Islamic Religiosity Among the Older Adults in Turkey: The Association Among Religious Activities, Health Status, and Life Satisfaction

Abstract

Religiosity and religious activity increase with age. On the other hand, it is less known whether religiosity is related to satisfaction and physical and psychological health status. Associated variables with being religious in old age are aimed to examine in this empirical research held in Turkey among the older adults over the age of 60. Religious practices of the older adults (N=150) such as attending to the mosque, practicing daily prayers, and praying (often, rarely never) were compared with respect to their physical and psychological health, life satisfaction, self-serenity, and fear of death. According to Chi-square results, participants who rated both physical and psychological health status as good, the number of participants performing often praying was higher than the number of people who were rarely praying or did not ever praying. For people who rated their both life satisfaction and self-serenity as “good”, the number of participants visiting a mosque often was higher than the number of people who were rarely visiting or did not ever visiting. Also, for people who describe their fear of death as “never”, the number of participants never performing daily prayers was lower than the number of people who often prayers and rarely prayers. Results revealed the possible association between physical/psychological health outcomes and religious participation.