Importance Of Religion In Life Research Articles

Is religion beneficial for mental health? A 9-year longitudinal study

Background/ObjectiveThis study aimed to investigate the within-person and between-person effects of religious variables on mental health and vice versa. MethodUsing a large sample of adults residing in Germany from the GESIS Panel study (N = 8146), the random intercept cross-lagged panel model was used. Data on six dimensions of religion (i.e., membership in a religious community; attendance at a place of worship; frequency of prayers; importance of religion in life; and participation in a religious organization) and three indicators of mental health (i.e., depression symptoms, happiness, and life satisfaction) were collected. ResultsThe findings revealed that there is almost no evidence of lagged effects of religion on mental health and limited evidence regarding the role of mental health in influencing the dimensions of religion. Moreover, at the between-person level, there was some evidence of significant covariance between the trait-like components, indicating stable, trait-like differences between persons on religion and mental health. ConclusionsThe beneficial effect of religion on mental health may have been exaggerated in previous research.

Religiosity and Muslims’ gender role attitudes toward women’s right to work

This study aimed to examine the effect of religiosity on the gender role attitudes of Muslims toward women’s right to work. It probed the cognitive, affective, and behavioral components of religiosity and tested whether measures derived from these components affect Muslims’ agreement with the statement that when jobs are scarce, men should have more rights to a job than women. This study employs individual-level data from the sixth and seventh waves of the World Values Surveys and adopts logistic regression analysis as the main empirical methodology. The main findings reaffirmed the effect of religiosity. Muslims who are more religious are more likely to have gender role attitudes that favor men’s right to work over women’s when jobs are scarce. This is true for religiosity measured by beliefs in hell, the importance of God in life, the importance of religion in life, the frequency of prayer, and the frequency of religious service attendance. Participation in religious organizations as a measure of behavioral religiosity has only a weak effect on the gender role attitudes of Muslims toward women’s right to work. These findings highlight the importance of considering religiosity when analyzing gender dynamics in labor markets within Muslim societies.

Pesan Dakwah dan Toleransi pada Serial Indonesia Rumah Bersama dalam Channel Jeda Nulis

The purpose of this study is to find out what da'wah messages are contained in the content of the Indonesia Rumah Bersama series and to find out the message of tolerance that is dominant in the Indonesian Rumah Bersama series by Habib Ja'far. The method used in this study is a qualitative research method by analyzing da'wah messages that contain tolerance in the content of the Indonesia Rumah Bersama series by Habib Ja'far which is in accordance with this research and with the coding sheet technique. Then. The technique in analyzing the data used is descriptive analysis which describes in detail the problems. The results of the research found are: Da'wah messages in the nine Indonesian video series Rumah Bersama by Habib Ja'far are beliefs including the purpose of worship, the key to heaven, the importance of religion in life, about divinity, and the urgency of literacy. Messages of preaching morals include controlling lust, guarding the mouth and hands, the best human being is that which is beneficial to other humans, cleansing oneself from all dirt and manners before going to bed. And the message of sharia da'wah includes setting one syawal, the essence of Eid al-Fitr, the essence of Eid al-Fitr, working is worship, consuming good food, following the times and orders to preach. The contents of the messages of tolerance in the nine Indonesian video series The joint house by Habib Ja'far based on Abdullah Hadziq's theory are acknowledging the rights of others, respecting the beliefs of others, agreeing in disagreement, and understanding each other.

Correlation between religion, spirituality and perception of healthcare services utilisation in Poland during COVID-19 pandemic.

The worldwide transmission of SARS CoV-2 caused the COVID-19 pandemic and had an impact on healthcare provision. The disruption of reliance on the health system during the COVID-19 pandemic posed a clear threat to public trust. Religiosity, like spirituality, is believed to have a positive influence on people's lives, enabling them to cope with illness, stress, and sudden life changes. In practice, although the terms religiosity and spirituality have similar meanings and are related, they are not identical concepts. The aim of this study is to compare the perceptions of the accessibility and quality of healthcare services provided before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland by religious/spiritual people compared to those for whom religion and spirituality have little or no importance in their lives. This cross-sectional study was based on the authors' questionnaire, carried out during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland. Participants in the study were people living in various regions of Poland over 18 who were willing to complete the questionnaire voluntarily. The number of people sampled was two hundred and sixty-four. Convenience sampling method was used for this study. Statistical calculations were performed using Statistica 13 software from TIBCO and PQStat from PQStat Software and were based on the Kruskal-Wallis test, multiple regression model, the chi2 test of independence or the Mann-Whitney test. The result was considered statistically significant when p<α. The significance level was taken as α=0.05. Two hundred and sixty-three respondents answered the questionnaire. Among them, 181 (69%) were women, and 82 (31%) were men. It was shown that religion is more important for women than for men and women who report a high role of religion in their lives rated the quality of healthcare services better before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was also concluded that religious people for whom religion played a major role and those who were helped by spiritual life rated accessibility and quality higher both before and during the pandemic. Religious/spiritual people, through their more positive attitudes towards the world, were thought to rate access and quality of healthcare services better. Regardless of religious affiliation, the help of spiritual life during the pandemic or the importance of religion in life in all respondents, perception of healthcare services utilisation were decreased by the pandemic. This prompts thoughts on the implementation of spiritual assistance as a supportive measure to mitigate the effects of the pandemic.

