Adolescence is a critical time in the U.S. for religious development in that many young people eschew their religious identity as they enter adulthood. In general, religion is associated with a number of positive health outcomes including decreased substance use and depression. The current study compared the developmental patterns of religiosity and spirituality in heterosexual and sexual minority youth. The design was a secondary data analysis of the first five waves of the Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and Wellness (N = 337, 71.8% female). Using multilevel linear (for spirituality) and quadratic (for religiosity) growth models, the initial level and change over time in religiosity and spirituality, as well as the correlations between growth processes, were compared between heterosexual and sexual minority individuals. The heterosexual group had significantly higher initial religiosity levels than the sexual minority group. Religiosity decreased over time at a similar rate for the heterosexual and sexual minority groups. Spirituality significantly increased over time for the sexual minority group but not for the heterosexual youth. The change over time in religiosity and spirituality were significantly and positively correlated for heterosexual individuals but were uncorrelated for sexual minority individuals. Results indicate there are differences in religious development based on sexual minority status. Future research should take into account how these differential religious and spiritual developmental patterns seen in heterosexual and sexual minority youth might predict various health outcomes.

青春期是美国宗教发展的关键时期，因为许多年轻人在进入成年期时会避开他们的宗教身份。一般来说，宗教与许多积极的健康结果有关，包括减少药物使用和抑郁。目前的研究比较了异性恋和性少数青年的宗教信仰和灵性发展模式。该设计是对青少年健康与健康纵向研究（N = 337，71.8% 是女性）。使用多级线性（用于灵性）和二次（用于宗教性）增长模型，比较了异性恋和性少数个体之间宗教性和灵性的初始水平和随时间的变化，以及生长过程之间的相关性。异性恋群体的初始宗教信仰水平明显高于性少数群体。异性恋和性少数群体的宗教信仰随着时间的推移以类似的速度下降。随着时间的推移，性少数群体的灵性显着增加，但异性恋青年则没有。宗教信仰和灵性随时间的变化与异性恋个体显着正相关，但与性少数个体无关。结果表明，基于性少数地位的宗教发展存在差异。未来的研究应考虑异性恋和性少数青年中这些不同的宗教和精神发展模式如何预测各种健康结果。