Religion Variables Research Articles

Religiosity and Premarital Sexual Behaviors among Adolescents: An Analysis of Functional Form.

While numerous studies show a persistent inverse association between religion variables and adolescents' sexual behaviors, the nature of this relationship is not well understood. Specifically, many previous studies presuppose that the associations between adolescent religiosity and sexual behaviors are linear. However, a number of studies have also identified important nonlinearities of religious influence during adolescence, with highly religious individuals being distinct from their peers. Incorporating this knowledge into a theoretically-motivated modeling approach, this article provides a comparative analysis of functional forms describing the relationships between religiosity and adolescent sexual behaviors. Using data from two waves of the National Study of Youth and Religion, a linear functional form is compared with nonlinear alternatives that link multiple religion measures to outcomes of sexual activity. Results show that the majority of these relationships are best defined by nonlinear functional forms, suggesting that the influence of religiosity increases as individuals become more religious.

Gender and religion as factors of individual differences in musical preference

The goal of this article is to analyse the musical preferences of Brazilian students by considering the variables of gender and religion. Using random sampling, a class was selected from each high school year group of 10 public schools in the city of São Luís (Brazil).The total study sample consisted of 658 students: 358 females (54.4%) and 300 males (45.6%). Of these, 343 (52.1%) were Protestants and 315 (47.9%) were Catholics, and their ages ranged from 14 to 19 years ( M = 16.24 years old, SD = 1.14). For the data collection, a version of the Questionnaire on Musical Style Preferences by Lorenzo, Herrera, and Cremades (2008) was used; however, it was shortened and culturally adapted to the Brazilian context. The participants were asked to evaluate how often they listened to 19 different styles of music. The overall results indicated that the participants’ musical preferences were heavily influenced by mass media. However, ANOVA results indicated significant differences and a variety of size effects in the frequency of musical listening based on gender and religion. Females had a greater preference for styles with emotional content, dance music and music with a strong connection to mass culture, while males preferred more vigorous styles. Regarding religion, Protestants had a stronger preference for gospel music, while Catholic preferences were more diverse.

Deep cultural ancestry and human development indicators across nation states.

How historical connections, events and cultural proximity can influence human development is being increasingly recognized. One aspect of history that has only recently begun to be examined is deep cultural ancestry, i.e. the vertical relationships of descent between cultures, which can be represented by a phylogenetic tree of descent. Here, we test whether deep cultural ancestry predicts the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI) for 44 Eurasian countries, using language ancestry as a proxy for cultural relatedness and controlling for three additional factors—geographical proximity, religion and former communism. While cultural ancestry alone predicts HDI and its subcomponents (income, health and education indices), when geographical proximity is included only income and health indices remain significant and the effect is small. When communism and religion variables are included, cultural ancestry is no longer a significant predictor; communism significantly negatively predicts HDI, income and health indices, and Muslim percentage of the population significantly negatively predicts education index, although the latter result may not be robust. These findings indicate that geographical proximity and recent cultural history—especially communism—are more important than deep cultural factors in current human development and suggest the efficacy of modern policy initiatives is not tightly constrained by cultural ancestry.

Religion and body weight: a review of quantitative studies.

Increasing interest in relationships between religion and health has encouraged research about religion and body weight, which has produced mixed findings. We systematically searched 11 bibliographic databases for quantitative studies of religion and weight, locating and coding 85 studies. We conducted a systematic review, analysing descriptive characteristics of the studies as well as relevant religion-body weight associations related to study characteristics. We summarized findings for two categories of religion variables: religious affiliation and religiosity. For religious affiliation, we found evidence for significant associations with body weight in both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. In particular, Seventh-Day Adventists had lower body weight than other denominations in cross-sectional analyses. For religiosity, significant associations occurred between greater religiosity and higher body weight in both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. In particular, greater religiosity was significantly associated with higher body weight in bivariate analyses but less so in multivariate analyses. A greater proportion of studies that used a representative sample, longitudinal analyses, and samples with only men reported significant associations between religiosity and weight. Evidence in seven studies suggested that health behaviours and psychosocial factors mediate religion-weight relationships. More longitudinal studies and analyses of mediators are needed to provide stronger evidence and further elucidate religion-weight relationships.

