Is religion beneficial for mental health?

• Gabriele Prati ^[1]
  1. [1] University of Bologna

     University of Bologna

     Bolonia, Italia

     
• Localización: International journal of clinical and health psychology, ISSN 1697-2600, Vol. 24, Nº. 3, 2024, págs. 171-180
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijchp.2024.100491
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo
• Resumen

  • Background/Objective This study aimed to investigate the within-person and between-person effects of religious variables on mental health and vice versa.

    Method Using a large sample of adults residing in Germany from the GESIS Panel study (N = 8146), the random intercept cross-lagged panel model was used. Data on six dimensions of religion (i.e., membership in a religious community; attendance at a place of worship; frequency of prayers; importance of religion in life; and participation in a religious organization) and three indicators of mental health (i.e., depression symptoms, happiness, and life satisfaction) were collected.

    Results The findings revealed that there is almost no evidence of lagged effects of religion on mental health and limited evidence regarding the role of mental health in influencing the dimensions of religion. Moreover, at the between-person level, there was some evidence of significant covariance between the trait-like components, indicating stable, trait-like differences between persons on religion and mental health.

    Conclusions The beneficial effect of religion on mental health may have been exaggerated in previous research.

• Referencias bibliográficas
  • Ano, G. G., & Vasconcelles, E. B. (2005). Religious coping and psychological adjustment to stress: A meta-analysis. Journal of Clinical...
  • Balboni, T. A., VanderWeele, T. J., Doan-Soares, S. D., Long, K. N. G., Ferrell, B. R., Fitchett, G., et al. (2022). Spirituality in serious...
  • Bosnjak, M., Dannwolf, T., Enderle, T., Schaurer, I., Struminskaya, B., Tanner, A., et al. (2018). Establishing an open probability-based...
  • Breslin, M. J., & Lewis, C. A. (2008). Theoretical models of the nature of prayer and health: A review. Mental Health, Religion &...
  • Curran, P. J., & Bauer, D. J. (2010). The disaggregation of within-person and between- person effects in longitudinal models of change....
  • Ellison, C. G., & Lee, J. (2010). Spiritual struggles and psychological distress: Is there a dark side of religion? Social Indicators...
  • Exline, J. J. (2013). Religious and spiritual struggles. In K. I. Pargament, J. J. Exline, & J. W. Jones (Eds.), APA handbook of psychology,...
  • Falkenstrom, F., Solomonov, N., & Rubel, J. A. (2022). How to model and interpret cross- lagged effects in psychotherapy mechanisms of...
  • Garssen, B., Visser, A., & Pool, G. (2021). Does spirituality or religion positively affect mental health? Meta-analysis of longitudinal...
  • George, L. K., Ellison, C. G., & Larson, D. B. (2002). Explaining the relationships between religious involvement and health. Psychological...
  • GESIS. (2023). GESIS Panel Standard Edition (ZA5665 Version 48-0-0) [Data set]. GESIS Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.4232/1.14111.
  • Hackney, C. H., & Sanders, G. S. (2003). Religiosity and mental health: A meta–analysis of recent studies. Journal for the Scientific...
  • Hamaker, E. L. (2023). The within-between dispute in cross-lagged panel research and how to move forward. Psychological Methods. https://doi.org/10.1037/met0000600
  • Hamaker, E. L., Kuiper, R. M., & Grasman, R. P. P. P. (2015). A critique of the cross- lagged panel model. Psychological Methods, 20(1),...
  • Harrison, M. O., Koenig, H. G., Hays, J. C., Eme-Akwari, A. G., & Pargament, K. I. (2001). The epidemiology of religious coping: A review...
  • Hayward, R. D., & Krause, N. (2014). Religion, mental health, and well-being: Social aspects. In V. Saroglou (Ed.), Religion, personality,...
  • Hill, P. C., & Pargament, K. I. (2008). Advances in the conceptualization and measurement of religion and spirituality: Implications for...
  • Hodapp, B., & Zwingmann, C. (2019). Religiosity/spirituality and mental health: A meta- analysis of studies from the German-speaking area....
  • Hood, R. W., Hill, P. C., & Spilka, B. (2018). The psychology of religion: An empirical approach (5 ed.). Guilford Press.
  • Hu, L.-t., & Bentler, P. M. (1998). Fit indices in covariance structure modeling: Sensitivity to underparameterized model misspecification....
