Greater Religiosity Research Articles

Religiosity, alcohol expectancies, drinking motives and their interaction in the prediction of drinking among college students.

Several different mechanisms have been proposed to account for the consistent but moderate inverse relationship between religiosity and drinking, ranging from the direct proscriptions against alcohol in various faiths to social learning based on parental upbringing. Alcohol expectancies and drinking motives may be more proximal cognitive mechanisms that influence this relationship. The present study, using 265 college undergraduates, gathered self-report data using the Comprehensive Effects of Alcohol questionnaire, the Drinking Motives Questionnaire-Revised and the Religious Orientation Scale-Revised. Of religiosity measures, intrinsic religiosity most closely related to quantity of alcohol consumption. Participants in conservative religious denominations had higher negative expectancies and lower drinking motives. Several positive and negative expectancies as well as drinking motives partially mediated the relationship between intrinsic religiosity and alcohol consumption. These results suggest that individuals' religious beliefs have influences on their alcohol consumption through several separate mechanisms. Religiosity may have direct effects that reduce drinking, as well as indirect effects via expectancies and motivations to drink. Negative expectancies, in particular, may serve as a buffer to promote abstinence and to reduce drinking in individuals with greater religiosity.

Religion, Spirituality, and Health Status in Geriatric Outpatients

Religion and spirituality remain important social and psychological factors in the lives of older adults, and there is continued interest in examining the effects of religion and spirituality on health status. The purpose of this study was to examine the interaction of religion and spirituality with self-reported health status in a community-dwelling geriatric population. We performed a cross-sectional analysis of 277 geriatric outpatients participating in a cohort study in the Kansas City area. Patients underwent a home assessment of multiple health status and functional indicators by trained research assistants. A previously validated 5-item measure of religiosity and 12-item spirituality instrument were embedded during the final data collection. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to determine the relationship between each factor and self-reported health status. In univariate analyses, physical functioning (P < .01), quality of life (P < .01), race (P < .01), depression (P < .01), age (P = .01), and spirituality (P < .01) were all associated with self-reported health status, but religiosity was not (P = .12). In a model adjusted for all covariates, however, spirituality remained independently associated with self-appraised good health (P = .01). Geriatric outpatients who report greater spirituality, but not greater religiosity, are more likely to appraise their health as good. Spirituality may be an important explanatory factor of subjective health status in older adults.

Suicide and religiosity--Masaryk's theory revisited.

The relationship between suicide rates and the religious climate of a community is a matter of controversy. Rising suicide rates have been attributed in part to a decline in religious observance, but contradictory evidence has also been adduced. We compared national suicide rates, classified according to gender, age, and urban-rural location,with the results of a national survey on religious belief and practice conducted during the same year. The survey consisted of four questions dealing with different dimensions of religiosity, some of which might be considered as internal and central, others more external and social. Suicide rates were higher for males than for females, and for younger than for older age groups. Religiosity was, in contrast, higher among females and in rural areas. Suicides were more frequent in rural areas, which also had greater religiosity. External, social dimensions of religiosity differed more than core beliefs. There is evidence of an inverse relationship between religiosity and suicide when age and gender are considered, but not according to location. Possible reasons for this are discussed.

Secularization and Aging in Britain: Does Family Formation Cause Greater Religiosity?

Using data from the British Election Studies and the British Household Panel Study, this research note examines how family formation factors, such as marriage and childrearing, affect church attendance in Britain. Debates in the United States have centered on how, first, apparent aging effects could be due to family formation or be evidence for cohort differences, and, second, how family formation effects are sex specific. This research note shows that sex‐specific effects are also present in Britain, but more importantly that family formation alone cannot begin to account for differences between age groups in church attendance. Evidence presented here suggests that generational differences are actually responsible for both age disparities and the large declines over time in church attendance in Britain.

