A study on relationships between spirituality and environment connectedness, holistic individual characteristics and social behaviour among adolescents in Malaysia

Abstract

Malaysia explicitly stated in its Educational Philosophy that it strived to produce holistic and contributing young individuals. The present cross-sectional study was conducted to examine the nature of, and relationships between, Spirituality, Environment Connectedness, Holistic Individual Characteristics and Social Behaviour among Malaysian adolescents. Spirituality in this study was focussed on God Connectedness. A sample of 395 Form Four students were selected using the multistage cluster sampling method and the instruments consisted of seven survey questionnaires adopted and adapted from established scales. A pilot study was done to test the reliability and validity of the scales. Descriptive statistics were analysed using IBM SPSS version 27 and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) using IBM Amos version 27 was done for further analysis. A General Model was constructed after validating all the measurements models. The results showed that the general model fitted the data with fitness indices achieving the required level, specifically, the value of RMSEA= 0.042, GFI=0.927, CFI=0.946, TLI=0.938, CMIN/DF=1.696 and P value was 0.000. In addition, the results showed that there were important significant causal effects of Spirituality and Environment Connectedness on Social Behaviour as well as on Holistic Individual Characteristics. However, Holistic Individual Characteristics was not a mediator of the relationship between God Connectedness and Environment Connectedness to Social Behaviour. This study contributed to theoretical knowledge in terms of methodology as using SEM for analysis in the area of research related to Malaysian adolescents was still scarce. It also contributed to bridge the gap in knowledge since studies involving the relationship between Spirituality, Environment Connectedness, Holistic Individual Characteristics and Social behaviour among Malaysian adolescents were still lacking. As for practical implications, these findings lend empirical evidence to responsible parties as to how and what to focus in developing holistic Malaysian adolescents with good social behaviour.