The contribution of religion and spirituality on adolescents’ positive development. A systematic review of the literature

The Positive Youth Development (PYD) theoretical perspective suggests how religion and spirituality may represent ideological and social assets, supportive of positive developmental paths of young people. In light of this, the present work has systematically reviewed the most recent literature, with the aim of studying the contribution of these resources. The Scopus database was initially questioned. Nineteen studies, published from 2000 onwards and respecting the established criteria, were included in the review. The results offer indications about the conditions under which religion and spirituality might effectively promote the optimal development of adolescents.