Frequency Of Church Attendance Research Articles

Contraception usage among young adult men in a developing country

Contraception usage among young adult men in a developing country Paul A Bourne1, Christopher AD Charles2,31Department of Community Health and Psychiatry, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of the West Indies, Mona, Kingston, Jamaica; 2King Graduate School, Monroe College, Bronx, New York, NY, USA; 3Center for Victim Support, Harlem Hospital Center, New York, NY, USABackground: Jamaica is a Third World country with an increasing population and public resource constraints to address development imperatives, one of which is reproductive health.Aims: This study examines the method of contraception used by men in Jamaica and the factors that influence their choice of contraceptives.Materials and methods: The investigation was carried out with a stratified random sample of 2,437 men drawn from the National Family Planning Board dataset of men aged 15–24. The measures included variables such as age, crowding, area of residence, church attendance, method of contraception used, being in a relationship, the number of partners, having a pregnant woman partner, and being sexually active among other variables.Results: The majority of the men had engaged in sexual intercourse in the last 30 days. Frequent church attendance increased sexual abstinence. The majority of the men who mostly got their contraceptives from the pharmacy mostly used a condom. Lesser used methods were the pill and the rhythm method, among others. The method of contraception used was significantly determined by having had sexual intercourse in the last 30 days with a nonsteady partner (OR = 2.00, 95% CI: 1.40–2.86), sharing sanitary facilities with a nonhousehold member (OR = 0.62, 95% CI: 0.42–0.94) and having a pregnant partner (OR = 0.08, 95% CI: 0.04–0.16).Conclusion: A national reproductive health policy is needed that takes into account the type of contraceptives used, the institutional sources of information, the sources of contraceptives, the risk of sexually transmitted infections, and the three explanatory factors for the methods of contraception used.Keywords: young men, reproductive health, contraception, sexual relations, developing nation

Psychosocial Factors Associated With Recent Alcohol Use Among Hispanic Youth

A total of 946 Hispanic students in 7th to 12th grade in Greater Cincinnati schools ( N = 133) completed a survey assessing factors associated with recent alcohol use. Results indicated that 24.5% used alcohol in the past month. Males were more likely than females to recently use alcohol. A series of odds ratios revealed that frequent church attendance, making good grades, and having parents/teachers frequently talk and set/enforce rules regarding alcohol use were associated with decreased recent alcohol use. Frequent participation in risky behaviors was directly related to recent alcohol use. Ongoing parent, teacher, and school communication and the consistent setting and enforcement of rules should be encouraged. Findings may be beneficial to prevention specialists developing programs targeting Hispanic youth. Future studies should seek to identify specific activities within the family, school, and community that help deter alcohol use among this population.

Smoking by Frequency and Type of Social Contact

To compare smoking by frequency and type of social contact. Respondents aged 20 years or older from NHANES III were analyzed using multivariate logistic models (N = 15,499). Among the levels and types of social contact, frequency of church attendance was the only type of social contact associated with lower likelihood of smoking (OR = 0.68, 95% CI = 0.64, 0.72). Other types of contact were either not associated or were associated with higher probabilities of smoking. Frequent church attendance appears to protect the most from smoking relative to other types of social contact.

Predicting the Short- and Long-Term Helpfulness of Premarital Counseling: The Critical Role of Counseling Quality

This study seeks to uncover the important role of quality of premarital counseling in predicting the helpfulness of this service. Perceived quality of the church-based premarital counseling experience was predicted by infrequent church attendance. The short-term helpfulness of premarital counseling was predicted by greater quality of counseling but shorter duration, as well as less frequent church attendance and having had many quarrels before marriage. The long-term helpfulness of premarital counseling was predicted by greater short-term helpfulness and by greater counseling quality, as well as younger age at marriage. Only wives reported that their premarital counseling had been mandated. Overall, premarital counseling quality was found to be the strongest predictor of successful premarital outcomes in a religious setting.

The relationship between religious involvement and clinical status of patients with bipolar disorder

Religion and spirituality are important coping strategies in depression but have been rarely studied within the context of bipolar disorder. The present study assessed the association between different forms of religious involvement and the clinical status of individuals treated for bipolar disorder. A cross-sectional observation study of follow-up data from a large cohort study of patients receiving care for bipolar disorder (n = 334) at an urban Veterans Affairs mental health clinic was conducted. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed to assess the association between public (frequency of church attendance), private (frequency of prayer/meditation), as well as subjective forms (influence of beliefs on life) of religious involvement and mixed, manic, depressed, and euthymic states when demographic, anxiety, alcohol abuse, and health indicators were controlled. Multivariate analyses found significant associations between higher rates of prayer/meditation and participants in a mixed state [odds ratio (OR) = 1.29; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.10-1.52, chi square = 9.42, df = 14, p < 0.05], as well as lower rates of prayer/meditation and participants who were euthymic (OR = 0.84; 95% CI = 0.72-0.99, chi square = 4.60, df = 14, p < 0.05). Depression and mania were not associated with religious involvement. Compared to patients with bipolar disorder in depressed, manic, or euthymic states, patients in mixed states have more active private religious lives. Providers should assess the religious activities of individuals with bipolar disorder in mixed states and how they may complement/deter ongoing treatment. Future longitudinal studies linking bipolar states, religious activities, and treatment-seeking behaviors are needed.

