Effects of Religion and Purpose in Life on Elders' Subjective Well-Being and Attitudes Toward Death

Abstract

ABSTRACT Although religiosity tends to help older people to cope with physical and social losses, not all studies find a significant association between religious involvement and well-being in old age. It might be that primarily the intrinsic rather than the extrinsic aspect of religiosity is responsible for the positive effect of religiosity on well-being. Using a sample of 103 community dwelling older adults (58+), multivariate regression analyses showed that purpose in life rather than extrinsic or intrinsic religious orientation was positively related to elders' subjective well-being and negatively associated with fear of death and death avoidance. Moreover, extrinsic religious orientation had a positive effect on fear of death and death avoidance. Intrinsic religious orientation was positively related to approach acceptance of death. Frequency of shared spiritual activities and religious affiliation were unrelated to subjective well-being but positively related to death avoidance and fear of death, r...