Religious Involvement and Adult Mortality in the United States: Review and Perspective

Hummer, Robert A.; Ellison, Christopher G.; Rogers, Richard G.; Moulton, Benjamin E.; Romero, Ron R.

doi:10.1097/01.smj.0000146547.03382.94

Cited by 117 publications

(100 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…While European research on the possible salutary effects of religiosity goes back at least to Durkheim's classic 19th Century work on suicide (Durkheim, 1959) most recent research comes from the USA (Hummer, Ellison, Rogers, Moulton, & Romero, 2004;Koenig, McCullough, & Larson, 2001;McCullough, Hoyt, Larson, Koenig, & Thoresen, 2000) where there is specific interest in the more exacting religious groups such as Mormons and Seventh-day Adventists (Heuch, Jacobsen, & Fraser, 2005;Levin, 1994;Philips, Lemon, Beeson, & Kuzma, 1978). However, the increasingly diverse cultural character of UK society will ensure that religion is studied, either directly, because of its putative communitarian qualities, or in proxy form through analysis of ethnic minority health.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Religious affiliation and mortality in Northern Ireland: Beyond Catholic and Protestant

O’Reilly

Rosato

2008

Social Science & Medicine

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There has been little recent research in Europe exploring the relationship between religion and health. In Northern Ireland previous analysis has tended to divide the population dichotomously as Catholic and Protestant, ignoring the diversity inherent in the Protestant community. This study used a census-based longitudinal study of the enumerated population with five-years follow-up (covering the period 2001e2006) to examine variation in overall and cause-specific mortality by religious affiliation within Northern Ireland. Six groups were defined: Catholics; Presbyterians; Church of Ireland; Methodists; Other (mostly fundamentalist) Christians; and 'Other/not-stated'. Catholics had higher mortality than non-Catholics, though this disappeared after adjustment for socio-economic status. Church of Ireland members had the highest overall mortality in the fully adjusted models, due to their higher risk of cardiovascular disease. 'Other Christians' had lowest all-cause mortality and particularly low mortality from alcohol-related deaths and lung cancer. These findings point to an association between religious affiliation, behaviour and lifestyle suggesting that, even in relatively secular societies, it is a population attribute that should be given more consideration in studies of population health.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Religious affiliation and mortality in Northern Ireland: Beyond Catholic and Protestant

O’Reilly

Rosato

2008

Social Science & Medicine

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“…Religious attendance is consistently related to increased mortality (Kark et al, 1996;Oman, Kurata, Strawbridge, & Cohen, 2002;Strawbridge, Shema, Cohen, & Kaplan, 2001). Evidence links religious attendance more strongly to lower mortality than private religious activity (Hummer, Ellison, Rogers, Moulton, & Romero, 2004). In a study by McCullough and colleagues, religious involvement was significantly associated with lower mortality (odds ratio = 1.29, 95%…”

Section: Spirituality and Health Outcomesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Spirituality could buffer effects from a stress exposure by lowering blood pressure through arousal reduction (Davidson et al, 2003) and distraction (Neumann, Waldstein, Sellers, Thayer, & Sorkin, 2004). Spirituality has been thought to protect against stress and CVD because it encourages a healthy lifestyle (Powell, Shahabi, & Thoresen, 2003), provides a source of social support, and psychological resources (Hummer et al, 2004). Other possible mechanisms include improved health behaviors, access to social resources, improved coping resources, prayer (Ironson et al, 2002;Pargament, 1997), promotion of positive emotions (e.g., forgiveness) (McCullough & Worthington, 1999), taking part in religious rites (Benson, 1983;Bernardi et al, 2001), personal faith (Ellison & Levin, 1998;McCullough et al, 2000;Strawbridge et al, 2001), positive reappraisal (Carrico et al, 2006), and benefit finding (Dedert et al, 2004).…”

Section: Spirituality As Buffer To Stressmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Spirituality on Cardiovascular Reactivity Among African Americans

