Religion and Health Across Age Cohorts

Introduction

Religion has gained prominence in gerontological health research in recent years. Much of the focus stemmed from the assumption that people become more religious in later life. This view was common for a number of reasons, but most research on the subject was inconclusive. For many people, however, religion plays a moderate to large role in their day to day living. Outside of possible spiritual fulfillment, what role does religion play in a participant's life, and does it change over time? The role of religion on a person's general health has been a topic of study.

Does Religion Relate to Well-Being in Different Cohorts?

Religion and its affects on physical and mental well-being across many different cohorts has been studied recently. Frankel, et. all (1994) examined college students and their relative well-being as a function of their religious participation. In order to do this, she and her colleagues studied two distinct groups from a socially homogeneous sample of University of Western Ontario students. The first group consisted of members of a number of campus Christian clubs. The second group was students not affiliated with any religious group and from a number of different disciplines across the campus. The research instrument used for this study was a self-administered questionnaire designed to cover a number of issues including: stress, self esteem, mastery, psychological and physical health, use of health care resources, friendship patterns, beliefs and values, and religious practice. The study found a positive relationship between faith-group involvement and various aspects of health status. Members of on of the Christian organizations were happier and handled stress better than the comparison group.

Levin, et. all (1995) did a similar study with African Americans. The study tested a theoretical model linking religiosity, health status, and life satisfaction using data from the national survey of Black Americans which used a representative sample of Black Americans at least 18 years of age. The method used was process of interviews taken from a representative sample from the fore-mentioned survey. The results from the interviewing process were varied. Organized religion did correlate directly to greater life satisfaction across the different ages.

Koenig, et. all (1988) studied the use of religion among other coping strategies among older adults. Interviewers were carried out with a 100 participants with a mean age of 66.8 years. The participants varied in gender and race. Participants were asked questions regarding their best and worst life experience and their methods for coping with these experiences. Specific coping strategies were recorded with a tape and typed transcripts of the interview were made. The strategy mentioned most by the participants was religious coping. This category was broken down into types of religious coping. The general results of the poll suggested that older people most often or best cope with great stressors in their lives by using religion. The experimenters used different methods of learning how people cope, and they found the same results.

Markides, et. all (1987) compared religion, age, and life satisfaction. The study was longitudinal in nature. the participants were primarily Mexican American and Anglo aged 60 and over. The participants were interviewed and then re-interviewed up to eight years later. Point systems were used in the interviewing process to determine religious commitment and life satisfaction. The findings revealed little evidence that older adults turn increasingly to religion as they age. The findings of the people who were re-tested in the longitudinal study suggested that people who were more religiously "committed" displayed a greater life satisfaction and greater functional health.

Conclusion

The results of these studies suggest a number of things. It is clear from these surveys and interviews that religiosity tends to correlate positively with overall general health. General health in this sense of the term refers to ones coping ability to stressors, and it also refers to life satisfaction. All of the studies mentioned imply that people involved in religion have greater life satisfaction. This "health" can obviously be affected by a number of other things, but religion seems to play a major role in well-being. Another implication of these findings is that religious commitment seems to cross age barriers. People tend not to change their religious practices throughout their lives. Thus, implicit in this is that general health follows people throughout their lives. People who maintain consistent religious and coping practices tend to have generally better "health" throughout their lives.

References

Frankel, Gail B. (1994). Religion and Well-Being among Canadian University Students: The Role of Faith Groups on Campus.Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 33, 62-68.

Koenig, Harold G. (1988). The Use of Religion and Other Emotion Regulating Coping Strategies Among Older Adults.The Gerontologist, 28, 303-309.

Levin, Jeffrey S. (1995). Religious Effects on Health Status and Life Satisfaction among Black Americans.Journal or Gerontology, 50B, s154-s159.

Markides, Kyriakos S. (1987). Religion, Aging, and Life Satisfaction: An Eight Year, Three-Wave Longitudinal Study.The Gerontologist, 27, 660-664.

Contributed by Tyson Lemke, September 30, 1997.

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