Multidimensional Assessment of Religiousness/Spirituality and Health Behaviors in College Students

Research has demonstrated a positive relation between particular religious/spiritual variables and health behaviors and outcomes. However, recent conceptualizations of religiousness/spirituality (R/S) and health acknowledge the multidimensionality of both constructs. Consequently, it is important to study these constructs in ways that allow for simultaneous consideration of their multiple dimensions and then determine relations between the latent higher order constructs formed by these analyses. The primary purpose of this study was to determine the relations between multidimensional constructions, based on multivariate analysis, of both R/S and health behaviors in first- and second-year college students, individuals who are at a time of transition. To achieve this aim, the authors used canonical correlation to determine if one or more latent R/S variables might be identified and associated with one or more latent health behavior variables. Participants were 266 first- and second-year undergraduates (61% ...