The Contribution of Religiosity and Optimism on Well-Being of Youth and Emerging Adults in Italy

In line with the Positive Youth Development (PYD) framework positing that religion provides youth with resources to thrive, this chapter presents a contribution analyzing associations between religiosity and well-being among middle and late adolescents and emerging adults in Italy. Italy is a unique context to study this topic due to societal relevance and historical presence of Catholicism. We conceptualized religiosity as religious commitment and well-being as life satisfaction and focused on the mediating role of optimism between these two constructs. A multiple-group path model revealed a direct invariant link between religious commitment and life satisfaction as well as a significant mediating role of optimism in middle adolescents and emerging adults, but not in late adolescents. Conclusions afford implications about why and how religiosity and optimism contribute to PYD in cultural contexts like Italy.