The Moderating Effect of Religion on the Relationship Between Depression and Suicidal Ideation in the Elderly.

This article aimed to compare the level of suicidal ideation in the religiously affiliated and nonaffiliated groups and identify the moderating effect of religion variables on the relationship between depression and suicidal ideation. The sample in this study was 1180 residents who were older than 60 years and who resided in Gangwon Province, South Korea. We studied the cross-sectional relationships among religions and studied variables including organizational religious activity (ORA), non-ORA (NORA), intrinsic religiosity (IR), depression, well-being, and suicidal ideation. After controlling for sociodemographic variables, the depression, well-being, and suicidal ideation level in the religiously affiliated group were not significantly different from that of the religiously nonaffiliated group and the variables also were not significantly different between Christians and Buddhists. The effect of depression on suicidal ideation was significantly moderated by ORA and IR, and the effect showed different patterns by religion; ORA was a moderator only among the Buddhist group, and IR only moderated the relationships among the Christians.

Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Regarding Stroke amongst the Close Relatives of Stroke Victims at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Bangladesh

Background and Purpose: Stroke is one of the most commonly encountered neurological emergencies in Tertiary Care Hospitals and is one of the leading causes of death in Bangladesh. Poor knowledge of risk factors, symptoms and appropriate response are possible causes of poor outcome. There are no studies from Bangladesh regarding knowledge about warning symptoms and risk factors amongst stroke patients or their families. We aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice regarding stroke amongst close relatives of stroke patients. Methods: We performed a descriptive cross-sectional questionnaire survey amongst close relatives of acute stroke cases who were admitted under various Medicine units in Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College & Hospital. Stroke knowledge was excellent if a participant knew (1) at least 2 stroke symptoms (good symptom knowledge) and (2) at least 2 stroke risk factors (good risk factor knowledge), as well as knowing (3) that immediate hospital admission is necessary in case of stroke (good action knowledge). Participants who had studied up to elementary school were considered having lower educational qualification and participants who were under graduates or having higher qualification were considered having higher educational qualification. Results: One hundred and eighty six (186) acute stroke cases were admitted during our study period of which 110 cases matched our criteria and were willing to give informed written consent. Of the 110 participants interviewed, 45 (40.9%) were males and 65 (59.1%) were females. Mean age was 35.2 years (S.D 11.5 years). Good risk factor knowledge was seen in 63.6% while 73.6% had good symptom knowledge and 98.2% had good action knowledge. Stroke knowledge was excellent in 52.7% of subjects. The most common identified stroke risk factor was Stress (n=75, 80.6%) and the most common identified symptom was Weakness/paralysis of one side of body (n=67, 76.1%). Higher educational qualification was associated with good risk factor knowledge (P= 0.009) and excellent stroke knowledge (P= 0.020). Eighty-one (73.6%) participants had never heard about the importance of receiving therapy within the first four and half hours (golden hours) after the onset of symptoms of stroke. Stroke knowledge and perception was not significantly related to other variables of age, sex, religion and income (P >0.05). Conclusions: In this study, in general, there is lack of awareness of major risk factors, warning symptoms, organ involvement, treatment options and the importance of the golden hours. However, higher educational status was associated with better risk factor knowledge and excellent stroke knowledge. Educational strategies to increase stroke knowledge are definitely needed as a prelude to developing preventive programs. By using primary health care resources, public media and organizing health camps, it is possible to promote the level of knowledge, practice and attitude regarding stroke in Bangladeshi population.

The Effect of Religion on Candidate Preference in the 2008 and 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries.

Thanks to the work of politics and religion scholars, we now know a lot about the relationship between religion and voting in American presidential general elections. However, we know less about the influence of religion on individual vote choice in presidential primaries. This article fills that gap by exploring the relationship between religion and candidate preference in the 2008 and 2012 Republican primaries. Using pre-Super Tuesday surveys conducted by the Pew Research Center, I find that the Republican candidate who most explicitly appealed to religious voters (Mike Huckabee in 2008 and Rick Santorum in 2012) was the preferred candidate of Republican respondents who attended religious services at the highest levels, and that as attendance increased, so did the likelihood of preferring that candidate. I also find that identification as a born again Christian mattered to candidate preference. Specifically, born again Christians were more likely than non-born again Christians to prefer Huckabee to Mitt Romney, John McCain and Ron Paul in 2008, and Santorum to Romney in 2012. Although ideology was not the primary subject of this article, I find that ideology was also a statistically significant predictor of Republican candidate preference in both 2008 and 2012. This robust finding reinforces scholars’ prior work on the importance of ideology in explaining presidential primary vote choice. The overall findings of the paper provide evidence that religion variables can add to our understanding of why voters prefer one candidate over another in presidential primaries.

