This research examined the effect of the spiritual well-being of young people on sociality in order to investigate the role of the spirituality. The demographic characteristics and spiritual well-being of study participants were analyzed Spiritual well being is consisted of religious well-being and existential well-being and the sociality is consisted of the autonomy, stability, and law-abiding.
This study analyzed 486 young people attending at high schools in Daegu city as a metropolitan city and in Gyeongsan city as one of a small city in Korea. It used an index of a spiritual well-being developed by Paloutzian & Ellison (1982) and a questionnaire of measuring sociality modified by previous research. The spiritual well-being is comprised of a 6 point scales of 20 items in total and the sociality is comprised of a 5 point scales of 64 items. The statistical method used in analysis of data is the frequency analysis, descriptive statistical analysis, t-test, ANOVA analysis, and multiple regression analysis.
This study had some implications for the better social work pracitice and policy. In the theoretical aspect, the study found that the spirituality which is the inner strength of the youths had a positive effect on the development of sociality of young participants. In the practical aspect, this study suggests that the social work programs for the spiritual development of young people for their better life is needed to be explored. In the aspect of social welfare policy, the educational curriculum development is recommended to be developed for the young people to gain specialized knowledge and skills elating to the spiritual development of the youths.