Race and Ethnic Differences in the Effects of Religious Attendance on Subjective Health

Abstract

Religion and health research has not adequately addressed how the salutary benefits of participating in religious services differ among major racial and ethnic groups. This research uses data from the General Social Surveys to analyze differences in the effects of religious attendance upon subjective health among a sample of non-Latino White, non-Latino Black, and Latino adults. Modeled after a study by Levin and Markides (1986), first-order regressions of religious attendance on subjective health alternately controlled for social support, socioeconomic status, and subjective religiosity. The association between attendance and health tends to hold up among Whites and younger Black and Latino women, but controlling for subjective religiosity explained away bivariate associations among younger respondents in all three race/ethnic groups. Support for the socioeconomic status hypothesis was expected among Blacks and Latinos, but the results did not provide much evidence.