Effects of Religiosity and Spirituality on Depressive Symptoms and Prosocial Behaviors

SUMMARY

Evidence demonstrates salubrious effects of religious participation on health-related outcomes. Results from studies relating its effects to psychosocial outcomes have been equivocal. However, many psychosocial outcomes have not been examined. The current study sought to address these limitations by testing the degree to which religious behaviors and subjective spirituality are associated with depressive symptoms and prosocial behaviors. Data from 68 older adults were used to test two linear regression models in which public religious behaviors, private religious behaviors, and subjective spirituality were used to predict depressive symptoms and prosocial behavior. This set of regressors accounted for significant amounts of variance in both outcomes, although a divergent pattern of prediction emerged. More public religious behaviors and fewer private religious behaviors were associated with lower levels of depressive affect, whereas higher reports of subjective spirituality were associated with increased prosocial behavior. The need to broaden the investigation of the effects of religiosity to include more specific predictors and an inclusion of psychosocial outcomes are both discussed.     

Spirituality in Older Adults: A Cross-Cultural and Interfaith Perspective

The definition of spirituality poses a variety of problems for the development of theory and research, as well as practical problems for persons interested in promoting the spiritual well-being of older adults. Although any definition of spirituality is problematic, a definition is proposed that comes out of the writer's clinical experience and is relevant to his understanding of the aging process in different cultural and religious contexts. Two case studies are presented to illustrate the relevance of the definition to the experience of older persons from different cultural and religious backgrounds. Reflections on the case studies suggest ways that an appropriately trained advocate might have helped the persons in these illustrations make changes in their situations that might have improved the quality of their lives. Material from the case studies is also used to clarify differences among terms such as spirituality, religion, religiosity, and piety. The paper proposes to be a contribution to a theoretical foundation for studying and working with spirituality in older adults.     

A Healthy Lifestyle Program for the Treatment of Obesity in Minority Men

Historically, minority males have had limited success in programs designed to reduce weight. Twenty-five obese minority males participated in a healthy lifestyle program designed to treat essential hypertension, hyperlipidemia, type II diabetes, obesity, and hypothyroidism. Coined the LE ³ AN Lifestyle Program (emphasizing healthy lifestyles, realistic exercise, reasonable expectations and emotions, attitudes, and nutrition), the program offered a treatment model that involved reasonable low-intensity short exercise regimens, instruction, and extensive practice in making healthy food choices, behavior modification, and self-monitoring techniques coupled with guidance on realistic weight loss and exercise expectations. The participants were able to lose 13 Ib during the inpatient plus day treatment phases of the program and continued to maintain a 19-lb weight loss at 12 months. A program overview, case examples, and suggestions to improve outcome efficacy with difficult to manage obese, minority, male patients are provided.     

Academic Integrity of Millennials: The Impact of Religion and Spirituality

The majority of traditional students enrolled at most colleges and universities are a part of what has been termed the Millennial Generation, also known as Generation Y, which typically describes the group of individuals born in most of the 1980s and 1990s. This cohort’s life has been shaped by corporate scandals, economic instability, and worldwide tragedies. Concurrently, business ethics has become a popular topic in the news within the last 2 decades due to the increase in the number of high-profile business scandals. Unfortunately, this trend has also been accompanied by an increased number of reported incidents of academic dishonesty at many major universities. Two underresearched factors that may be related to academic dishonesty and cheating behavior are religiosity and spirituality. This article attempts to shed more light on the relationship between religious beliefs and unethical behavior, with a focus on millennial college students. It is posited that religiosity and spirituality influence an individual’s attitudes, views, decisions, and ultimately behaviors. The results of this study indicate that religiosity but not spirituality is a predictor of students’ attitudes toward cheating and cheating behavior.     

Well-being and Spirituality from a Korean Perspective: Based on the Study of Culture and Subjective Well-being

Criteria for well-being and spirituality are culturally bound. In this article, therefore, the notions of well-being and spirituality were reconsidered from a Korean perspective. Two major conceptual approaches that pertain to “subjective well-being” research in social psychology provide the methodological framework for this study. While “bottom-up” approaches focus on how external events and situations influence happiness, “top-down” approaches center on diverse variables within an individual and his or her culture. Noting the cultural differences between American and Korean self-construals (i.e., independence vs. interdependence), the author argues that Koreans need to construct “top-down” approaches to both well-being and spirituality. Reviewing Robert Emmon’s concept of “spiritual intelligence,” the author also suggests an integrative model for spirituality and well-being in Korea.     

Religiosity and Spirituality: Influence on Quality of Life and Perceived Patient Self-Efficacy among Cardiac Patients and Their Spouses

The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of spirituality, religiosity, and religious coping on quality of life and self-efficacy among couples following a first time cardiac event. There was no significant association between measures for spirituality and religiosity and couples’ ratings for quality of life and self-efficacy. Negative forms of religious coping were associated with lower levels of quality of life and decreased confidence in the patient’s ability to perform physical tasks. Spouses’ measures for quality of life, self-efficacy, spirituality, religiosity, and religious coping were associated with patients’ measures for the same study variables. Joan F. Miller, RN, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Nursing, Bloomsburg University, Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania 17815 and Director of the Bloomsburg University Nursing Wellness Center. The author gives special thanks to Timothy R. McConnell, Ph.D., and Troy A. Klinger, M.S., for their research support and helpful feedback.     

Spirituality and the Health of College Students

Objectives  The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between spirituality and health risks of college students. Methods  Undergraduate students enrolled in Personal Health and Wellness classes at The University of Tennessee were selected to participate in the study. Two-hundred twenty-one students were administered two instruments: The College Student Appraisal of Risks Survey (The CARS) and the Spirituality Scale (SS). Results  Significant relationships between self-reported levels of spirituality and the health of college students were indicated during the study. Conclusions  College students integrating a spiritual component while processing decisions about risks that could negatively affect their health experienced better health outcomes. The significance of the study is that this research is an important step toward understanding the role that spirituality plays in the various dimensions of health in young adults.

The Imagination of Images and Images of Imagination: How the Imagination Relates to Aging,Health, and Spirituality

ABSTRACT

Psychological literature suggests that religion and spirituality increase in late adulthood. Yet, operational definitions of spirituality and religiosity remain widely debated and inadequate for the concepts they are designed to measure. The empirical studies of religion and spirituality as one ages are of poor design and often measure only limited aspects of religion or spirituality. Few empirical studies exist which have been conceived to only study religiosity and spirituality in late adulthood. The purpose of this study was to determine the defining aspects of religiosity and spirituality using the Allport, Ross Intrinsic, Extrinsic Religiosity Scale, Ellison's Spiritual Well-Being Scale, and Neugarten's Life Satisfaction Instrument. Using a principal component factor analysis, the study examined the factor structure using an older adult sample of 320 individuals 65 years of age and older. Having a purpose in life combines with intrinsic religious questions for the first factor. Life satisfaction questions group together on two factors and extrinsic religiosity is clearly one factor. The scales used hold together well when combined. A new, shortened scale to measure aspects of religiosity and spirituality is proposed.     

Development and Validation of a Short Health Behaviors Index for Use with Low Socioeconomic Status (SES) Older Adults

This study reports on the development and validation of a health behavior index in predominantly low socioeconomic status (SES) older adults. In order to develop and validate the index for use in low SES older adults, the 24-item Health and Human Services HealthStyle Self-Test was used for item generation. It was reduced to a relatively brief instrument, the Short HealthStyle (SHS) Index with 13 items that measures four major content areas of lifestyle behaviors among low SES older adults. The SHS Index was administered to a sample of 350 low SES older individuals. Principal component model factor analysis indicated a four-factor structure. Items loading on the first factor appeared to assess fitness and leisure activities, whereas those loading on the second and third factor assessed nutrition practices and stress control, respectively. A fourth factor assessed drinking/eating behaviors. Discriminant validity of the SHS was confirmed using the Instrumental Activities of Daily Living, and other health measures that indicated distinct constructs. Internal consistency for the SHS was .72 using Chronbach's alpha. Overall, the SHS Index displayed good psychometric properties in this sample, suggesting the appropriateness of using it to measure selected health behaviors with low SES older adults.     

Spirituality and Trauma: The Role of Clergy in the Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

An increased awareness of the spiritual aspects of health and illness has recently led to changes in psychiatry residency training as well as hospital accreditation requirements. The spiritual impact of trauma has been an area of particular interest, as trauma evokes certain existential questions and crises. It is estimated that from 5–11% of trauma survivors will go on to develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Given the spiritual challenges of the experience of trauma, patients with PTSD could benefit from spiritual assessment and intervention as part of their overall treatment plan, and clergy can be utilized to perform this. The literature exploring the spiritual impact of trauma and the use of clergy in the treatment of trauma survivors is reviewed. The methods used by three chaplains in a residential treatment program for PTSD at one facility are described and discussed. Both the literature and the experiences of the clergy suggest that exploration of trauma-related existential conflicts in patients with PTSD is beneficial. However, there is a notable dearth of controlled scientific studies evaluating the effectiveness of spiritual interventions with this treatment population. The need for controlled studies to verify the usefulness of spiritual assessment and intervention in patients with PTSD is noted, and a more rigorous analysis of how clergy can best serve this treatment population is encouraged.     

Theobiology: An Analysis of Spirituality, Cardiovascular Responses, Stress, Mood, and Physical Health

The relationships of spirituality and religion to acute cardiovascular responses, physical symptoms of illness, stress and psychological mood were assessed in a community sample of adults. Nineteen men and 61 women participated in a betrayal interview, while their blood pressure and heart rate were monitored. Religious affiliation, frequency of attendance at worship and religiousness were associated with resting diastolic and mean arterial pressure. Spirituality, especially as assessed by the existential scale of the Spiritual Well-being Scale, was related to symptoms of illness, medication use, stress and negative mood states. Spirituality and involvement in organized religion may represent a means to increase the sense of purpose and meaning in life, which is related to greater resiliency and resistance to stress-related illness.     

大学生的文化取向、自我概念对主观幸福感的影响

对成、渝两地228名大学生进行了测试,探讨大学生不同的文化取向和自我概念对其主观幸福感的影响。结果表明:大学生的文化取向以水平集体主义取向为主;年级、性别和家庭经济收入状况对幸福感均不产生影响;自我概念的各因子除与情感平衡呈显著负相关外,其他均为显著正相关;垂直个人主义文化与负性情感呈显著负相关,与情感平衡呈显著正相关;心理自我、生理自我和水平集体主义对生活满意度指数A和B有显著的预测效应;社会自我、自我批评和水平个人主义对正性情感有显著的预测效应,心理自我、自我批评和垂直个人主义对负性情感有显著的预测效应,心理自我、垂直和水平的个人主义对情感平衡有显著的预测效应。     

Hope for the Future and Avoidance of the Present: Associations with Well-being in Older Adults

Positive psychology and third wave cognitive behavioral therapy approaches have seldom been applied to older adults. This study therefore examined whether two concepts drawn from these areas, hope for the future and avoidance in the present, were associated with well-being in a sample of 259 older adults (65–94 years). Hope was measured as a stable trait. Experiential avoidance was measured as avoidance of present internal and external events. Respondents also completed two well-being measures: hedonic (positive and negative affect) and eudeimonic (meaning in life). Path analyses showed that high hope was significantly associated with high positive affect, and high meaning in life; and high experiential avoidance was associated with high negative affect and low meaning in life. This was also true when both (hope and avoidance) were taken into account, along with sociodemographic variables and perceived health. Many of the pathways between hope and well-being, and between experiential avoidance and well-being appear to be bidirectional. However the path from hope to positive affect was stronger than that from positive affect to hope. Further research is needed to clarify each of these points. Both hope for the future and lack of avoidance in the present are important for well-being in older adulthood and interventions targeting these processes may enhance positive aging and contribute to a sense of having a meaningful life.     

体育锻炼对大学生主观幸福感的影响:人际关系困扰和自尊的中介作用

为考察影响体育锻炼与主观幸福感关系的内在机制,该研究采用体育锻炼量表、自尊量表、人际关系综合诊断量表以及Campbell主观幸福感指数量表对521名高校大学生进行调查.结果显示:(1)人际关系困扰与体育锻炼、自尊及主观幸福感呈显著负相关,体育锻炼、自尊、主观幸福感两两之间均呈显著正相关;(2)人际关系困扰和自尊在体育锻...     

The Mediating Effects of Psychological Contracts on the Relationship Between Human Resource Systems and Role Behaviors: A Multilevel Analysis

Purpose  The purpose of this study was to examine the mediating effect of the psychological contracts on the relationship between human resource (HR) systems and role behavior. Design/Methodology/Approach  Multilevel analyses were conducted on data gathered from 146 knowledge workers and 28 immediate managers in 25 Taiwanese high-tech firms. Findings  Relational psychological contracts mediated the relationship between commitment-based HR systems and in-role behaviors, as well as organizational citizenship behaviors. Transactional psychological contracts did not significantly mediate these relationships. In addition, the results also indicated that commitment-based HR systems related positively to relational psychological contracts and negatively to transactional psychological contracts. Practical Implications  Commitment-based HR systems could elicit a wide range of knowledge workers’ behaviors that are beneficial to the goals of the firms. Furthermore, our findings also provide insight into, how HR systems potentially elicit employees’ role behaviors. Organizations could elicit employees’ in-role behaviors by providing financial and other non-financial, but tangible, inducements and facilitate employees’ extra-role behaviors by providing positive experiences, such as respect, commitment, and support. Originality/Value  The study is one of the primary studies to empirically examine the mediating effect of psychological contracts on HR systems and employee behaviors.

Church Attendance,Religious Activities,and the Life Satisfaction of Older Adults in Middletown,U.S.A.

ABSTRACT

The central focus of this study is to examine the patterns and relationships which may or may not exist between religious attendance and activity, sex, health, income, and age with regard to the sense of subjective well-being as expressed by older Middletowners. Based on a random sample of 400 persons, 60 years of age and older, a multiple regression analysis reveals that three variables account for the vast majority of variance in life satisfaction. Those variables are: SUBJECTIVE HEALTH STATUS, SATISFACTION WITH INCOME, and CHURCH ATTENDANCE. For those three variables R = .4780; R² = .2284. When all seven independent variables were included R = .4851; R² = .2351. In addition, further analysis was undertaken to examine the interrelationships between the seven independent variables.     

Sources of renewal: A qualitative study on the experience and role of leisure in the life of counsellors and psychologists

The purpose of this study was to investigate the experience and role of leisure in the lives of practicing counsellors and psychologists. Qualitative methods involving semi-structured interviews were employed with ten participants, between the ages of 39–55. The findings of the study revealed that: (a) leisure improves the ability of counsellors and psychologists to cope with and improve performance at work, (b) attitude plays an important role in experiencing true leisure, (c) true leisure moments are often described in similar terms as spiritual moments, (d) leisure facilitates meaningful connections with others, (e) leisure in nature facilitates receptivity to spiritual experience, (f) one's choices of leisure and ways of approaching it reveal much about who the person is, and, (g) leisure is a major factor in promoting balance and integration.     

Religiosity and Deviance: An Examination of the Moral Community and Antiasceticism Hypotheses Among U.S. Adults

Several hypotheses regarding the relationship between religiosity and deviance are examined using data from the geocoded General Social Survey. An inverse relationship between religiosity and several forms of deviance was documented; however the moral community hypothesis, which would predict that the interaction between group‐level religiosity and individual‐level religiosity would be inversely related to deviance, was not supported for any of the forms of deviant behavior examined. Additionally, the antiasceticism hypothesis, which argues that religiosity is more effective at deterring minor rather than serious forms of deviance, is only partially supported by the results of the analysis. The theoretical implications of this line of research, as well as suggestions for future avenues of research, are also discussed.     

Age and Flexible Thinking: An Experimental Demonstration of the Beneficial Effects of Increased Cognitively Stimulating Activity on Fluid Intelligence in Healthy Older Adults

ABSTRACT

The disuse hypothesis of cognitive aging attributes decrements in fluid intelligence in older adults to reduced cognitively stimulating activity. This study experimentally tested the hypothesis that a period of increased mentally stimulating activities thus would enhance older adults' fluid intelligence performance. Participants (N?=?44, mean age 67.82) were administered pre- and post-test measures, including the fluid intelligence measure, Cattell's Culture Fair (CCF) test. Experimental participants engaged in diverse, novel, mentally stimulating activities for 10–12 weeks and were compared to a control condition. Results supported the hypothesis; the experimental group showed greater pre- to post-CCF gain than did controls (effect size d?=?0.56), with a similar gain on a spatial-perceptual task (WAIS-R Blocks). Even brief periods of increased cognitive stimulation can improve older adults' problem solving and flexible thinking.     

Moderating Effects of Mothers' Attribution on the Relationships Between Their Affect and Parenting Behaviors and Children's Aggressive Behaviors

We examined Bugental's (1987) transactional model in the context of the relationships between aggressive children and their mothers. Based on Bugental's model, it was hypothesized that mothers who possessed the attributional style of low self-control and high child-control over hypothetical child care failure were more likely to manifest negative affect and negative parenting behaviors toward their child, only when their child is aggressive. Children's aggressive behavior was assessed via mothers' and teachers' ratings. Sixty-six children and their mothers served as subjects. Our results provided support for mothers' negative affect when using teachers' rating of children's aggressive behaviors only. Possible explanations for the differential results obtained using mothers' and teachers' ratings of children's aggressive behaviors were discussed.