The Salience of Religion Under an Atheist State: Implications for Subjective Well-Being in Contemporary China

Abstract We examine the linkage between religious involvement and life satisfaction among adults in contemporary China, a largely nonreligious society. Using data from the China Family Panel Studies (2012, 2014, and 2016), we conduct latent class analysis by using four indicators of religious involvement, including membership of religious groups, types of religion, frequency of participation, and evaluation of importance of religion in life. We classify the sample into four latent classes: (1) the pure nonreligious, (2) the nonreligious, but with some spirituality, (3) Chinese-religion adherent, and (4) organized religion adherent. Results from our fixed-effect models show that Chinese-religion and organized-religion adherents have higher levels of life satisfaction than those with no religious beliefs. Moreover, the disadvantaged groups benefit more from religious involvement in China, as evidenced by the stronger positive effect of religious adherence found among rural residents and individuals in the lowest income quartile. We discuss the benefits of religion both in terms of its public/social and private/intrinsic aspects and situate our findings in the larger social context of China.

The Impact of Caregiving Intensity and Religiosity on Spouse Caregivers’ Health and Mortality in the United States (2004–2014)

Prior research has indicated that religiosity may buffer against the deleterious effects of caregiving. However, research is lacking in examining the role of religiosity and caregiving intensity in the context of caregiver wellbeing and mortality. Data come from the Health and Retirement Study (2004-2014 waves) and consisted of spousal caregivers and noncaregivers (n= 49,638 person-spells). Pearlin’s Stress Process Model (1990) informed this study to analyze how religiosity impacts caregiver self-rated health and mortality by comparing the intensity of provided care among spousal caregivers and spousal noncaregivers. This study used two indicators to measure religiosity: 1) the importance of religion in life and 2) frequency of attending religious services. Bivariate probit model was used to model the impact of caregiving intensity and religiosity on self-rated health and all-cause mortality. After controlling for sociodemographic and health covariates, results showed that only the importance of religion in life predicted a better self-rated health among high intense spouse caregivers defined by providing >=14 hours of care per week. Findings suggest religiosity may buffer the adverse effect of caregiving stress on health for high intense spousal caregivers. Development and maintenance of religiosity may enhance positive aspects of caregiving and decrease caregiver burden.

What factors are truly associated with risk for radicalisation? A secondary data analysis within a UK sample.

Radicalisation and extremist violence are of increasing concern internationally. The unconventional, decentralised, and transnational nature of modern terrorism involves an active process of radicalisation requiring national security responses to reflect findings from recent empirical research. This study aims to identify factors that relate to extremist attitudes and potential vulnerability to radicalisation in order to inform preventative action. A cross-sectional survey was conducted of a representative population sample of men and women aged 18-45 of Muslim heritage recruited by quota sampling in two English cities. Logistic regressions were performed on a seven-item dichotomised measure based on our previously developed scale of 'sympathy for terrorist acts'. Scores representing 'non-condemnation of these acts' were deemed to represent risk for radicalisation. Thirteen respondents had a positive score on the sympathy for terrorism measure (2.4%), 39 scored zero (6.41%) and the remainder (91.4%) had a negative score representing condemnation of terrorist acts. There was a significant association between sympathy for terrorism and belonging to the local or global Muslim community, anxiety, and support for the use of defensive violence. Gender, religious identity, country of birth, belief in Sharia law, the importance of religion in life, and mosque attendance were all not associated with sympathy for terrorism. The results contribute to an understanding of the radicalisation process and have potential value in developing preventative public health interventions.

The relationship between parental religiosity and school age children's dietary behavior in Ningxia Province, China: A cross-sectional study.