Public Attitudes toward Abortion in Israel: A Research Note

Objective. For the first time since the mid‐1970s, this study explored sociodemographic correlates of abortion attitudes among Israeli Jews and compared them with those reported by the General Social Survey in the United States. Methods. A survey in the representative sample of Jewish adults living in urban areas across Israel (N= 546) that included two related items on the attitude toward abortion for nonvital reasons. Results. Using multiple regression, four statistically and socially significant correlates of antiabortion attitudes were identified: Greater religiosity (especially Ultra‐Orthodox affiliation), lower than average income, greater number of children, and right‐wing political preference. Gender and age did not emerge as significant correlates of abortion attitudes. Whereas American Jews form the mainstay of the prochoice camp, Jews in Israel are clearly divided along the lines of religiosity, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and political views. Conclusions. In both Israel and the United States, the sociodemographic profiles of abortion supporters and opponents have been rather similar and stable over the last 25 years. This may point to the stable patterns of religiosity in both societies, since antiabortion sentiments have mainly been fueled by religious fundamentalism, regardless of formal denomination.

Religion: a mediator of Anglo-American and Mexican attributional differences toward symptoms of schizophrenia?

This study examined the relationship of religiosity to attributions toward schizophrenia, within a cultural context. Previous research suggests that on self-report measures, Mexicans endorse holding greater moral-religious values than do their Anglo-American counterparts. Research also indicates that Mexicans, relative to Anglo-Americans, tend to hold fewer blameworthy attributions and are less likely to view patients with schizophrenia as responsible for the symptoms of the disorder. In an analog study of 88 Mexican and 88 Anglo-American college students asked to imagine that they have a brother with schizophrenia, this study assessed two competing hypotheses regarding the role of religion in shaping reactions to schizophrenia in a family member. For hypothesis 1, Baron and Kenny's mediational model (1986) was used to assess whether moral religious values may play a direct mediating role between ethnicity and controllability attributions for schizophrenia. In other words, based on observations of previous researchers, this set of analyses assessed whether ethnic differences in controllability attributions might be explained by a religious or spiritual tendency in Mexicans to view negative events, such as mental disability, as rooted in divine factors beyond the patient's personal control. In contrast, a second, competing, hypothesis was also assessed in this study: namely, that greater religiosity would be positively correlated with increasing perceptions of control over the symptoms of schizophrenia. This hypothesis stems from the premise of several investigators that religious individuals may be more likely to perceive another's adversity (such as having schizophrenia) as a punishment for prior wrongdoings or for failure to try to help oneself. Results indicate support for the latter hypothesis. Implications of the paradoxical finding, that Mexicans were both more religious and more external in their attributions, are discussed.

Trends in Adolescent Males' Abortion Attitudes, 1988-1995: Differences by Race and Ethnicity

Studying how adolescent males view abortion and how their attitudes toward abortion have changed over time can improve our understanding of the sexual, contraceptive and abortion behavior of these males and their partners. Data from the 1988 and 1995 National Survey of Adolescent Males are used to describe changes in young males' attitudes toward abortion over time, as well as differences in abortion attitudes by race and ethnicity. Multivariate models are used to examine the relationship between religiosity and abortion attitudes. Between 1988 and 1995, young males' approval of abortion decreased significantly. In 1995, 24% of U.S. males aged 15-19 agreed that it was all right for a woman to have an abortion "for any reason," down from 37% in 1988. This decrease was driven almost entirely by non-Hispanic white males; there was little change in the abortion attitudes of non-Hispanic blacks and Hispanics. The decrease in white males' approval of abortion coincides with a significant increase in the self-reported importance of religion and in the proportion of whites who identified themselves as born-again Christians. The proportion of non-Hispanic white males indicating that religion was very important increased from 28% in 1988 to 34% in 1995, while the proportion identifying themselves as born-again increased from 18% to 24%. Multivariate analyses indicate that religiosity was more strongly related to the abortion attitudes of non-Hispanic whites than to those of Hispanics or non-Hispanic blacks. The large decrease in approval of abortion among white teenage males has closed the racial and ethnic gap in attitudes toward abortion that was evident in 1988, when such youth held significantly more liberal attitudes toward abortion than did either Hispanics or blacks. This trend toward more conservative abortion-related attitudes among whites coincides with increasingly conservative attitudes regarding premarital sex and greater religiosity among white male adolescents.

