Religiosity and Loneliness Among the Elderly

Abstract

Based on a deprivation model of religiosity we analyze the relationship between two dimensions of religiosity and loneliness among the elderly with the effects of involvement in various types of family and friendship relations controlled and compared with the effects of religiosity. Data were collected through interviews with 131 residents of a 199-unit apartment facility for the elderly. Results of the regression analysis showed that greater involvement in the social aspects of religion was significantly related to less loneliness more consistently than involvement in the variousfamily andfriendship relations. In contrast, the subjective dimension of religiosity was not significantly related to loneliness with the social contact variables controlled, even though the direction was as hypothesized

Research and Implications for Practice: Religion, Well-Being/Morale, and Coping Behavior in Later Life

“…However, we believe that the literature supports religion's positive influence in these areas and agree with Johnson and Mullins (1989) who note in their summary of research on religion in later life and on well-being that &dquo;the weight of evidence suggests that religious faith or involvement contributes to a sense of well-being&dquo; (p. 111). Regarding coping, Koenig, George, and Seigler (1988) say that &dquo;regardless of geographic location, race, sex, and socioeconomic status, religious coping behaviors are common among older adults&dquo; (p. 308).…”

“…The nature of religious behavior in later life is indeed complex. The importance of viewing religiosity in old age in a multidimensional manner and the limitations of conceptualizing religious behavior solely in terms of church-related activities have been noted (Johnson & Mullins, 1989;Mindel & Vaughan, 1978). Mindel and Vaughan admit that had only organizational religious criteria, primarily church attendance, been used in their study of religiosity in old age, over half of their elderly sample would have been designated as nonreligious or withdrawn from religion (p. 108).…”

Insights From Scholarship the Relationship Between Personal Prayer and Purpose in Life Among Churchgoing and Non‐churchgoing Twelve‐to‐fifteen‐year‐olds in the Uk

“…Different studies have reported positive correlations between church or synagogue attendance and general well-being (Mull, Cox and Sullivan 1987;Steinitz 1980) and life satisfaction (Guy 1982;Levin and Markides 1988;Markides 1983), between religious activities and morale (Koenig, Kvale and Ferrel 1988), selfesteem (Krause and van Tran 1989), lower levels of loneliness (Johnson and Mullins 1989), and personal adjustment (Moberg 1956;Blazer and Palmore 1976), between intrinsic religiosity and life satisfaction (Haitsma 1986) and self-esteem (Nelson 1990), between religious commitment and life satisfaction (Rogalski and Paisey 1987), between religious coping mechanisms and lower levels of depression (Koenig, Cohen, Blazer, Pieper, Meador, Shelp, Goli and DiPasquale 1992) and between religious orthodoxy and happiness (Hunsberger 1985).…”

Religiousness: Its Relation to Loneliness, Neuroticism and Subjective Well-Being

“…However, the groups differed in some correlates of loneliness and in ways of experiencing it. Recently Johnson and Mullins (1989) studied the relation between religiosity and loneliness among generally healthy elderly persons. The more involved people were in the social aspects of religion (church or synagogue attendance and visiting with friends from the respondent's religious group), the less lonely they were.…”