Freedom of Religion, Religiosity, and GDP per Capital

Past studies have found a link between the level of religious freedom or religiosity in a nation and GDP per capita. These s0074udies have found GDP per capita is higher in nations with higher levels of religious freedom or that countries with increasing levels of GDP per capita have increasing levels of religious freedom. Studies of religiosity are consistent in that countries with higher levels of religiosity have lower levels of GDP per capita. This study expands on these previous studies by combining these two factors using multiple measures of religious freedom and religiosity. Countries that have more religious freedom suggests they also have freedom in other areas with many of these freedoms important to produce higher levels of income, while nations that have the higher level of religiosity are willing to sacrifice higher levels of GDP per capita to be able to practice their religion. Along with the multiple measures of religiosity and religious freedom considered, additional variables were included to isolate their relationship with GDP per capita. Additional control variables not related to the religion variables included economic freedom, civil liberties, political rights, and percent of GDP from natural resources. Many of the measures of religious freedom and religiosity were similar to the results from previous studies or were insignificant. Consistent with the previous study the results showed that increased levels of religiosity in a nation were related to lower levels of GDP per capita. However, contrary to previous studies this study found that having a state religion had a strong positive relationship with GDP per capita. The often heard argument is that many of the nations with a state religion are also resource rich nations which could override other factors that limit income per capita was not found to be the case. In the various models considered, the most significant model included both state religion and natural resources as a percent of GDP with the two having a very low level of correlation.

Who Are the Military Delegates in Myanmar's 2010-2015 Union Legislature?

Made available in 2012, short biographies of 166 officers permit examination of the sociological profiles of the Burmese military officers seconded to Myanmar’s Union parliament. Data cover the five socio-demographic variables of gender, age, ethnicity, religion and education, as well as the positions that these officers occupied at the time of their secondment to parliament. These data show that, as a group, the initial cohort of military legislators constitutionally appointed to the two houses of Myanmar’s inaugural “post-junta” Union parliament had a younger and relatively better-educated profile than their elected peers. The most senior officers also had had long careers in the bureaucracy of the armed forces and in its training and educational institutions. Yet as a group they proved far less ethnically and religiously diverse than the civilian representatives, as the substantial majority of them were ethnic Bamar and Buddhist.

The determinants of sexual freedom from 1990 to 2010

With sexual freedom represented by the changing definition of marriage in the news lately, the question this article seeks to answer is what drives the issue of sexual freedom. This article focuses on the hypothesized link between sexual freedom and possible explanatory factors. Data are obtained from 1990 to 2010. The examination of data shows that median income, ideology, median age, population density and religion variables are significant in understanding sexual freedom in the United States.

ASSESS THE EXPERIENCES OF WOMEN DURING THE PROCESS OF CHILD BIRTH IN A SELECTED PRIVATE HOSPITAL, SALEM.

Descriptive with cross sectional approach was carried out to assess the experience of women during the process of child birth. A five point rating scale and open ended questionnaire was prepared and validity of the tool was tested. Percentage wise distribution of mothers experiences during the process of child birth shows that almost 57% of women had positive experience 36% of women had negative experience and 7% of women were undecided. Association of demographic variables shows that there is no significant association between the demographic variables of age, occupation, income and religion of women experience during the process of child birth. It also shows that only education has a significant association with the experience of women during the process of child birth.