Memory of Deductive and Inductive Sermons: Empirical Research into the Effects of Transmission of Theological Concepts in the Doctrinal Mode

Transmission of religion is important in order to pass on the beliefs, rituals, stories, devotional practices etc. as part of a religious tradition to the next generation. According to Whitehouse (2004) two requirements have to be fulfilled in order that this transmission is successful: it must take a form that people can remember and people must be motivated to pass on these beliefs and rituals. In the empirical research, five categories of predictors can influence memory in the doctrinal mode. With regard to memory of sermons five predictors were included in the research: (1) the type of reasoning that is used in the sermon in order to achieve logical integration and coherence (deductive or inductive reasoning); (2) word comprehension; (3) frequency of church attendance as an indicator of the number of times that believers have heard the same (complex) theological teaching; (4) strength of believing, especially orthodoxy and (5) the value an individual places on the theological teachings (concept) of the sermon and the relevance for life situations. Memory is measured by the number of elements of the reasons offered in the sermon that could be reproduced by the believers. The sermons were part of the ordinary Catholic Sunday service by the local parish pastor in order to guarantee ecological validity, i.e. to resemble the real-life situation of sermons which are researched. The sample consisted of 77 listeners to the deductive sermon and 64 listeners to the inductive sermon. The results of the research show that listeners in general have a poor memory of the content of the sermon. Listeners remember more if they are frequent church attendees and if they hold more orthodox beliefs. These results corroborate the modes theory developed by Whitehouse and also lead to further refinement. The type of reasoning in sermons and word comprehension (intelligence) are elements which should be included in the modes theory for the doctrinal mode because of their influence on memory. The research also suggest a tedium effect in the influence of repetition on memory. The element of personal valuation and connection to life situations finds no support in the research.

Religion and Child Health

This paper examines the determinants of the health of children ages 6 to 19, as reported in the Child Development Supplements (CDS) to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). The primary focus is on the effect of religion on the reported overall health and psychological health of the child. Three measures of religion/religiosity of the child are employed: whether there is a religious affiliation (and what kind), the importance of religion, and the frequency of church attendance. Other variables the same, the analysis reveals that there appears to be a positive association between both measures of health and the three measures of religion/religiosity. Those children (self-report or primary caregiver report) who have identified a religious affiliation, who view religion as very important, compared to those who view it as unimportant, and who attend church at least weekly compared to those who do not or seldom attend have higher levels of overall health and psychological health. When the analysis of affiliation is done by denomination, the primary difference is between those who report a religious affiliation and those who do not.

Diffusion of an Economic Development Policy Innovation: Explaining the International Spread of Casino Gambling

This study uses an event history analysis to examine the factors that lead to the adoption of casino gambling among 13 nations around the world. Specifically, measures of fiscal stress, economic development, tourism, religiosity, and income levels are tested for their relationship to national decisions to legalize casino gambling. This study found that economic development needs, as measured by general unemployment rates, were associated with the casino legalization decisions of national governments. Higher unemployment rates were more likely in the years that nations legalized casino gambling. Religiosity, measured by frequency of church attendance, was also found to be a significant barrier in legalization decisions. Measures of fiscal stress, tourism, and income levels were not found to have significant relationships with the legalization decisions. This is interesting because these factors are often cited in case studies, media reports, and the statements of politicians during legalization processes. This study points to the need for further research in several areas. Further exploration of potential explanatory variables and more appropriate measures of currently theorized factors is warranted. Another area for further research is the seeming contradictory findings of multiple statistical analyses and multiple anecdotal findings of the impacts of fiscal stress on the casino legalization decision.

Marriage, not Religion, is Associated with HIV Infection Among Women in Rural Malawi

Despite the fact that religious affiliation is almost universal in Malawi, and religious denomination could potentially influence HIV-risk behaviors, limited data exist on its role of in HIV infection in this setting. This study was conducted to assess whether religious denominational affiliation, religiosity or place of residence were associated with sexual behaviors and HIV infection among Christian women. A total of 63 of 939 women with HIV test results (6.7%) were HIV infected. There was no association between religion or frequency of church attendance and HIV infection or condom use within the current or most recent marriage. Compared to women who lived in a village which was neither the husband's village nor her own village, women living with spouse in her own village or living in a husband's village were less likely to be HIV infected.

