Several decades of scholarly research have revealed the significant toll of discrimination experiences on the well-being of African Americans. Given these findings, investigators have become increasingly interested in uncovering any potential resources made available to African Americans for mitigating the psychosocial strains of discrimination. The current study contributes to this literature by testing whether various indicators of religious involvement—e.g., church attendance, prayer, and religious social support—buffer the noxious effects of major discrimination experiences on the mental health outcomes (i.e., depression and life satisfaction) of African Americans. We analyze data from the African American subsample (n = 627) of Vanderbilt University’s Nashville Stress and Health Study, a cross-sectional probability sample of adults living in Davidson County, Tennessee between the years 2011 and 2014. Results from multivariate regression models indicated (1) experiences of major discrimination were positively associated with depression and negatively associated with life satisfaction, net of religious and sociodemographic controls; and (2) religious social support offset and buffered the adverse effects of major discrimination on both mental health outcomes, particularly for those respondents who reported seeking support the most often. We discuss the implications and limitations of our study, as well as avenues for future research.

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An Empirical Study About the Relationship Between Personality Traits and Religiosity AbstractThe present study aims to investigate the relationship among personality traits, religiosity and religious orientation. The sample of the study consists of 394 undergraduate students from Sakarya University Theology Faculty (181 students) and Kilis 7 Aralik University Theology Faculty (213 students). The scales were applied to the sample during the spring semester 2013. In this research, personality traits were measured by the NEO-Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) and religiosity was measured by Religiosity Scale and Religious Orientation Scale. ttest and Pearson Correlation were used for data analysis. The findings of the study indicate significant relationships among personality traits, religiosity and religious orientation. Religiosity and religious orientation has positive correlation with agreeableness and conscientiousness where as there is no relation with openness.

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