Religious Attendance and the Social Support Trajectories of Older Mexican Americans

Age Changes in Religious Service Attendance in Mexican American Older Adults: A Growth Curve Analysis

OBJECTIVES

This study examines age patterns in religious attendance in older Mexican Americans. Previous research has focused on majority-white samples, limiting generalizability to other groups. Research in ethnic minority populations is needed.

METHODS

We descriptively analyze Hispanic Established Population for the Epidemiological Study of the Elderly (Hispanic EPESE) data and estimate a mixed effects linear growth curve model to assess the relationship between age and religious attendance. Results: Descriptive results reveal an inverse U-shaped pattern of religious attendance. Results from the growth curve model indicate rising religious attendance after age 65 and a decline after the mid-70s, an earlier decline compared to majority-white studies. Discussion: These findings have implications for individual well-being, the functioning of religious congregations, and for understanding the patterning of a salient form of social participation among older adults. Further research is needed to explore the underlying mechanisms and to examine religious attendance patterns in understudied populations.

The association between religious participation and memory among middle-aged and older adults: A systematic review

OBJECTIVES

Mounting evidence suggests religion plays an important role in maintaining cognition. No prior systematic review has focused on the specific association between religion and the memory domain of cognition in middle-aged and older adults. We carried out a systematic review to explore this association in depth.

METHODS

We searched the PsycINFO, Scopus, and PubMed databases to identify articles assessing any means of measuring religion as the exposure and memory as the outcome. Articles had to report on studies with comparison groups to be eligible for inclusion in the review. We followed the PRISMA checklist to conduct the review (PROSPERO registration # CRD42022330389).

RESULTS

Nine out of the 1648 citations retrieved in the literature search were included in the review. The majority of included articles had a moderate risk of bias. Most results showed positive associations between religion and memory.

DISCUSSION

Despite consistency in the direction of association between religion and memory, the literature contained some important research gaps: the studies were cross-sectional; a lack of information existed regarding whether different faiths, sex/gender and depression affected the association; and underpowered studies prevented us from drawing firm conclusions about the direction or magnitude of effect. Longitudinal studies avoiding these issues are needed in this field.

Identifying pathways to religious service attendance among older adults: A lagged exposure-wide analysis

We used prospective data (spanning 8 years) from a national sample of older U.S. adults aged > 50 years (the Health and Retirement Study, N = 13,771) to evaluate potential factors that lead to subsequent religious service attendance. We applied a lagged exposure-wide epidemiologic design and evaluated 60 candidate predictors of regular subsequent religious service attendance. Candidate predictors were drawn from the following domains: health behaviors, physical health, psychological well-being, psychological distress, social factors, and work. After rigorous adjustment for a rich set of potential confounders, we observed modest evidence that changes in some indices of physical health, psychological well-being, psychological distress, and social functioning predicted regular religious service attendance four years later. Our findings suggest that there may be opportunities to support more regular religious service attendance among older adults who positively self-identify with a religious/spiritual tradition (e.g., aid services for those with functional limitations, psychological interventions to increase hope), which could have downstream benefits for various dimensions of well-being in the later years of life.

Does Religious Participation Predict Future Expectations About Health? Using a Life Course Framework to Test Multiple Mechanisms

Though an impressive array of health outcomes has been studied, research within the field of religion and health has not yet considered how religious involvement may affect future expectations about health. This is a significant shortcoming because the teachings of many religions direct adherent's focus to the distant future, and future self-ratings of health are a known predictor of subjective life expectancy and eventual mortality risk. Recognizing the need for a life course approach to conceptualizing patterns of religious involvement, we assess how stability or change in religious attendance from childhood to adulthood structures individual expectations of future health. Drawing on data from the 2017 Values and Beliefs of the American Public Study (Baylor Religion Survey Wave 5), we find that stable high (weekly) attendance between childhood and adulthood is associated with higher future health expectations. Parametric mediation analyses conducted in the counterfactual framework suggest that this association is explained by the tendency of frequent stable attenders to have (a) higher levels of beliefs in the sense of divine control and (b) a lower likelihood of engaging in harmful health behaviors (smoking).

Religiosity/Spirituality and Mental Health in Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies

Objectives

The present study investigated the association between religious and spiritual (RS) practices with the prevalence, severity, and incidence of mental health problems in older adults.

Methods

We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of cross-sectional and longitudinal studies that investigated older adults aged 60+ years and assessed RS using valid scales and questions from valid scales, and mental health according to validated multidimensional or specific instruments. Studies were retrieved from MEDLINE, LILACS, SCOPUS, CINAHL, and AgeLine databases until July 31, 2021. The risk of bias was evaluated using the Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale (NOS). A pooled effect size was calculated based on the log odds ratio (OR) and Z-scores. This study is registered on PROSPERO.

Results

One hundred and two studies that investigated 79.918 community-dwellers, hospitalized, and institutionalized older adults were included. Results indicated that high RS was negatively associated with anxiety and depressive symptoms, while a positive association was observed with life satisfaction, meaning in life, social relations, and psychological well-being. Specifically, people with high spirituality, intrinsic religiosity, and religious affiliation had a lower prevalence of depressive symptoms. In relation to longitudinal analysis, most studies supported that high RS levels were associated with a lower incidence of depressive symptoms and fear of death, as well as better mental health status.

Conclusion

Findings of the present study suggest that RS are significantly associated with mental health in older adults. People with high RS levels had a lower prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms, as well as reported greater life satisfaction and psychological well-being, better social relations, and more definite meaning in life. Data provided by an increasing number of longitudinal studies have supported most of these findings.

Religious Attendance and Physical Health in Later Life: A Life Course Approach

Existing research on the life course origins of adult health has extensively examined the influence of childhood socioeconomic conditions, family structure, and exposure to trauma. Left unexplored are the potential long-term health effects of sociocultural exposures, such as religiosity at earlier phases of the life course. Integrating life course models of health with literature on the health-protective effects of adult religiosity, we consider how adolescent and midlife religiosity combine to structure the physical health profiles of adults past age 50. Using more than 35 years of representative data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 79 (NLSY79), we found that the stability of frequent religious practice over time was associated with better health composite scores and lower disease burden. Causal mediation analyses revealed that part of this association is driven by a lower risk of smoking for consistent, frequent attenders. Adulthood religiosity also mediated the relationship between frequent early-life religious attendance and health.