A Developmental Twin Study of Church Attendance and Alcohol and Nicotine Consumption: A Model for Analyzing the Changing Impact of Genes and Environment

Church attendance is one of the most consistent predictors of alcohol and nicotine consumption. The authors sought to clarify changes in the role of genetic and environmental factors in influencing church attendance and the interrelationship between church attendance and alcohol and nicotine use from early adolescence into adulthood. The authors used data from two interview waves 6 years apart of 1,796 male twins from a population-based register, in which respondents were asked about current and past church attendance and psychoactive drug use. Structural twin models were fitted and tested using the Mx software program. As twins developed from childhood through adulthood, the influence of shared environmental factors on church attendance declined dramatically while genetic factors increased. In early and late adolescence, the negative correlations between church attendance and alcohol and nicotine consumption resulted largely from shared environmental factors. In adulthood, the inverse relationship between church attendance and substance use became stronger and arose largely from genetic factors. As individuals mature, they increasingly shape their own social environment in large part as a result of their genetically influenced temperament. When individuals are younger and living at home, frequent church attendance reflects a range of familial and social-environmental influences that reduce levels of substance use. In adulthood, by contrast, high levels of church attendance largely index genetically influenced temperamental factors that are protective against substance use. Using genetically informative designs such as twin studies, it is possible to show that the causes of the relationship between social risk factors and substance use can change dramatically over development.

Parents’ and Children’s Religiosity and Child Behavioral Adjustment Among Maltreated and Nonmaltreated Children

We investigated the role of parents' and children's religiosity in behavioral adjustment among maltreated and nonmaltreated children. Data were collected on 170 maltreated and 159 nonmaltreated children from low-income families (mean age = 10 years). We performed dyadic data analyses to examine unique contributions of parents' and children's religiosity and their interaction to predicting child internalizing and externalizing symptomatology. A four group structural equation modeling was used to test whether the structural relations among religiosity predictors and child outcomes differed by child maltreatment status and child gender. We found evidence of parent-child religiosity interaction suggesting that (1) parents' frequent church attendance was related to lower levels of internalizing symptomatology among nonmaltreated children with low church attendance and (2) parents' importance of faith was associated with lower levels of internalizing and externalizing symptomatology among nonmaltreated children with low faith. The results suggest that independent effects of parents' religiosity varied depending on children's religiosity and parent-child relationship.

Women, smoking, and social disadvantage over the life course: A longitudinal study of African American women

We compare life course characteristics of a cohort of African American women ( N = 457) by their smoking status at age 42: never smoker (34.1%), former smoker (27.8%), or current smoker (38.1%). The Woodlawn population from which our sample is drawn has been followed from first grade (1966–67) to mid adulthood (2002–3) and is a cohort of children from a disadvantaged Chicago community. Examination of the effects of cumulative disadvantage on smoking behavior showed that nearly half of women who first lived in poverty as children, dropped out of school, became teen mothers, and were poor as young adults currently smoked; less than 22% of women with none of these difficulties were current smokers. Regression analyses focusing on smoking and evidence of social disadvantage in childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood showed that women with more education were much less likely to be current smokers. Women reporting low parental supervision in adolescence and less frequent church attendance in young adulthood and those whose mothers’ reported regular smoking were significantly more likely to be current smokers. Poverty and marital status in young adulthood varied significantly among smoking categories in bivariate relationships, but not in final multivariate regression models. Few other studies have examined smoking careers with data from age 6–42, comparing social disadvantage characteristics over the life course. While marital status, church involvement and parental supervision are not usually included as measures of socioeconomic status, they represent advantages in terms of social capital and should be considered mechanisms for transmitting disparities.

The Association of Religiosity, Sexual Education, and Parental Factors with Risky Sexual Behaviors Among Adolescents and Young Adults

This study examined the association of religiosity, sexual education and family structure with risky sexual behaviors among adolescents and young adults. The nationally representative sample, from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth, included 3,168 women and men ages 15-21 years. Those who viewed religion as very important, had frequent church attendance, and held religious sexual attitudes were 27-54% less likely to have had sex and had significantly fewer sex partners than peers. Participants whose formal and parental sexual education included abstinence and those from two-parent families were 15% less likely to have had sex and had fewer partners.

Religious Involvement, Gratitude, and Change in Depressive Symptoms Over Time

Three hypotheses are evaluated in this study. The first predicts that feelings of gratitude will offset (i.e., moderate) the deleterious effects of chronic financial strain on depressive symptoms over time. The second hypothesis specifies that people who go to church more often will be more likely to feel grateful. The third hypothesis predicts that individuals with a strong sense of God-mediated control will also feel more grateful. Data from a nationwide longitudinal study of older adults in the United States (N = 818) provide support for all three hypotheses. The data suggest that the effects of ongoing economic difficulty on depressive symptoms are especially pronounced for older people who are less grateful. But in contrast, persistent financial difficulties fail to exert a statistically significant effect on depressive symptoms over time for older individuals who are especially grateful. The results further reveal that more frequent church attendance and stronger God-mediated control beliefs are associated with positive changes in gratitude over time.