Expectations of Women during the Process of Child Birth

Descriptive with cross sectional approach was carried out to assess the Expectations of women during the process of child birth. A five point rating scale and open ended questionnaire was prepared and validity of the tool was tested. Expectations in physiological aspects of women depicts that 94% of the women were expecting normal delivery, Regarding psychological aspects, all 100% of the women's expecting their child to be physically and mentally healthy, Regarding social and environmental aspects shows that 91% of the women expecting their delivery to be conducted or handled by an experienced doctor. In spiritual aspects depicts 88% of the women praying god for getting normal delivery. Association of demographic variables shows that there is no significant association between the demographic variables of age, occupation, income and religion of women Expectations during the process of child birth. It also shows that only education has a significant association with the Expectations e of women during the process of child birth.

Does Religion Mitigate Earnings Management? Evidence from China

Using a sample of 11,357 firm-year observations from the Chinese stock market for the period of 2001–2011, we investigate whether and how religion can mitigate earnings management. Specifically, based on geographic-proximity-based religion variables, we provide strong and robust evidence to show that religion is significantly negatively associated with the extent of earnings management, suggesting that religion can serve as a set of social norms to mitigate corporate unethical behavior such as earnings management. Our findings also reveal that the negative association between religion and earnings management is less pronounced for firms with closer distance to the regulatory centers than for their counterparts, implying the substitutive effects between religion and the distance to regulators (the proxy for regulatory intensity) on mitigating earnings management. The above results are robust to different measures of earnings management, various religion variables, and a variety of sensitivity tests.

Factores sociodemográficos que influyen sobre la ansiedad ante la muerte en estudiantes de Enfermería

ObjectiveTo measure the fear of their own death, and that of another person, by nursing students, and analyze its relationship with sociodemographic variables and their training in palliative care. MethodAn observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study. The participants were 188 nursing students who responded to a questionnaire with sociodemographic variables and the Collet-Lester fear of death scale (CLFDS). The means and standard deviations, Student t test, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation coefficient were calculated. ResultsSignificantly higher scores were obtained in subscales “Fear of death of another”, and for the following variables, a woman (p=001), believer in God (p<05) and someone who made no other studies on palliative care (p<05). No significant differences in terms of relational contact with death and dying, or in the practice of belief, or as regards wishing to be professionally devoted to palliative care. Significant differences in three subscales were observed depending on the academic year. Age or religion variables did not correlate with Collet-Lester subscales. ConclusionsThe training of nursing students in specific skills for end of life support, managing personal fear of death, as well as the spiritual and/or religious needs of students.

A Critical Review of Trauma Interventions and Religion Among Youth Exposed to Community Violence

ABSTRACT Thirteen studies were reviewed to explore the promise of school- and community-based solutions in reducing the impact of exposure to violence and chronic traumatic events among urban minority youth aged 11 to 19 years old. Because the variables of spirituality and religion are often overlooked in empirical research, studies that measured or included these concepts were prioritized. Out of a total of 35 studies, 13 were included in this review. The 13 studies included 5 intervention studies, 5 cross-sectional studies, and 3 nonexperimental studies that met our criteria. Six of the studies included spirituality or religion as a variable. The review confirmed significant associations between rates of exposure to chronic community violence and presence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms within this population. Five intervention studies confirmed the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy or group therapy in reducing trauma symptoms expressed through PTSD symptoms and depressive symptoms. Two cross-sectional studies identified spiritual or religious factors as buffering or moderating the impact of chronic community violence, and 1 revealed higher rates of spirituality/creativity among adolescents with more exposure to traumatic events. Recommendations for future research are outlined.

Religion or Religiosity: Which Is the Culprit for Consumer Switching Behavior?

ABSTRACT This research investigates how religion (i.e., religious affiliation) and religiosity affect consumer switching behaviors in Korea and the U.S. Data were collected from Korea (Buddhists, Catholics, Protestants, and nonreligious consumers) and the U.S. (Catholics, Protestants, and nonreligious consumers). ANOVA and structural equation modeling using LISREL were employed to test the hypotheses regarding consumer switching behaviors. The findings suggest that religiosity, expressed as the importance of religious beliefs in one's life, can be a trigger that influences consumer switching behaviors and that religious affiliation is not a good predictor of consumer switching behaviors. The relationships between religion, religiosity, and control variables were also examined using MANOVA.