Hagemaster¹

2010

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In 2005, almost 71 million Americans had at least one form of cardiovascular disease. CVD can be caused by a group of metabolic risk factors including hypertension, abdominal obesity, diabetes, and dyslipidemia. African Americans share a disproportionate amount of stress-related disorders, including stress specifically related to racial and ethnic differences. Stress from racism or discrimination is pervasive and chronic. Racial discrimination may account for health disparities in cardiovascular disease (CVD). This study seeks to examine the role of religiousness / spirituality (R/S) as a buffer to stress. The current exploratory study examined the effects of religiousness and spirituality on stress reactivity following an acute racial stressor among African American men and women. In particular, this study examined whether religiousness/spirituality serves as a buffer to stress in an allostatic model where body mass index categories are compared for changes in stress reactivity. Stress was measured by systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and salivary cortisol. Results partially supported the study hypotheses. Stress reactivity was generally the lowest for normal weight participants and highest for participants who were obese. In addition, the effect of religiousness and spirituality on stress varied by allostatic load, as indicated by BMI in the current study. There was no support found for overall religiousness or overall spirituality providing a buffer effect for diastolic or cortisol stress reactivity. This study is important because it provides additional details about the relationship between spirituality and health outcomes. This study also provides evidence that allostatic load from overweight or obesity increases stress and decreases the body's effectiveness of responding additional stressors. This research project has added to the body of knowledge regarding convergent and divergent validity of R/S, as measured by the Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiousness and Spirituality (BMMRS), with several other measures of resilience, hope, well-being, social support, depression, and state anxiety.

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“…Religious activity has been empirically linked to an array of attributes that impact upon health outcomes, such as personal values, locus of control, feelings of self, health related behaviors, intergenerational associations, and coping mechanisms (Ellison and Levin 1998;Gillum 2006;Hill et al 2007;Hummer et al 1999Hummer et al , 2004Iwasaki et al 2002;Krause 2004Krause , 2002Krause et al 2002;Lawler-Row and Elliott 2009;Obisesan et al 2006;Ryan and Willits 2007;Strawbridge et al 2001). This research has provided good evidence that strong religious convictions, especially when combined with frequent attendance of religious services, results in longer and functionally healthier lives (Chida et al 2009;Gillum et al 2008;Hummer et al 1999;Helm et al 2000;Hill et al 2005;Idler and Kasl 1997;Kelley-Moore and Ferraro 2001;Koenig et al 1999;Krause et al 1999;La Cour et al 2006;Oman and Reed 1998;Roff et al 2006;Strawbridge et al 1997;Yeager et al 2006;Zhang 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Religious activity, life expectancy, and disability-free life expectancy in Taiwan

et al. 2013

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Research has implicated religious activity as a health determinant, but questions remain, including whether associations persist in places where Judeo-Christian religions are not the majority; whether public versus private religious expressions have equivalent impacts, and the precise advantage expressed as years of life. This article addresses these issues in Taiwan. 3,739 Taiwanese aged 53? were surveyed in 1999, 2003, and 2007. Mortality and disability were recorded. Religious activities in public and private settings were measured at baseline. Multistate lifetables produced estimates of total life expectancy and activity of daily living (ADL) disability-free life expectancy across levels of public and private religious activity. There is a consistent positive gradient between religious activity and expectancy with greater activity related to longer life and more years without disability. Life and ADL disability-free life expectancies for those with no religious affiliation fit in between the lowest and highest religious activity groups. Results corroborate evidence in the West. Mechanisms that intervene may be similar in Eastern religions despite differences in the ways in which popular religions are practiced. Results for those with no affiliation suggest benefits of religion can be accrued in alternate ways.

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Religious Involvement and Adult Mortality in the United States: Review and Perspective

Cited by 117 publications

References 43 publications

Religious affiliation and mortality in Northern Ireland: Beyond Catholic and Protestant

Religious affiliation and mortality in Northern Ireland: Beyond Catholic and Protestant

The Impact of Spirituality on Cardiovascular Reactivity Among African Americans

Religious activity, life expectancy, and disability-free life expectancy in Taiwan

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