Religiousness and Quality of Life Among Older Adults of Different Ethnic Groups in Malaysia: A Five-Year Follow-up Study
Research has shown that religion is associated with a better quality of life (QoL). This study aims to examine ethnic differences in the association between religion and the QoL of older adults in a predominantly Muslim population within a multicultural setting. Two-wave data of 3,810 participants c...
| Authors: | ; ; ; ; |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Springer Science + Business Media B. V.
2022
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| In: |
Journal of religion and health
Year: 2022, Volume: 61, Issue: 2, Pages: 1548-1563 |
| Further subjects: | B
Ethnicity
B Religion B Malaysia B Quality of life |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Research has shown that religion is associated with a better quality of life (QoL). This study aims to examine ethnic differences in the association between religion and the QoL of older adults in a predominantly Muslim population within a multicultural setting. Two-wave data of 3,810 participants consisting of mostly Muslims and older adults aged ≥ 55 years were collected as part of the community health surveys conducted in 2013 and 2018 in the South East Asia Community Observatory (SEACO). Both cross-sectional analyses of baseline data and prospective analyses of longitudinal data were conducted. The associations between religiosity and quality of life were mainly positive in the cross-sectional analysis. In the two-wave analysis, religious importance was negatively associated with QoL among the Malays (B = − 1.103, SE B = 0.029, p < .001) and the Chinese (B = − 0.160, SE B = 0.043, p < .001), and a belief in a higher power control was associated with better QoL among the Malays (B = 0.051, SE B = 0.022, p < .005) and poorer QoL domains among the Indians (physical health: B = − 5.412, SE B = 1.382, p < .001; psychological: B = − 3.325, SE B = 1.42, p < .001; social relationship: B = − 5.548, SE B = 1.616, p < .001; environment: B = − 2.586, SE B = 1.288; p < .05). Our study's mixed results suggest that religiosity is positively associated with quality of life in cross-sectional analyses. However, in longitudinal analyses, the results are different. Conclusions with regard to causality based on cross-sectional analyses may be misleading. Health promotion programs should continue to examine the effect of religiousness on health outcomes over time among aging populations across different ethnic groups. |
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| ISSN: | 1573-6571 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of religion and health
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1007/s10943-021-01371-x |