One size doesn’t fit all: religious/spiritual identities moderate salutary effects of religion

Religious/spiritual beliefs and behaviours are frequently described as having salutary effects, but there are likely unexplored exceptions to this general finding. We combined data from the 2011/2012 Canadian Community Health Surveys (N > 7077) to investigate how religion/spirituality predicted f...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Mental health, religion & culture
Authors: Speed, David ca. 20./21. Jh. (Author) ; Fowler, Ken (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Taylor & Francis 2021
In: Mental health, religion & culture
Year: 2021, Volume: 24, Issue: 2, Pages: 111-127
Further subjects:B Moderation
B non-spiritual
B Psychological wellness
B Non-religion
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:Religious/spiritual beliefs and behaviours are frequently described as having salutary effects, but there are likely unexplored exceptions to this general finding. We combined data from the 2011/2012 Canadian Community Health Surveys (N > 7077) to investigate how religion/spirituality predicted five health outcomes (i.e., three subscales on the Mental Health Continuum – Short Form, self-rated health, and satisfaction with life), and whether these relationships were moderated by a person’s religious/spiritual identity. We found that while attendance, prayer/meditation, and religiosity had a statistical relationship with health outcomes, these relationships were frequently weak and often did not apply to people who were Nones, nonspiritual, or nonspiritual-Nones. Moreover, the results suggested that religious/spiritual identities moderated the relationship between religious/spiritual beliefs and behaviours, and health outcomes. Specifically, Nones, nonspiritual, and nonspiritual-Nones reported a nonpositive relationship between religion and health. Overall, the conclusion that “religion = better health” is an inadequate generalisation that fails to describe the nuance of the relationship.
ISSN:1469-9737
Contains:Enthalten in: Mental health, religion & culture
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/13674676.2020.1863934