Baseline Religion Involvement Predicts Subsequent Salivary Cortisol Levels Among Male But not Female Black Youth

Abstract

Background:Compared to Whites, Blacks are exposed to higher levels of chronic stress in the United States. As a result, major Black-White differences exist in the baseline and response of cortisol. Yet, the potential association between baseline religiosity and subsequent cortisol levels of Blacks are not known.Objectives:In the current study we aimed to determine the association between baseline religious behaviors and daytime salivary cortisol level among male and female Black youth.Materials and Methods:With a longitudinal design, data came from wave 1 (1994) and wave 6 (2000) of a cohort from an urban area in the Midwest of the United States. The study followed 227 Black adolescents (109 males and 118 females) for six years. Socio-demographics and religious behaviors (frequency of participation in religious activities) were measured at baseline. Base morning cortisol level at wave 6 was the outcome. We fitted a linear regression model to test the association between baseline religiosity at wave 1 and cortisol level at wave 6, while baseline age, socio-economics, and psychological symptoms were controlled.Results:In the pooled sample, frequency of participation in religious activities at baseline was negatively associated with mean cortisol level at follow up (r = -0.29, P > 0.01) among all, males (r = -0.38, P > 0.01), but not females (r = -.20, P > 0.05). Frequency of participation in religious activities remained a significant predictor of subsequent cortisol level (b = -0.283, 95% CI = -.107 - -0.022) while the effect of age, socioeconomics, and psychological symptoms were controlled. We could only find such an association among male Black youth (b = -0.368, 95% CI = -0.148 - -0.024) but not female Black youth (b = -0.229, 95% CI = -.113 - 0.011).Conclusions:Religiosity has been used as a coping mechanism among Blacks. Religiosity may also be related to stress regulation among Black youth. Future studies need to test complex associations between race, sex, religiosity, chronic stress, coping, and function of hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA). It is not known whether male Black youth who are and those who are not religious differently cope with stress associated with daily discrimination and living in disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Religion, spirituality and diurnal rhythms of salivary cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone in postmenopausal women

“…For other R/S measures examined in relation to diurnal cortisol rhythms, no significant differences between the extent of religiosity, extent of spirituality, religious service attendance, non-theistic daily spiritual experiences, or theistic daily spiritual experiences, and diurnal cortisol rhythms were found. Our results with respect to religious service attendance and diurnal cortisol rhythms are similar to findings from two previous studies that found no evidence of an association between religious service attendance and cortisol levels measured during the day [ 47 , 48 ], but different from another recent study that observed an inverse association between frequent religious service attendance and mean cortisol level among a sample of 227 Black young adults, with six years of follow up [ 25 ]. In addition, our null findings with respect to assessing the association between the extent of religiosity or spirituality and diurnal cortisol rhythms are in contrast to four other studies that have documented a significant association between identifying as someone who is “very” religious or spiritual and lower cortisol levels [ 24 , 27 , 47 , 48 ].…”

No Crystal Stair: Predictors of Pessimism Among Black Men

“…Although they score comparatively lower than their female counterparts on various indices of faith (Taylor et al, 2004), Black men tend to embrace faith life (Smith et al, 1999), and believe that religion plays powerful roles in their lives and in their efforts to navigate life's challenges (Chung et al, 2014;Krause et al, 2002;Maliski et al, 2010;McFarland, 2010;Smith et al, 1999). Furthermore, evidence suggests that Black males accrue greater physical and mental health benefits from religious involvement than their female counterparts (Assari et al, 2015).…”

Association Between Parental Educational Attainment and Children’s Negative Urgency: Sex Differences

“…Differential effects of PEA are shown for race, [24][25][26][27][28] ethnicity, 23,[29][30][31] sexual orientation, 32 nativity, 22 place, 33 and sex. [34][35][36][37][38][39] In all these cases, parental education's gradient or threshold effect is found to vary across subgroups of children based on a demographic factor. 23,29,[40][41][42] This can be partly because social processes may interfere with some parts of society's ability to leverage the social resource (SEP) and turn them into tangible behavioral or health outcomes.…”