When is Faith Enough? The Effects of Religious Involvement on Depression

Abstract

Although most scholars find that religious involvement is negatively related to depression, questions still remain regarding how individuals benefit from such involvement and evidence from nationally representative samples is rare. In this paper, I expand upon previous research by considering three types of general religious involvement (attendance at religious services, religious salience, and spiritual help-seeking) and three types of effects (linear, curvilinear, and stress-buffering). Using Americans' Changing Lives (House 1989)-a large, nationally representative, and longitudinal data set-I find a U-shaped effect of religious salience on depression, no significant independent effect of service attendance, and a positive effect of spiritual help-seeking. I also find that spiritual help-seeking and religious salience exhibit significant stress-buffering effects, but that these occur only when individuals experience multiple negative life events, and not when they experience any single type of discrete event. The theoretical implications of these effects are discussed, both as they contribute to research on the life stress paradigm and research on the psychology of religion.Sociological research on the relationship between religious involvement and psychological well-being can be divided into two approaches. The first, following Durkheimian themes, examines the relationship between religious affiliation and aggregate measures of distress-most notably suicide rates (Breault 1986;Pescosolido and Georgianna 1989;Pope and Danigelis 1981). In general, this research has found evidence of a significant effect of religious affiliation, consistent with the model suggested in Suicide (Durkheim [1897(Durkheim [ ] 1951. The second, by comparison, examines the relationship between religious involvement and psychological well-being at the individual level. While some have focused on the effects of religious involvement on suicidality (Agnew 1998), others have focused on the relationship between religious involvement and psychological well-being (Bergin

Clinical Judgment Faith Bias: The Impact of Faith and Multicultural Competence on Clinical Judgment

“…Eliassen, Taylor, & Lloyd, 2005;IngersollDayton, Krause, & Morgan, 2002;Koenig, Ford, George, Blazer, & Meador, 1993;Perkins, 1992;Pressman, Lyons, Larson, & Gartner, 1992;Ross, 1990;Schnittker, 2001;Wink & Scott, 2005). The dependent measures used in the current study, however, were not sensitive enough to pick up a curvilinear relationship.…”

“…Miller and Kelley (2005) observed that a close examination of correlational data suggests a curvilinear relationship between religiousness and overall distress (Ross, 1990), depressive expression (Schnittker, 2001), general anxiety (Koenig, Ford, et al, 1993), death anxiety (Pressman, Lyons, Larson, & Gartner, 1992), and mental health over the course of the lifespan (Ingersoll-Dayton, Krause, & Morgan, 2002). In some cases, high and low levels of religiousness are both correlated with better mental health, while moderate levels of religiousness are more highly correlated with indicators of poor mental health, such as fear of death (Wink & Scott, 2005), depression (Eliassen, Taylor, & Lloyd, 2005), and racism (Perkins, 1992).…”

“…(Wink & Scott, 2005), to experience higher levels of depression (Eliassen, Taylor, & Lloyd, 2005), and to hold racist views (Perkins, 1992) than people high or low in religiousness. Likewise, Miller and Kelley (2005) observed that a close examination of correlational data suggests a curvilinear relationship between religiousness and mental health on overall distress (Ross, 1990), depressive expression (Schnittker, 2001), general anxiety (Koenig, Ford, George, Blazer, & Meador, 1993), and death anxiety (Pressman, Lyons, Larson, & Gartner, 1992), as well as over the course of the lifespan (Ingersoll-Dayton, Krause, & Morgan, 2002 …”

American Muslim College Students: The Impact of Religiousness and Stigma on Active Coping

“…Religious involvement may be a contributing factor for increased longevity and improved health outcomes (Çoruh, Ayele, Pugh, & Mulligan, 2005) and also has stress-buffering effects in instances where people are experiencing multiple negative life events (Schnittker, 2001). Religion may also promote good mental health through increased social support and a healthier lifestyle due to religious prohibitions of unhealthy habits (Çoruh et al, 2005).…”

Dogmatism, coping, and spirituality : predicting mental health among the religious and the secular.

“…Among studies that have tested for curvilinear effects, evidence for a curvilinear relationship between mental health variables and religiousness/secularity levels have been demonstrated (Buggle, Bister, Nohe, Scheider, & Uhmann, 2000;Diener & Clifton, 2002;Galen & Kloet, 2010;Maselko & Buka, 2008;Riley, 2005;Ross, 1990;Schnittker, 2001;Shaver, Lenauer & Sadd, 1980;Wilkinson & Coleman, 2010). The curvilinear effect suggests that those who are strongly religious or strongly secular (e.g., highly atheistic) are more likely to experience better mental health than agnostics, religious "nones" (i.e., those who identify as having no religious affiliation), skeptics and doubters, and the less religious.…”