothesizes that spiritual practices have an effect on building resilience among adolescents in schools and understanding the gender differences in resilience. The study includes students belonging to 8th, 9th and 10th standards, studying in urban Hyderabad. The sample consists of 190 students, 101 students from schools run under a guru and 89 students from conventional schools, who are chosen through purposive sampling. The Child and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM-28) Youth Version questionnaire was administered. Results of the study indicate that there are significant differences in spiritual and cultural resilience. Students from spiritual schools had higher a spiritual resilience which suggests that spiritual practices do have an effect on building this kind of resilience. Students from conventional schools had a higher cultural resilience which shows that there are other factors also which contribute to building resilience. However, no significant difference was observed in overall scores of resilience between the two schools. It is also found that females have higher resilience than male students.