The Association of Public and Private Religious Involvement With Severity of Depression and Hopelessness in Older Adults Treated for Major Depression

The authors assessed the association between public and private religious participation and depression as well as hopelessness in older depressed, adults treated in mental health settings. Data from 130 participants from a posttreatment longitudinal follow-up study of late-life depression were analyzed. Multiple regression analyses were performed to assess the association between public (frequency of church attendance) and private (frequency of prayer/meditation) forms of religious participation and depression as well as hopelessness severity when demographic and health indicators were controlled. Multivariate analyses found significant negative associations between frequency of prayer/meditation and depression (OR = 0.56 [0.36-0.89], Wald chi2 = 5.93, df = 1) as well as hopelessness (OR = 0.58 [0.36-0.94], Wald chi2 = 4.97, df = 1) severity. This study supports significant, direct relationships between prayer/meditation and depression as well as hopelessness severity in older adults treated for depression in mental health settings. Prospective studies are needed to further illuminate these relationships.

Predictors of Modern Homonegativity among Professional Counselors

Modern homonegativity is prejudice against gay men and lesbians based on current issues such as equality and social justice. Predictors of modern homonegativity among professional counselors were examined. Logistic regression analysis indicated that frequency of church attendance, not having a gay or lesbian friend, being a member of the Republican political party, not having participated in training about gay and lesbian sexual identities in the 12 months prior to the study, and being older predicted the probability of counselors having high modern homonegativity scores.

Church Attendance, Implicit Religion and Belief in Luck

This study was designed to examine the complex pattern of relationships between conventional religious practice (in the sense of church attendance), implicit religion (in the sense of persisting Christian beliefs and values, unsupported by church attendance), and alternative spirituality (in the sense of non-conventional beliefs). In this context implicit religion was operationalized in terms of attitude toward the explicit religion of Christianity, and alternative spirituality was operationalized in terms of belief in luck. Data were provided by a sample of 1,133 13- to 15-year-old adolescents in South Wales who completed the Belief in Luck Index (BILI) and the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity (FSAC), alongside information about frequency of church attendance. These data demonstrate that among non-churchgoers there is a significant positive correlation between attitude toward Christianity and belief in luck. Among churchgoers, however, these two variables were uncorrelated. These findings support the view that a general eclectic belief system is underpinning the spirituality of the unchurched rather than a widespread rejection of transcendence in favour of secularity.

The Roles of Parenting, Church Attendance, and Depression in Adolescent Smoking

The aim of the present study was to identify contextual factors related to smoking among urban African-American and White adolescents. We administered a survey assessing demographic and psychosocial variables to 299 adolescents in an urban pediatric clinic in the Midwest. Results indicated that being female, older age, lower academic performance, depressive symptoms, less frequent church attendance, parental smoking, and parental attitudes toward smoking were related to adolescent smoking. After controlling for demographics, the multivariate model predicting adolescent smoking included depressive symptoms, less frequent church attendance, and parental disapproval of smoking. Given these findings, efforts to decrease adolescent smoking may be enhanced by attending to depressive symptoms demonstrated by adolescents as well as contextual factors including parental attitudes and church attendance.

Religion and civic engagement among America's youth

Scholars of civic engagement are noticing the consequences of religiosity. Scholars have seen the influence of religiosity on political and charitable behavior among adults. But does this pattern hold for adolescents? In this study, I use a new survey of American teenagers, the National Study of Youth and Religion, to assess the impact of intense religiosity on adolescent volunteerism and political activities. Evidence from multivariate logistic regression analyses indicate that intense religiosity, measured in terms of behavior (frequent church attendance) and beliefs (theological conservatism) significantly increase the likelihood that teens will volunteer. However, adolescent political involvement is not related to religiosity.

The Influence of Religiosity, Gender, and Language Preference Acculturation on Sexual Activity Among Latino/a Adolescents

The purpose of this study was to determine the main and interactive effects of religiosity, gender, and language preference acculturation on sexual activity among 570 Latino/a adolescents from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth. Results indicated that adolescents who viewed religion as very important, had frequent church attendance, and had more traditional attitudes on sexuality were less likely ever to have sex compared with adolescents who were less religious. Those with frequent church attendance and high traditional attitudes had fewer lifetime and recent sex partners. Unassimilated religious youth were less likely ever to have sex, had fewer lifetime and recent sexual partners, and a later age of sexual debut. Females were less likely to have had sex, had fewer recent and lifetime partners, and had a later age of coital debut than males. Religiosity had a healthy dampening of sexual activity among Latino/a adolescents and, in particular, among those who were less assimilated.