Depression and religiosity in older age

Abstract

We investigated the hypothesis that religious commitment could help counter general affective distress, accompanying depressive symptoms, in older age. A total of 34 older adults, all catholic believers, completed self-reported questionnaires on the presence of depressive symptoms, religiosity, health, worry, and the style of coping with stress. The depressive and non-depressive subgroups were then created. The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 50%, with the substantial predominance of females. Regression analyses indicate that health expectations and worry significantly worsen with increasing intensity of depressive symptoms. The results further show that religious engagement was not different between the depressive and non-depressive subgroups. Religiosity failed to influence the intensity of depressive symptoms or the strategy of coping with stress in either subgroup, although a trend was noted for better health expectations with increasing religious engagement in depressive subjects. We conclude that religiosity is unlikely to significantly ameliorate dysphoric distress accompanying older age.

Validation of the Persian version of the Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale (DSES) in Pregnant Women: A Proper Tool to Assess Spirituality Related to Mental Health

“…Older age has long been known to correlate with greater SR (Hill and Pargament 2003). As Pokorski and Warzecha have suggested, increasing age may increase vulnerability to psychological distress due to problems with physical health and increasing disability, challenging one's coping abilities (Pokorski and Warzecha 2011). One way that women, particularly those in Iran, may cope with these age-related challenges is by engagement in SR beliefs and activities that increase their daily spiritual experiences.…”

Relationship between Religiosity and Depression of Older Persons in Bangladesh

“…It has been previously demonstrated that religious engagement did not differ between depressive and nondepressive subgroups. 11 However, that study investigated Catholic older persons. Differences in religious beliefs and religiosity may lead to different results for Islamic older persons.…”

Reliance on God’s Help in Patients with Depressive and Addictive Disorders is not Associated with Their Depressive Symptoms

“…Also in Polish individuals (which are almost all Christians), depressive and non-depressive subgroups did not differ with respect to their religious engagement [32]. Moreover, Pokorski & Warzecha stated that -religiosity failed to influence the intensity of depressive symptoms or the strategy of coping with stress in either subgroup, although a trend was noted for better health expectations with increasing religious engagement in depressive subjects‖ [32]. A study from Switzerland investigating the relationship between psychopathology and religious commitment in psychiatric patients and healthy subjects found that there were no correlations between neuroticism and religiosity, while religious commitment was positively associated with life satisfaction [33].…”

“…The authors reported that patients with either high or low religiosity did not significantly differ with respect to depression as measured with the BDI, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale and Beck Hopelessness Scale [31]. Also in Polish individuals (which are almost all Christians), depressive and non-depressive subgroups did not differ with respect to their religious engagement [32]. Moreover, Pokorski & Warzecha stated that -religiosity failed to influence the intensity of depressive symptoms or the strategy of coping with stress in either subgroup, although a trend was noted for better health expectations with increasing religious engagement in depressive subjects‖ [32].…”