Studies have shown parental religious involvement was associated with better health behaviors of their children. However, the relationship between parental religiosity and child dietary behaviors remains unclear. This study aimed to examine the relationship between parental religious involvement and the dietary behaviors of school-aged children in mainland, China. Participants were selected from a northwest province of China using a multi-stage sampling process from July 2017 to October 2017. The frequency of parental religious activities and the importance of religion in life, along with the dietary behaviors of children, were collected using a questionnaire. Dietary pattern analysis coupled with multivariable linear regression was employed to test the association between parental religious involvement and children's dietary behavior. The regression model indicated no significant relationship between parental religious behaviors and children's dietary behaviors in the overall sample. However, the frequency of mother's religious attendance was inversely related to children's consumption of vegetables (β = -0.40, P < 0.05) in the Hui subsample (vs. Han) when stratifying analyses by ethnicity. These findings suggest among those of Hui ethnicity, parental religious involvement may impact children's dietary behavior in a way that may affect their future health habits.

Religious landscape in Brazil: Comparing different representative nationwide approaches to obtain sensitive information in healthcare research

Although the basis of religious studies start with demographics, nation-wide data are often extracted from face-to-face interviews (leading to a social-desirability bias) and in studies not originally designed to assess religion. This study aims to understand the religious landscape in Brazil and to investigate the feasibility of carrying out a representative nation-wide survey without interviewers, comparing it with other representative face-to-face surveys. We conducted a nationwide online survey representing all regions in Brazil. These results were compared with five other Brazilian representative surveys. A total of 1169 individuals completed the online questionnaires. The percentage of participants according to the gender and in relation to the Brazilian region was quite similar for all surveys. However, the online survey had the higher level of education among all surveys. In relation to the religious characteristics, the percentage of each variable varied from survey to survey. Those surveys originally designed to assess religion tended to yield more religious affiliations and less ceiling effects. The online survey was able to identify more diverse religious affiliations and more balanced responses in the religious attendance and importance of religion in life. The present study found that, even in nation-wide representative surveys, there are important differences in the results obtained while investigating religion. These differences could be associated with the type of data collection (face-to-face and online), the design of the study (originally designed to investigate religion or not) and options and the type of the questions used.

Spirituality among Physicians and Nurses in Metropolitan Cities

Purpose: This study was a descriptive survey research to investigate physicians and nurses' spirituality and to determine thegeneral characteristicsof physicians and nurses and the differencesintheir spiritualityaccording to characteristicsrelated to their works. Methods:Theparticipants were 120 physicians and120nurses working in general hospitals with more than 500 beds located in metropolitan cities. The study data were collected from Nov. 15, 2009 to Dec. 30, 2009. Spirituality was measured using 'The scale for Koreans' spirituality' developed byLee et al (2003). The scale has 30questions answered ona five-point scale. Descriptive statistics, ANCOVA, t-test and one-wayANOVA werealsoused withtheSPSS/WIN 170.0 programto analyze the data. Results:The spiritualityof physiciansandnurseswas slightlyhigher than 3points, a theoreticalmean, which wasat mid-level. Thenurseshada significantlyhigher level than thephysiciansin 6dimensions ofspiritualityandinthe dimension of awareness. For differencesof spiritualityaccording to generalcharacteristicsand work relatedcharacteristics, there were significant differences according to the importance of religion in life, religion and age. Conclusion: Interest in spiritualityisanimportant for medical professionals if they wereto meet variouspatient demandswithin diverse cultures and beliefs. Medical science and nursing science should be sensitive to the spiritual demands of medical professionalsthemselvesandtheirpatientsbydevelopingeducationalprogramstoincreasespirituality in education and practical affairs.

Palliative care physicians′ religious / world view and attitude towards euthanasia: A quantitative study among flemish palliative care physicians

Aims:To Study the religious and ideological views and practice of Palliative Care physician towards Euthanasia.Materials and Methods:An anonymous self administered questionnaire approved by Flemish Palliative Care Federation and its ethics steering group was sent to all physicians(n-147) working in Flemish Palliative Care. Questionnaire consisted of three parts. In first part responded were requested to provide demographic information. In second part the respondents were asked to provide information concerning their religion or world view through several questions enquiring after religious or ideological affiliation, religious or ideological self-definition, view on life after death, image of God, spirituality, importance of rituals in their life, religious practice, and importance of religion in life. The third part consisted of a list of attitudinal statements regarding different treatment decisions in advanced disease on which the respondents had to give their opinion using a five-point Likert scale.99 physician responded.Results:We were able to distinguish four clusters: Church-going physicians, infrequently church-going physicians, atheists and doubters. We found that like the Belgian general public, many Flemish palliative care physicians concoct their own religious or ideological identity and feel free to drift away from traditional religious and ideological authorities.Conclusions:In our research we noted that physicians who have a strong belief in God and express their faith through participation in prayer and rituals, tend to be more critical toward euthanasia. Physicians who deny the existence of a transcendent power and hardly attend religious services are more likely to approve of euthanasia even in the case of minors or demented patients. In this way this study confirms the influence of religion and world view on attitudes toward euthanasia.