COMPLEXITY OF RELIGIOUS MOTIVATION AMONG OLDER ADULTS FACING SERIOUS ILLNESS

Abstract

This study examines the impact of serious illness on the complexity of religious motivation over 12 months in a random sample of 287 community-dwelling older adults. Repeated measure MANCOVA’s were conducted in which complexity of religious motivation – indexed by logit transformed ratios of intrinsic to quest religious motivation and intrinsic to extrinsic religious motivation – was a dependent measure at two times of measurement in these analyses. Seriousness of illness, derived from physician-based illness ratings on the OARS, was an independent measure, and intensity of religious commitment (a composite of religious participation and orthodoxy of belief) and other background characteristics were covariates. Seriousness of illness was strongly predictive of complexity of religious motivation at each time of measurement (p’s < .01). Older individuals facing more serious illnesses report greater desire to live a religious life and less willingness to question their beliefs. This suggests that religious motivation – at least with respect to the relationship between intrinsic and quest motivation – becomes less cognitively complex in the face of more serious illness. By contrast, for older adults facing more serious illnesses, breadth and depth of religious commitment becomes intertwined with seeking social/emotional rewards of religious involvement. In this way, religious orientation becomes more complex in the face of more serious illness. Relationships between illness and complexity of religious orientation are discussed in light of the influence of limited life expectancy on cognitive complexity and motivation for social activity.