Influences on adolescents’ decision to postpone onset of sexual intercourse: a survival analysis of virginity among youths aged 13 to 18 years

Background: Previous research has focused on risk factors associated with early onset of sexual intercourse among adolescents. This study hypothesizes that protective factors identified for other health compromising behaviors are also protective against early onset of sexual intercourse. The study sample included 26,023 students in grades 7–12 (87.5% white, 52.5% male) who did not report a history of sexual abuse in a statewide survey of adolescent health in 1988. Methods: Bivariate analyses were stratified into early (13–14 years), middle (15–16 years) and late (17–18 years) adolescence and by gender. Cox proportional hazards survival analysis, stratified by gender, was used to determine risk and protective factors associated with delayed onset of sexual intercourse. Results: Variables showing a significant bivariate association with lower levels of sexual activity across all age groups and genders were: dual-parent families, higher socioeconomic status (SES), better school performance, greater religiosity, absence of suicidal thoughts, feeling adults or parents cared, and high parental expectations. High levels of body pride were associated with higher levels of sexual activity for all age and gender groups. In the multivariate survival analyses, variables significantly associated with delayed onset of sexual activity for both males and females included: dual-parent families, higher SES, residing in rural areas, higher school performance, concerns about the community, and higher religiosity. High parental expectations were a significant protective factor for males but not for females. Conclusion: While many protective factors are not subject to intervention, the present analyses indicate that teen pregnancy prevention may be enhanced by addressing family and educational factors.

Gender role identity among adolescent Muslim girls living in the U.S.

Gender role identity is acquired through exposure to societal expectations and beliefs about behaviors and characteristics appropriate for males and females. This study examined influences on gender identity among ninety-six Muslim adolescent girls living in the U.S. and attending an Islamic high school. Over three-quarters of the sample characterized themselves as Middle-Eastern or Arab-American. Participants completed a survey in English or Arabic containing background questions, the Bern Sex Role Inventory (Bern, 1974), the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (Phinney, 1992), and a religiosity scale. These young women had comparable femininity scores, but higher masculinity scores than Bern's normative female samples. Results also indicated that those girls who had lived in the U.S. for longer periods reported more masculine attributes. Greater sense of belonging to one's ethnic group and greater religiosity were associated with greater femininity. Thus, identification with one's own culture, adherence to religious practices, and exposure to foreign cultural values were related to gender role identity.

GENDER GAP IN POLITICAL TOLERANCE

While women and men do not differ in their attitudes in most areas, persistent gender differences have been identified in several issue domains, including support for civil liberties of political outgroups. Generally speaking, research shows that women are more reluctant than men to allow unpopular groups to exercise their constitutional rights; women also seem to differ from men in their choice of intolerance targets. While we have been cognizant of the existence of the gender gap in political tolerance since the beginning of survey research on the subject, we know less about its etiology. Using data from the 1987 Freedom and Tolerance National Survey and the General Social Survey from the same year, I explore the underpinnings of gender differences in political tolerance. To this end, I scrutinize explanations advanced in previous research on political tolerance (e.g., women's greater religiosity), propositions stemming from feminist theory (e.g., the notion of maternal thinking), as well as others that do not fit neatly into the above two categories (e.g., gender differences in commitment to democratic norms and political expertise). Because the implications of women's intolerance differ depending on whether their intolerance is focused on a single group or dispersed among several groups, I also examine the patterns in men's and women's choices of intolerance targets. Empirical analysis demonstrates that gender differences in commitment to democratic norms and political expertise (through the letter's influence on subscription to democratic norms), as well as threat perceptions, tolerance of uncertainty, and moral traditionalism (through the latter two's influence on threat perceptions), are the principal “culprits” for women's intolerance. Men's and women's choices of intolerance targets are largely pluralistically distributed and parallel, with only a few exceptions. Women exhibit a greater preference for the KKK and abortion groups (particularly those pro-choice in their orientation) as their least-liked targets. Men evince a preference for radical right-wing groups generally (and militarists in particular).

Media and Muslim identity: Intersections of generation and gender1

This paper investigates process of imagining identification among diasporic groups. Media consumption patterns among young men and women of Pakistani origins was used as an entry point into debates on identification. The analysis suggests that increasing interest of the youth in Islam cannot be ascribed to greater religiosity among them, or what is ascribed to by the press and some academics as the emergence of fundamentalism. The data collated indicates that the increasing use of Islam represents a shift in identification among the youth. The media consumption patterns among young Pakistanis indicates a propensity to consume English language media, primarily audio‐visual, in preference to ethnic language media. The increasing use of English indicates a linguistic shift among the youth of Pakistani origin and this underpins the increasing propensity by these young people to describe themselves as British Muslim rather than as Pakistani. The analysis indicates that religion became an important identity marker for younger people and that the external and internal context reinforced this process. Externally there were strong perceptions that Muslims were marginalized and excluded and that racial and Islamophobic ascriptions were being imposed on them. Internally discussions about Islam were interlocked in gender and generational debates. Islam became the vehicle by which generational dissatisfaction as well as debates affecting the lives of women was expressed in. Islamic symbols and metaphors was commonly used by young rebellious men while young women deployed Islamic arguments to persuade their parents to be more flexible over issues of education, dress, work and marriage. The data analysed strongly suggests that the increasing use of Islam by young people was not an indication of increasing religiosity but that they were becoming British.

Chronic and Predispositional Guilt: Relations to Mental Health, Prosocial Behavior, and Religiosity

Researchers are in sharp disagreement concerning the role of guilt in mental health and prosocial behavior, and on whether guilt is associated with greater religiosity. We sought to resolve diametrically opposed reports by distinguishing chronic guilt, an ongoing condition unattached to immediate events, from predispositional guilt, a personality proclivity for experiencing guilt in reaction to circumscribed precipitating events. We administered a battery of commonly used guilt and shame measures to 101 undergraduates (48 men, 53 women) as well as measures of chronic and predispositional guilt designed to hold content constant. Undergraduates also completed the Beck Depression Inventory and the Symptom Checklist 90-Revised, reported extracurricular activities including volunteer work and religious group participation, and provided other information on religiosity. Chronic guilt invariably showed stronger relations than did predispositional guilt with symptoms of depression and psychopathology. In contrast, predispositional compared to chronic guilt was more strongly associated with lowered hostility and increased volunteerism as well as participation in religious activities and religiosity.

Religiosity and personality among U.S. adults

There is much evidence that in schoolchildren greater religiosity is associated with lower psychoticism scores and higher Lie scale scores. In order to examine the generalizability of these associations the present study examined the relationship between the Adult Form of the Francis Scale of Attitudes Towards Christianity and the Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQR-A) in a sample of 164 U.S. adults. Greater religiosity was associated with lower scores on psychoticism in males, and with lower scores on psychoticism and higher scores on the Lie scale in females. No associations were found with neuroticism or extraversion for either males or females. The data provides further evidence showing that greater religiosity is associated with lower scores on psychoticism in adults, although findings with the other personality dimensions are less consistent. Further research with other adult samples is suggested.

Taking the Plunge

Most research on adolescent development focuses on specific problem behaviors, whereas few studies examine the avoidance of multiple forms of risk taking or the determinants of positive development. This article develops two measures designed to address this lack: (a) a "Missteps Scale" in which multiple forms of risk taking are assessed through the adolescent years, and (b) a "Positive Well-Being Index" that includes multiple measures of positive development, ranging from satisfaction with life to community involvement. Demographic, family, school, and neighborhood characteristics were included in multivariate models estimated on the National Survey of Children. Results indicate that youth who experience fewerfamily disruptions, who are closerwith theirparents, whose parents are better educated, and who hadfewerbehavior problems in elementary school were at lower risk of a misstep and enjoyed greater well-being, net of other variables; whereas children in high-poverty neighborhoods experienced lower well-being and highermisstep hazards. Black youth scored higheron the well-being scale because of their greater religiosity and concernfor correcting social inequalities.

