Religious Affiliation in Relation to Positive Mental Health and Mental Disorders in a Multi-Ethnic Asian Population.

Janhavi Ajit Vaingankar,Mythily Subramaniam,Rob M Van Dam,Fiona Devi Siva Kumar,Siow Ann Chong,Edimansyah Abdin,Saleha Shafie,Niyanta Choudhary,Boon Yiang Chua

doi:10.3390/ijerph18073368

Abstract

Background: This study investigated association of religious affiliation with positive mental health (PMH) and mental disorders. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 2270 adults was conducted in Singapore. Participants reported their religious affiliation to Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, Taoism, or other religions. A PMH instrument measured total PMH and six subcomponents: general coping (GC), emotional support (ES), spirituality (S), interpersonal skills (IS), personal growth and autonomy (PGA), and global affect (GA). Lifetime history of mental disorders was assessed with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Results: Total PMH (mean ± SD) was 4.56 ± 0.66 for participants with any religion versus 4.12 ± 0.63 (p = 0.002) in those without any religion. After adjustment for all potential confounders, the mean difference in total PMH between these groups was 0.348 (95% CI: 0.248–0.448). Having any religion was significantly associated with higher scores for S, GC, ES, IS, but not with PGA, GA or mental disorders. Compared with individuals without any religion, total PMH and S levels were significantly higher across all religions. Additionally, Christianity was significantly associated with higher ES, Taoism with higher GC, Buddhism and Islam with higher GC, ES and IS, Hinduism with higher IS and Sikhism with higher ES and IS. Conclusion: Our results indicate that religious affiliation is significantly associated with higher PMH, but not with mental disorders in an Asian community setting. In addition, different religions showed unique patterns of association with PMH subcomponents.

Highlights

Religion is an organized set of beliefs and practices that are followed individually or within a community, and often involve worship of a higher controlling power such as a personal God, gods or spirits [1]
Those affiliated to any religion were slightly older, more likely to be of non-Chinese ethnicity and married compared with those without a religious affiliation
After adjustment for all potential confounders, Christianity was associated with higher emotional support, Taoism with higher general coping, Buddhism and Islam with higher general coping, emotional support and interpersonal skills, Hinduism with higher interpersonal skills and Sikhism with higher emotional support and interpersonal skills

Summary

Introduction

Religion is an organized set of beliefs and practices that are followed individually or within a community, and often involve worship of a higher controlling power such as a personal God, gods or spirits [1]. It is associated with spiritual practices that relate to feelings of closeness to the higher power, “self-transcendence and/or as engagement in practices” such as prayer or meditation [2]. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 2270 adults was conducted in Singapore Participants reported their religious affiliation to Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, Taoism, or other religions. After adjustment for all potential confounders, the mean difference in total

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion