Religious Orientation and Health among Active Older Adults in the United States

This study utilizes a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic Religious Orientation Scales to explore the connection between religion and health in a sample of physically active, older adults. The revised Religious Orientation Scale and the RAND Short Form 36 (SF-36) were adopted to relate religious orientation (intrinsic, extrinsic, pro-religious, and non-religious) and self-rated mental and physical health status. Individuals of pro-religious orientation reported significantly worse health for physical functioning, role limitations due to physical health, and energy or fatigue when compared with those of all other religious orientations; however, no dose–response relationships were found between religious orientation and self-rated health. The results of this study indicate that deleterious health effects may accompany pro-religious orientation. Caution is provided for directors of religious programs for older adults.     

Authoritarianism,Religious Fundamentalism,Quest, and Prejudice

Five studies of university students and their parents were carried out to investigate the relationships among right-wing authoritarianism, various indices of religious orientation, and prejudice. Measures of religious fundamentalism, and religious quest, developed for this research, proved to be psychometrically sound, and were good discriminators between prejudiced and unprejudiced persons, across a variety of different measures of prejudice and authoritarian aggression. Scores on both Religious Fundamentalism and Religious Quest scales also were correlated strongly with right-wing authoritarianism and the Christian Orthodoxy scale, although orthodoxy itself tended not to be correlated with prejudice. Apparently, religious fundamentalism and nonquesting are linked with authoritarianism and prejudice toward a wide variety of minority groups. Possible explanations for these relationships are discussed.     

A Comparison of Religious Orientation and Health Between Whites and Hispanics

The study of religious orientation thus far has neglected the influence of race/ethnicity as well as all four religious orientations (intrinsic, extrinsic, pro-religious and nonreligious) in explaining differences in both physical and psychological health. A representative sample of 250 Hispanics and 236 non-Hispanic Whites in Utah was drawn and analysed for differences in health (self-rated health, life satisfaction, exercise) according to race/ethnicity, religious orientation and religious attendance. Responses to the Religious Orientation Scale differed significantly by race/ethnicity, indicating that future studies of religious orientation should take cultural context into account. For both Whites and Hispanics, pro-religious individuals reported the highest life satisfaction scores, which highlight the utility of employing the fourfold religious orientation typology.     

We Welcome Refugees? Understanding the Relationship between Religious Orientation,Religious Commitment,Personality, and Prejudicial Attitudes toward Syrian Refugees

ABSTRACT

Approximately 5 million refugees have been displaced since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011. In 2016, the refugee crisis reached deadly proportions, causing many Syrians to flee their homes in search of asylum. Individual responses to refugees differed as Syrians attempted to resettle throughout the world. Research has shown that religious orientation (intrinsic, extrinsic, quest), religious commitment, and personality traits can help explain prejudicial attitudes toward outgroups. The purpose of this study is to examine the role that personality and religion play in predicting prejudicial attitudes toward Syrian refugees in the United States. The study’s sample consists of 844 participants recruited during the height of the Syrian refugee crisis. Participants completed online surveys through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. Results of hierarchical regression indicated that personality explained about 14% of the variance in prejudicial attitudes; specifically, Extroversion and Conscientiousness were positively related to prejudice, whereas Agreeableness was negatively related. Religious commitment and religious orientation explained an additional 0.8% to 2.5% variance, respectively, in prejudicial attitudes above and beyond personality. We discuss implications of findings for future research and practice.     

The Influence of Religious Fundamentalism,Right-Wing Authoritarianism,and Christian Orthodoxy on Explicit and Implicit Measures of Attitudes Toward Homosexuals

The goal of this study was to examine relations among dimensions of religiosity and explicit and implicit attitudes about homosexuals. Implicit attitudes were measured using the Implicit Association Test, an instrument that assesses attitudes about objects, persons, or groups, indirectly via participants' response times to words that are paired with symbols (e.g., “gay” and “straight” couples). Participants also completed explicit measures of religious fundamentalism, Christian orthodoxy, right-wing authoritarianism, and attitudes toward homosexuals. With respect to explicit attitudes, the results were consistent with previous research. Religious fundamentalism and right-wing authoritarianism predicted negative attitudes toward homosexuals, whereas Christian orthodoxy predicted more positive attitudes. In contrast, right-wing authoritarianism was the only significant predictor of implicit attitudes. People who scored high on a measure of right-wing authoritarianism had more negative explicit and implicit attitudes toward homosexuals than did people who scored low. Right-wing authoritarianism appears to play an important role in predicting both explicit and implicit attitudes toward homosexuals.     

Social support as a moderator of the relationship between religious participation and psychological distress in a sample of community dwelling older adults

This study investigated relationships among religious participation, social support, and psychological distress within a sample of older adults while controlling for the influence of significant demographic variables. Community-dwelling older adults between the ages of 65 and 90 (n?=?115) completed a packet of instruments including the Negative Affect Scale of the PANAS, the Social Provisions Scale (SPS) and a tailored survey that included questions regarding religious participation and demographic variables. Correlational and multiple regression analyses were performed to determine predictors of negative affect. Results indicated that religious participation continued to predict negative affect with the effect of demographic variables statistically controlled for. Subjective social support was also found to moderate the relationship between religious participation and psychological distress. Religious participation appears to be more important regarding alleviating distress for those elderly low in social support compared with those high in social support. Religious participation may thus occupy an important position with regards to factors that manage psychological distress among elderly individuals, particularly for those low in social support.     

Religious orientation and coping with cancer

In this study we investigated the role of religious orientation in coping with stresses associated with cancer. A measure of daily coping and the Religious Orientation scale were administered to forty hematology-oncology patients in order to examine frequency of eight coping responses across religious orientations. It was found that proreligious and intrinsic participants used religion significantly more often than nonreligious and extrinsic types to cope with stresses associated with their cancer. We concluded that religious orientation and commitment influence the coping process, and suggest that religious commitment be included in studies of coping with cancer.     

Religious Beliefs,Religious Contexts,and Perceived Interactions with Ex-Offenders

Religious institutions can provide a means of support and resources for many people, particularly, individuals who have criminal histories, specifically parolees, sex offenders, and insanity acquittees. When these individuals are released into the community, they often face difficulties in acquiring shelter, work, and social support. Out of their own volition or as a result of faith-based prison programs, they might turn to religious institutions for help reintegrating into the community. However, whether congregation members are more or less accepting of these individuals is unaddressed in the current literature. Two studies assess the relationship between religious beliefs, religious contexts, legal attitudes, and perceived social interactions with parolees, sex offenders, and insanity acquittees. Results suggest that religious beliefs, legal attitudes, and religious contexts play an important role in individuals’ perceived interactions with these individuals. Religious contexts, specifically, might facilitate more positive social interactions with parolees. Implications are discussed.     

Religiousness,Religious Orientation,and Attitudes Towards Gays and Lesbians1

Two studies are reported that examine the relationships among religiousness, religious orientation, and prejudice toward gays and lesbians. Study 1 reports the results of a survey done for the purposes of scientific jury selection. These results suggest that Baptists, fundamentalists, and “Christians” display more antigay prejudice than do Catholics, Jews, and many Protestant denominations, but even many supporters of gay-tolerant religions show more antigay prejudice than those claiming no religious preference. Among those with a religious preference, frequency of worship is significantly related to antigay prejudice among those belonging to antigay denominations, but not among those belonging to more gay tolerant religious faiths. Study 2 reports the results of a study of college students regarding religiousness, religious orientation, and prejudice toward gays and lesbians. Results showed that self reported religiousness, frequency of worship, and Batson's internal and external scales were all positively correlated with measures of prejudice toward gays and lesbians, whereas scores on the Quest (Interactional) scale were negatively correlated. Results of both studies strongly challenge the view that those with an intrinsic religious orientation are unprejudiced. It is argued that a social influence process can account for the role played by religious practice and beliefs in creating and maintaining negative attitudes toward gays and lesbians.     

Intrinsic Religious Orientation: The Conservative Christian Connection

This study investigated the claim that intrinsic religious orientation (IRO), as developed by Gordon Allport, has an inherent conservative Christian bias that may be denominationally identified. We tested this claim in two ways by using a sample of 546 churchgoers drawn from five congregations representing four denominations (two Unitarian Universalist, two Mainline Protestant, and one Evangelical). First, we correlated IRO scores with a measure of conservative Christian beliefs (CCBs). A high, significant correlation was obtained suggesting that, in general, high IRO scores go with CCBs. Second, we divided the sample into two groups: those who scored high and those who scored low on four measures of religious commitment: participation in church activities, and frequency of attendance, prayers, and meditation. This comparison also confirmed the IRO and conservative Christian connection: the IRO scores of the Evangelical congregation were significantly higher than those of other congregations in both the high and low religious commitment groups. But judgment needs to be reserved about the low commitment group as the number of Evangelicals that fell in this category was very small for two of the four commitment measures: church attendance and prayers.     

Religious reflection in Pakistan: further evidence of integration between Muslim faith and intellect

Religious groups outside the West have displayed a positive correlation between faith and intellect-oriented reflection in contrast to the negative relationship found with American Christians. This study extended the analysis to Pakistani Muslims. University students (N = 180) responded to religious reflection scales along with measures of religious orientation and satisfaction with life. Faith- and intellect-oriented reflection correlated positively, and both displayed direct relationships with religious orientations and satisfaction with life. In multiple regression analyses, both combined to predict the intrinsic religious orientation, but faith-oriented reflection was the only significant predicter of other measures. These data further documented a compatibility between Muslim faith and intellect and supplemented other cross-cultural findings in suggesting that understandings of more conservative religious beliefs may require sensitivity not only to their content, but also to their cultural context.     

Religious and Psychological Implications of Positive and Negative Religious Coping in Iran

This study examined the religious and psychological implications of religious coping in Iran. University students (N = 224) responded to the Brief Positive and Negative Religious Coping Scales along with measures of Religious Orientation, Integrative Self-Knowledge, Self-Control, Mindfulness, Self-Compassion, Self-Esteem, Guilt, Shame, and Self-Criticism. As in previous research elsewhere, Positive Religious Coping was stronger on average than Negative Religious Coping, and Positive and Negative Religious Coping predicted adjustment and maladjustment, respectively, In addition, this study demonstrated that direct relationships between Positive and Negative Religious Coping appeared to be reliable in Iran; that Positive Religious Copings was broadly compatible with, and Negative Religious Coping was largely irrelevant to, Iranian religious motivations; and that Negative Religious Coping obscured linkages of Positive Religious Coping with religious and psychological adjustment.     

Religious support and psychosocial well-being among a religious Jewish population

The three subscales of the Religious Support Scale assess perceived support from a person’s religious community, religious leaders, and God. This three-factor structure was replicated in the current study with a sample of 277 religious Jewish persons residing in Israel. Hierarchical canonical analysis showed that, even after controlling for general social support, Religious Leader and God Support were related to lower emotional distress, Religious Leader and Religious Community Support contributed to a higher level of life satisfaction, and Religious Community and God Support contributed to the prediction of perceived health. Findings are discussed in terms of religious support’s generalizability as a psychosocial resource for persons of various faiths.     

Religious Fundamentalism and Religious Orientation Among the Greek Orthodox

The experimenters explored how religious fundamentalism related with religious orientation, irrational thinking, and immature defense mechanisms. They also explored the possible moderational role of the Big 5 personality factors. The participants were predominantly Greek Orthodox College students from a Cypriot University. The experimenters employed a cross-sectional design and required participants to complete a series of self-report measures. Religious fundamentalism significantly predicted irrational thinking. Intrinsic and personal extrinsic religious orientations significantly predicted religious fundamentalism. The results provide support for the idea that the more dogmatically one holds their religious beliefs, the more likely they are to think irrationally.     

Fear of Rejection versus Religious Commitment as Predictors of Adjustment Among Reformed and Evangelical College Students in Canada

The contradictory findings about the (positive or negative) associations between religion and adjustment suggest that different aspects of religion might have different effects. A total of 160 men and 283 women attending two faith-affirming colleges in Canada completed measures of fear of rejection (by God and church members), religiosity, prosocial attitudes, social adjustment (work orientation, school attitudes), and personal adjustment (life satisfaction, self-esteem). Fear of rejection was found to be predictive of lower religious commitment and of poor social and personal adjustment. In contrast, religious commitment was found to be predictive of prosocial attitudes and of good adjustment. Religious commitment had much higher correlations with prosocial values and adjustment among men than among women. Regression analyses indicated that fear of rejection was a strong predictor of poor adjustment among religious persons.     

Religious Beliefs Affect Grieving After Pregnancy Loss

Religious beliefs and practices may aid in coping with bereavement and grief after pregnancy loss. Data from 103 women enrolled in the original Lehigh Valley Perinatal Loss Project, and who were followed-up for at least 1 year, were evaluated for the impact of initial religious practices and beliefs on the course and severity of grief. Religious practices corresponding to standard scales of religiosity and agreement with specific beliefs were rated by the women on a Likert scale of 1–5. Neither agreement with statements corresponding to extrinsic and intrinsic religiosity or to positive religious coping, nor frequency of religious service attendance was predictive of follow-up scores on the Perinatal Grief Scale. Religious struggle, agreement with statements classified as negative religious coping, and continued attachment to the baby were all associated with more severe grief.     

Religious coping,drinking motivation,and sex

The relations for religious coping with types of drinking motivation were examined in 178 college students. Participants completed the Ways of Religious Coping Scale and the Drinking Motives Questionnaire. As expected, correlations suggested that amount of alcohol used as well as social and enhancement motives for using were negatively related to religious coping scores. These relations were more clearly evident among women than among men. Coping motivation for alcohol use and religious coping were not significantly correlated.     

Varieties of Religious Experience:Continuity and Change in Religious Involvement

ABSTRACT The intent of the present study was to determine whether the selective aggregation of background data subgroups could be used to identify and control for differences across persons in the meaning of religious involvement. After background data subgroups had been clustered based on similarity in the variables related to religious involvement, two clusters were identified. One cluster contained individuals whose religious involvement was characterized by a functional, instrumental orientation, while the other was composed of individuals whose religious involvement was characterized by an affective, expressive orientation. Subsequently, causal models intended to describe continuity and change in religious involvement were constructed using individuals assigned to each cluster. It was found that different models were required to describe continuity and change in religious involvement in the instrumental and expressive clusters.     

The Protective Effects of Religious Beliefs on Behavioral Health Factors Among Low Income African American Adolescents in Chicago

Religious involvement has long been argued to have protective effects for negative behavioral health outcomes for vulnerable youth. This study builds on the existing resilience literature and need for more studies that examine protective factors associated with behavioral health. A sample of 638 low-income African American adolescents in Chicago to examine within group variations of the influence of religious involvement on delinquency, school engagement, substance use and sexual risk behaviors, and whether such relationships differ by gender, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status. Logistic regression findings documented that greater religious involvement was protective with regards to lower rates of delinquency, drug use, risky sexual behaviors and higher rates of school engagement, and that gender, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status varied for several of these relationships. Overall findings are discussed with regards to future research.     

Religious orientations,prototypicality threat,and attitudes toward church–state separation

We investigated whether stronger religious fundamentalism predicted negative attitudes toward church–state separation as a consequence of perceiving low in-group prototypicality (IGP). Across two studies (N = 635), Christians from the United States reported their religious orientations (intrinsic, extrinsic-personal, extrinsic-social, fundamentalism) before we measured (or manipulated) their perceptions of IGP. The dependent variables were attitudes toward church–state separation (S1, S2) and attitudes toward religious–national integration (S2). Results showed that stronger religious fundamentalism predicted negative attitudes toward church–state separation. Results also showed that fundamentalists’ negativity toward church–state separation was stronger when Christianity was not perceived as prototypical of America's identity. Religious fundamentalism did not predict attitudes toward church–state separation when perceiving high IGP. Religious fundamentalism predicted support of religious–national integration irrespective of IGP. The results suggest that fundamentalists will oppose the separation of church and state when they perceive their religion is not prototypical of their national identity.