IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v187y2017icp11-19.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Longitudinal effects of religious involvement on religious coping and health behaviors in a national sample of African Americans

Author

Listed:
  • Holt, Cheryl L.
  • Roth, David L.
  • Huang, Jin
  • Park, Crystal L.
  • Clark, Eddie M.

Abstract

Many studies have examined associations between religious involvement and health, linking various dimensions of religion with a range of physical health outcomes and often hypothesizing influences on health behaviors. However, far fewer studies have examined explanatory mechanisms of the religion-health connection, and most have overwhelmingly relied on cross-sectional analyses. Given the relatively high levels of religious involvement among African Americans and the important role that religious coping styles may play in health, the present study tested a longitudinal model of religious coping as a potential mediator of a multidimensional religious involvement construct (beliefs; behaviors) on multiple health behaviors (e.g., diet, physical activity, alcohol use, cancer screening). A national probability sample of African Americans was enrolled in the RHIAA (Religion and Health In African Americans) study and three waves of telephone interviews were conducted over a 5-year period (N = 565). Measurement models were fit followed by longitudinal structural models. Positive religious coping decreased modestly over time in the sample, but these reductions were attenuated for participants with stronger religious beliefs and behaviors. Decreases in negative religious coping were negligible and were not associated with either religious beliefs or religious behaviors. Religious coping was not associated with change in any of the health behaviors over time, precluding the possibility of a longitudinal mediational effect. Thus, mediation observed in previous cross-sectional analyses was not confirmed in this more rigorous longitudinal model over a 5-year period. However, findings do point to the role that religious beliefs have in protecting against declines in positive religious coping over time, which may have implications for pastoral counseling and other faith-based interventions.

Suggested Citation

  • Holt, Cheryl L. & Roth, David L. & Huang, Jin & Park, Crystal L. & Clark, Eddie M., 2017. "Longitudinal effects of religious involvement on religious coping and health behaviors in a national sample of African Americans," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 11-19.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:187:y:2017:i:c:p:11-19
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.06.014
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953617303830
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.06.014?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stein, A.D. & Lederman, R.I. & Shea, S., 1993. "The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System questionnaire: Its reliability in a statewide sample," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 83(12), pages 1768-1772.
    2. Levin, Jeffrey S. & Vanderpool, Harold Y., 1989. "Is religion therapeutically significant for hypertension?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 69-78, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Cyrille Kossigan Kokou-Kpolou & Daniel Derivois & Cécile Rousseau & Oléa Balayulu-Makila & Saba Hajizadeh & Jean-Pierre Birangui & Mireille Guerrier & Jacqueline Bukaka & Jude Mary Cénat, 2022. "Enacted Ebola Stigma and Health-related Quality of Life in Post Ebola Epidemic: A Psychosocial Mediation Framework Through Social Support, Self-Efficacy, and Coping," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(5), pages 2809-2832, October.
    2. Smit, Anri & Coetzee, Bronwynè Jo’sean & Roomaney, Rizwana & Bradshaw, Melissa & Swartz, Leslie, 2019. "Women's stories of living with breast cancer: A systematic review and meta-synthesis of qualitative evidence," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 231-245.
    3. Rose Hennessy Garza & Michelle Y. Williams & Shana O. Ntiri & Michelle DeCoux Hampton & Alice F. Yan, 2022. "Intersectionality Impacts Survivorship: Identity-Informed Recommendations to Improve the Quality of Life of African American Breast Cancer Survivors in Health Promotion Programming," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-12, October.
    4. Richard S. Henry & Paul B. Perrin & Erin R. Smith, 2022. "Religiosity, Religious Fundamentalism, Heterosexism, and Support for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights: A Moderated Mediation Approach," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-17, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jan Neeleman & Glyn Lewis, 1994. "Religious Identity and Comfort Beliefs in Three Groups of Psychiatric Patients and a Group of Medical Controls," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 40(2), pages 124-134, June.
    2. Qiuping (Pearl) Zhou & Kyeung Mi Oh, 2012. "Comparison of lifestyle behaviors and related factors between Asian American and white adults with prediabetes," Nursing & Health Sciences, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(1), pages 58-66, March.
    3. Schultz, Jennifer & O'Brien, A. Maureen & Tadesse, Bedassa, 2008. "Social capital and self-rated health: Results from the US 2006 social capital survey of one community," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(4), pages 606-617, August.
    4. Saloua Sehili & Elamin H. Elbasha & David G. Moriarty & Matthew M. Zack, 2005. "Inequalities in self‐reported physical health in the United States, 1993‐1999," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 14(4), pages 377-389, April.
    5. Jorgensen, Bradley S. & Syme, Geoffrey J., 2000. "Protest responses and willingness to pay: attitude toward paying for stormwater pollution abatement," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 251-265, May.
    6. Robert Hummer & Richard Rogers & Charles Nam & Christopher Ellison, 1999. "Religious involvement and U.S. adult mortality," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 36(2), pages 273-285, May.
    7. Irena Papadopoulos & Runa Lazzarino & Christina Koulouglioti & Sheila Ali & Steve Wright, 2022. "Towards a national strategy for the provision of spiritual care during major health disasters: A qualitative study," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(4), pages 1990-2006, July.
    8. Buck, Anna C. & Williams, David R. & Musick, Marc A. & Sternthal, Michelle J., 2009. "An examination of the relationship between multiple dimensions of religiosity, blood pressure, and hypertension," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 314-322, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:187:y:2017:i:c:p:11-19. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.