Exploring Predictors of Subjective Well-Being in Ghana: A Micro-Level Study

Subjective well-being has been studied by social scientists for decades mostly in developed countries. Little is known about determinants of subjective well-being in developing countries and more particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Using 2005–2008 World Values Survey (n = 1,533) this study adds to existing literature on well-being in developing countries focusing on Ghana. The paper explores the predictors of two measures of subjective well-being—happiness and satisfaction in life at micro-level in Ghana. The analyses are divided into two main sections. The first part describes the distribution of happiness and satisfaction in life among Ghanaians. The second section elucidates factors influencing the selected measures of subjective well-being separately. The data reveal that both happiness and life satisfaction among Ghanaians are shaped by multitude of factors including economic, cultural, social capital and health variables. Relatively, perceived health status emerged as the most salient predictor of both measures of well-being. Besides religiosity, all the religion variables emerged as significant predictors of how Ghanaians appraise their own well-being. Equally, income, ethnicity and social capital variables emerged as predictors of happiness and life satisfaction at micro-level in Ghana. Policy implications of the findings are discussed alluding to multidimensional approach to well-being promotion in the country. The outcome of the study also establishes the fact that factors predicting subjective well-being at the micro level vary in SSA context compared to the developed world.

The state and religion in the fundamentals of Islam and contemporary interpretation

From a historical perspective, there has always existed a distinction between the state and religion in Islam, yet no separation. Moreover, there are many types of secularism and many interpretations in Islam. The elite in Tunisia adopts the French type of secularism whereby a most complete separation between the state and religion exists. The case advanced here is that a large part of the unfolding discussions and debates in the context of the ongoing struggle is based on an ambiguous understanding of secularism and Islam. Secularism is not an atheist philosophy, but a series of arrangements and measures designed to ensure freedom of thought and belief. The way of arriving at an equation that guarantees people's rights and freedoms is by delineating religion's constants and variables. Modern democratic mechanisms are the best manifestation of shura in Islam, whereby interpretation is no longer an individual act but a collective one performed by the people's representatives.

A Sociolinguistic Study of Fagunwa/Soyinka’s The Forest of a Thousand Daemons

This study takes a sociolinguistic approach to analyze The Forest of a Thousand Daemons , a translation of the Yoruba text, Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irunmale (1938) which was authored by Daniel Olorunfemi Fagunwa, the greatest Yoruba novelist and translated by Wole Soyinka, a literary icon cum Nobel laureate. The work is premised on the fact that many literary and linguistic attempts at Fagunwa’s work have failed to benchmark the text with the speech act theory and the VARIES model simultaneously as we have done in this study. Fifteen excerpts from the text served as our data. Each datum is subjected to content and quantitative analyses based on relevant sociolinguistic variables of vocation (occupation), sex, age, religion, geography (ethnicity), age, education and socio-economic status. The data were further dissected according to the speech act theory by Austin (1962) in a bid to ascertain the validity of their illocutionary force(s). The study indicates that social institutions affect language (choice and use) a great deal and language, in turn, performs different illocutionary acts among various heterogeneous social groups in a speech community like the Yoruba, which is replicated in the text.

The Relationships between Menopausal Symptoms, Menopausal Knowledge, Menopausal Attitude and Menopausal Management of Middle Aged Women

Objectives: This study was to identify the relationship between the Menopausal symptoms, Menopausal knowledge, Menopausal attitude and Menopausal management of the Middle Aged Women. Methods: The data was collected from three hundred and five Middle Aged Women whose children are studying in K university which is located in B metropolitan city. Results: The mean score of menopause symptoms, menopause knowledge, menopause attitude and menopause management among subjects were 41.08±8.78, 12.66±2.32, 58.67± 8.35 and 46.63±6.91 respectively. There was a positive relation between menopause symptoms and menopause knowledge (r=-.159, p=.006). But, between menopause symptoms and menopause attitude, there was a negative correlation (r=-.130, p=.023). This result showed a significant difference between menopause symptoms and the variables of age, education, job, physical health, and hobby. Also, it showed a significant correlation between menopause management and the variables of religion, income, satisfaction level with life, hobby, exercise, eating habits, eating pattern and regular medical check-up. Conclusion: The present work suggested that it is necessary to develop nursing intervention programs to increase the ability of menopause management through further research on influential factors in menopause symptoms and menopause management.