The Relationship between Religion and Adolescent Depression in Ekiti State of Nigeria
Author(s)
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Abstract
Religious practices, depressive symptoms, and bouts of major depression are widespread among adolescents in all countries of the world, but there has not been an agreement on their relationship. This paper attempts to find out a possible relationship between religion and depression among adolescents in Ekiti State Nigeria. The descriptive research of the survey type was adopted for the study. The sample consisted of 520 adolescents that were selected using a multistage sampling technique from the 16 local government areas of Ekiti State of Nigeria. A questionnaire on religious practices and depression designed by the researcher and based on the works of Flugum (1995) and Beck (1996) was used to collect data and the data collected were analysed using frequency counts, Pearson Product Moment Correlation and student t-test to test the two hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The results show that the adolescents in Ekiti State are religious and there is no significant relationship between religion and depression. However, there is a significant difference in the incidence of depression among Christian and Muslim adolescents in the Ekiti State of Nigeria. It was recommended that school counsellors should employ the use of religious involvement in counselling through various religious practices, such as prayer or meditation, to reduce tension and anxiety among the adolescents.
Keywords
Religion, Religious Practices, Depressive Symptoms, and Depression
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