Religiousness, Spirituality, and Psychological Distress in Taiwan

Abstract

Most of the previous research on religion and mental health has focused solely on Western, predominantly Christian societies. Using a 2004 national survey of 1,881 adults in Taiwan, this study investigates the relationships between multidimensional measures of religiousness/spirituality and psychological distress in an Eastern context. Our findings differ from previous studies in the West, showing that:(1) religious-based supernatural beliefs are associated with more distress; (2) daily prayer is associated with less distress; (3) engaging in secular-based supernatural activities like fortune-telling is related to more distress; and (4) the frequency of religious attendance is unrelated to levels of distress. Broader theoretical and empirical implications of these findings are discussed.

Gender differences among medically serious suicide attempters aged 15–54 years in rural China

“…This lack of control and individual social identity may heighten the risk for psychological problems such as stress, hopelessness, or depression which could then subsequently increase risk for suicide among these females. Further, in traditional Chinese culture religious beliefs are considered to be deviant (Liu et al, 2011). Given that females are more prone to hold religious beliefs, they may feel a stigma from this belief system.…”

Religious Involvement and Depression: Evidence for Curvilinear and Stress‐Moderating Effects Among Young Women in Rural China

“…Following standard practice in prior research in the Chinese context (Liu, Schieman, and Jang ), our scale of supernatural beliefs selects 10 questionnaire items that assess the extent to which respondents believe in the following: “karmic laws,” “heavenly fate,” “Yin‐Yang and five elements,” “Buddha and Bodhisattvas,” “spirits and ghosts,” “ancestral spirits,” “luck,” “life after death,” “after a person passes away, his/her spirit and soul still exist,” and “hell.” Response choices are coded (1) “no, not at all,” (2) “no, not really,” (3) “not sure,” (4) “yes, somewhat,” and (5) “yes, very much.” The responses were summed over the items to create a supernatural beliefs index. A factor analysis indicates that the items load quite highly on one underlying construct; factor loadings range from .62 to .84.…”

“…Smith, McCullough, and Poll's meta‐analysis (2003) also emphasizes the paucity of research on the association between intrinsic religiousness and depression in Asian‐American and Asian populations. Nevertheless, there has been an emerging small literature examining the linear associations between intrinsic religiousness and other mental health domains, such as worry/anxiety and psychological well‐being, in Asian populations (on Thailand, see Tapanya, Nicki, and Jarusawad ; on Japan, see Lavric and Flere and Roemer ; on Taiwan, see Liu, Schieman, and Jang ). This literature has identified a key challenge in empirical research with a focus on predominantly non‐Judeo‐Christian‐Islamic societies: the original scales of intrinsic religiousness “function well only within the U.S. sample” and thus are not directly applicable in other cultures (Lavric and Flere :172).…”

“…It is not unusual, for example, for a Chinese person to make an incense offering to the God of Doctors (Baosheng Dadi) for better health in a Taoist temple, worship the statue of Avaloketisvara Bodhisattva (Guanyin) as the giver of sons at a Buddhist festival, and pray for family protection in front of the ancestor shrine at home. Recent empirical research indicates that in the Chinese/Asian context, religiousness is often positively associated with mental health outcomes (for a review, see Liu ; Liu, Schieman, and Jang ). There is also evidence that belief in Chinese gods (e.g., Jade Emperor) buffers health‐related stress through positive emotions (Liu, Koenig, and Wei ).…”

Suicides and medically serious attempters are of the same population in Chinese rural young adults

“…As only less than 10% of the Chinese general populations claim themselves religious (Yang, 2006), believing in a religion is considered to be a deviant behavior. Some rural people became religious after encountering difficulties or misfortunes in life and hoped to resort to religion and the church for comfort and solution of the problems, and similar observation was made in the Chinese community in Taiwan (Liu et al, 2011). However, this hypothesis needs to be further studied to fully understand the positive correlation between suicide/suicide attempt and religion in China.…”