  • James, A., & Wells, A. (2003). Religion and mental health: Towards a cognitive- behavioural framework. British Journal of Health Psychology,...
  • Joshanloo, M. (2021). Within-person relationship between religiosity and life satisfaction: A 20-year study. Personality and Individual Differences,...
  • Joshanloo, M. (2022). Temporal associations between religiosity and subjective well- being in a nationally representative australian sample....
  • Joshanloo, M., & Gebauer, J. E. (2020). Religiosity’s nomological network and temporal change: Introducing an extensive country-level...
  • Keyes, C. L. M. (2005). Mental illness and/or mental health? Investigating axioms of the complete state model of health. Journal of Consulting...
  • Koenig, H. G. (1997). Is religion good for your health?: The effects of religion on physical and mental health. Routledge.
  • Koenig, H. G., Hays, J. C., George, L. K., Blazer, D. G., Larson, D. B., & Landerman, L. R. (1997). Modeling the cross-sectional relationships...
  • Krause, N. (2015). Religious doubt, helping others, and psychological well-being. Journal of Religion and Health, 54(2), 745–758. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-014-9977-1
  • Levin, J. S., & Chatters, L. M. (1998). Research on religion and mental health: An overview of empirical findings and theoretical issues....
  • Li, S., Okereke, O. I., Chang, S.-C., Kawachi, I., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2016). Religious service attendance and lower depression among...
  • Lüdtke, O., & Robitzsch, A. (2022). A comparison of different approaches for estimating cross-lagged effects from a causal inference perspective....
  • Maselko, J., Hayward, R. D., Hanlon, A., Buka, S., & Meador, K. (2012). Religious service attendance and major depression: A case of reverse...
  • Mulder, J. D. (2023). Power analysis for the random intercept cross-lagged panel model using the powRICLPM R-package. Structural Equation...
  • Nooney, J., & Woodrum, E. (2002). Religious coping and church-based social support as predictors of mental health outcomes: Testing a...
  • Orth, U., Clark, D. A., Donnellan, M. B., & Robins, R. W. (2021). Testing prospective effects in longitudinal research: Comparing seven...
  • Orth, U., Meier, L. L., Bühler, J. L., Dapp, L. C., Krauss, S., Messerli, D., et al. (2022). Effect size guidelines for cross-lagged effects....
  • Religion and Prevention in Mental Health. In Pargament, K., Maton, K., & Hess, R. (Eds.), Research, vision, and action, (1992). Haworth.
  • Pargament, K. I., Smith, B. W., Koenig, H. G., & Perez, L. (1998). Patterns of positive and negative religious coping with major life...
  • Park, C. L., Holt, C. L., Le, D., Christie, J., & Williams, B. R. (2018). Positive and negative religious coping styles as prospective...
  • Prati, G. (2023). Religion and well-being: What is the magnitude and the practical significance of the relationship? Psychology of Religion...
  • Salsman, J. M., Pustejovsky, J. E., Jim, H. S. L., Munoz, A. R., Merluzzi, T. V., George, L., et al. (2015). A meta-analytic approach to examining...
  • Sawatzky, R., Ratner, P. A., & Chiu, L. (2005). A meta-analysis of the relationship between spirituality and quality of life. Social Indicators...
  • Schieman, S., Bierman, A., & Ellison, C. G. (2013). Religion and Mental Health. In C. S. Aneshensel, J. C. Phelan, & A. Bierman (Eds.),...
  • Schlechter, P., Ford, T. J., & Neufeld, S. A. S. (2022). The eight-item Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale in the English...
  • Smith, T. B., McCullough, M. E., & Poll, J. (2003). Religiousness and depression: Evidence for a main effect and the moderating influence...
  • Sorjonen, K., Nilsonne, G., Melin, B., & Ingre, M. (2023). Uncertain inference in random intercept cross-lagged panel models: An example...
  • Steger, M. F., & Frazier, P. (2005). Meaning in life: One link in the chain from religiousness to well-being. Journal of Counseling Psychology,...
  • VanderWeele, T. J., Jackson, J. W., & Li, S. (2016). Causal inference and longitudinal data: A case study of religion and mental health....
  • Yaden, D. B., Batz-Barbarich, C. L., Ng, V., Vaziri, H., Gladstone, J. N., Pawelski, J. O., et al. (2022). A meta-analysis of religion/spirituality...
  • Yonker, J. E., Schnabelrauch, C. A., & DeHaan, L. G. (2012). The relationship between spirituality and religiosity on psychological outcomes...