Alcohol and Drug Use by Older Women: Results of a National Survey

RésuméL'utilisation et la prédiction de la consommation de drogues et d'alcool chez les femmes de 65 ans et plus ont été étudies au moyen de données tirées de l'Enquête nationale sur l'alcool et les autres drogues (1989). L'utilisation est la même que celles obtenues d'enquêtes antérieures; c'est-à-dire que les femmes plus âgées consomment moins d'alcool, fument moins et utilisent moins de drogues illégales que les autres groupes d'âge et de sexe. Également concordants avec d'autres études, le taux de consommation de médicaments psycholeptiques avec prescription médicale est plus élevé chez les femmes âgées qu'au sein de tout autre groupe. Des analyses bivariées ont démontré une relation significative entre certaines variables sociales et démographiques, et la consommation de drogues et d'alcool. La consommation d'alcool était le fait de personnes célibataires, jeunes, non pratiquantes, en bonne santé et fumant. La consommation de tabac est plus importante chez les personnes plus jeunes, non pratiquantes, en moins bonne santé, bénéficiant moins de soutiens sociaux, consommant de l'alcool et utilisant des médicaments psycholeptiques sous prescription médicale. L'utilisation de ces médicaments (partitulièrement les somnifères) était plutôt le fait de femmes veuves, plus âgées, devotes, en moins bonne santé, ayant un niveau de scolarité moins élevé et un revenu moins élevé, devant faire face à des situations très stressantes, bénéficiant moins de soutien social, fumant et consommant d'autres médicaments psycholeptiques sous prescription médicale. L'analyse des données, réalisée au moyen d'une analyse de composantes principales, a révélé deux dimensions concordantes de la consommation de drogues et d'alcool chez les femmes âgées: une plus grande religiosité associée à une moindre consommation de tabac et d'alcool d'une part et, d'autre part, la consommation de médicaments psycholeptiques de prescription médicale de toutes sortes. Ces résultats sont discutés en fonction de l'utilisation prévue des femmes âgées de demain et du besoin de mieux comprendre le contexte social de la consommation de drogues et d'alcool chez les femmes âgées, où la consommationm d'alcool va de légère à modéreé, mais où le taux de consommation de médicaments psycholeptiques sous prescription medicale est plus élevé qu'au sein de tout autre groupe d'âge et de sexe.

Death Experience and Religion

There has been much speculation about death experience's impact on people's religious orientations and behavior. The most common hypothesis linking the religious domain with death experience has it that death experience leads to greater religiosity as one way for people to gain comfort. Data from the 1984 National Opinion Research Center (NORC) General Social Survey are used to test this expectation. Results suggest that death experience is related to greater levels of religious behavior and stronger religious orientations; however, the relationships are rather weak. Results are discussed in light of these findings.

Religiosity and psychological distress among blacks

The influence of religion on mental well-being has been the subject of controversy for a long while. Yet little is known about this relationship among black Americans. Using a probability-based sample of 451 urban black Americans, this study examines gender differences in religiosity and explores the ramifications for mental health. Findings indicate that females are more religious than males as evidenced by their greater participation in organizational forms of religious practice such as meetings and other gatherings. However, for both males and females, religiosity varied significantly by age and by marital and parental status. On the other hand, there were no differences in religiosity according to levels of education, income, and employment status for either males or females. With regard to mental health, greater religiosity was associated with fewer depressive symptoms for both males and females. Further, in the event of stressful circumstances, the influence of religion on mental well-being for females was direct, while religious involvement appeared to have an indirect or stress- buffering effect for males.

Specific Beliefs as Moderator Variables in Maternal Coping With Mental Retardation

Two coping resources, religiosity and locus of control, derived from a cognitive theory of coping were assessed in a sample of 140 mothers of retarded children Data analysis examined the relationship of these variables to measures of coping and to maternal demographic characteristics Results indicated that both religiosity and locus of control were related to maternal depression and well-being Mothers with a more internal locus of control reported less depression than other mothers did despite similar levels of physical incapacitation The same was true for mothers who reported greater religiosity.

THE SOCIAL DESIRABILITY RESPONSES OF CHILDREN OF FOUR RELIGIOUS-CULTURAL GROUPS

The Children's Social Desirability (CSD) scale was given to three groups of children: 426 Catholic parochial schoolchildren in this country, 154 children in a Norwegian village where the residents belonged to the regular State Lutheran Church, and 159 children in another Norwegian village where the residents comprised a strong fundamentalist Lutheran sect. These CSD data were analyzed along with those from 735 U.S. nonCatholic public schoolchildren of comparable ages used in a former study. Children of greater religiosity (Catholic parochial and fundamentalist Lutheran) had significantly higher CSD scores than those of less religiosity (non-Catholic public school and State Lutheran), and these differences were also significant between the two groups of greater and less religiosity within each of the two countries. It was tentatively suggested that the stronger social desirability tendencies of the more religious groups might be accounted for by their more frequent use of denial or repression defense mechanisms. Age (grade) and sex differences in social desirability previously found in the non-Catholic public school group were replicated in the data of the three additional groups in this study.