Is depressed affect a function of one's relationship with God?: Findings from a study of primary care patients

Gratitude Toward God, Stress, and Health in Late Life

The purpose of this studywas to see if feeling grateful to God reduces the deleterious effects of stress on health in late life. In addition, an effort was made to test for gender differences in this process. Three main findings emerged from the analysis of data provided by a nationwide sample of older adults. First, the data suggest that olderwomen are more likely to feel grateful to God than older men. Second, the results revealed that the effects of stress (e.g., living in a deteriorated neighborhood) on health are reduced for older people who feel more grateful to God. Finally, the analyses indicated that the potentially important stress-buffering properties of gratitude toward God emerge primarily among older women but not older men.

Prevalence and Religious Predictors of Healing Prayer Use in the USA: Findings from the Baylor Religion Survey

Using data from the 2010 Baylor Religion Survey (N = 1714), this study investigates the prevalence and religious predictors of healing prayer use among US adults. Indicators include prayed for self (lifetime prevalence = 78.8 %), prayed for others (87.4 %), asked for prayer (54.1 %), laying-on-of-hands (26.1 %), and participated in a prayer group (53.0 %). Each was regressed onto eight religious measures, and then again controlling for sociodemographic variables and health. While all religious measures had net effects on at least one healing prayer indicator, the one consistent predictor was a four-item scale assessing a loving relationship with God. Higher scores were associated with more frequent healing prayer use according to every measure, after controlling for all other religious variables and covariates.

Spirituality and Religiousness are Associated With Fewer Depressive Symptoms in Individuals With Medical Conditions

BACKGROUND

The increased prevalence of depressive symptoms among adults diagnosed with chronic health issues has been largely documented.

OBJECTIVES

Research is needed to clarify the effect of religiousness/spirituality in relation to chronic health conditions and depression, to establish whether these variables can serve as protective factors.

METHODS

Self-report data from a nationwide study of spirituality and health were used. Individuals with at least 1 chronic illness (N = 1696) formed the subsample for this study. Religiousness/spirituality variables included frequency of church attendance, prayer, religious meaning, religious hope, general meaning, general hope, peace, and view of God. Other variables included depressive symptoms and demographics (age, gender, ethnicity, and education).

RESULTS

A series of hierarchical regression analyses revealed that chronic conditions were consistently associated with more depressive symptoms. Greater religiousness/spirituality was significantly associated with fewer depressive symptoms, contributing 16% of the variance above demographics and the number of chronic illnesses. The religiousness/spirituality variables conferring the greatest protection against depression were psychospiritual variables (general meaning and general hope, followed by peace). Also significant but making a smaller contribution to less depression were church attendance, religious meaning, religious hope, and positive view of God. Only prayer did not relate significantly to less depression.

CONCLUSION

Maintaining a sense of spirituality or religiousness can benefit well-being of individuals diagnosed with a chronic health condition, especially having meaning, maintaining hope, and having a sense of peace. Patients could potentially benefit from being offered the resources that support their spiritual/religious practices and beliefs as they cope with chronic illness.

The Role of Spirituality in the Lives of Mothers of Breast Cancer Survivors

Breast cancer impacts an entire family system. A cancer diagnosis embeds the patient/survivor and their loved ones in the illness process. The mothers of breast cancer patients are likely impacted in a variety of ways by their daughters' diagnoses. To date, few researchers have investigated the experiences and perspectives of this population. In the present study, authors explored how mothers of breast cancer survivors managed adversities associated with this disease and illness. Using secondary data and narrative analysis, investigators analyzed data gathered from 30 mothers. Findings indicate that participants relied on their spirituality for the management of stress and hardship related to having a loved one with breast cancer. This research has implications for family health and well-being.

A Relationship With God? Connecting with the Divine to Assuage Fears of Interpersonal Rejection

We examine the possibility that people can leverage their “relationship” with God as a stand-in for interpersonal relationships. More specifically, we hypothesize that people will seek closeness with the divine when facing the threat of interpersonal rejection and that conversely, they will seek interpersonal closeness when facing the threat of divine rejection. We test this idea across four studies. Along the way, we test additional predictions derived from the close relationships literature, concerning the consequences of this process and the moderating role of self-esteem. Taken together, our findings add to the literature on God as a relationship partner and connect this idea to the dynamic ebb and flow of interpersonal connection.

Divine love and deep connections: a long-term followup of patients surviving cardiac surgery

We examined experiencing divine love as an indicator of affective spiritual growth in a prospective cohort of 200 patients surviving cardiac surgery. These patients previously completed two-wave preoperative interviews when standardized cardiac surgery data were also collected. The information included left ventricular ejection fraction, New York Heart Association Classification, baseline health (physical and mental), optimism, hope, religiousness, prayer coping, religious/spiritual coping, and demographics. We then measured divine love at 900 days postoperatively. Hierarchical linear regression indicated the direct effect of positive religious coping on experiences of divine love, controlling for other key variables. Postoperatively perceived spiritual support was entered at the final step as an explanatory factor, which appeared to mediate the coping effect. None of the other faith factors predicted divine love. Further research regarding divine love and spiritual support may eventually guide clinical attempts to support patients' spiritual growth as an independently relevant outcome of cardiac surgery.

View of God as benevolent and forgiving or punishing and judgmental predicts HIV disease progression

This study assessed the predictive relationship between View of God beliefs and change in CD4-cell and Viral Load (VL) in HIV positive people over an extended period. A diverse sample of HIVseropositive participants (N = 101) undergoing comprehensive psychological assessment and blood draws over the course of 4 years completed the View of God Inventory with subscales measuring Positive View (benevolent/forgiving) and Negative View of God (harsh/judgmental/punishing). Adjusting for initial disease status, age, gender, ethnicity, education, and antiretroviral medication (at every 6-month visit), a Positive View of God predicted significantly slower disease-progression (better preservation of CD4-cells, better control of VL), whereas a Negative View of God predicted faster disease-progression over 4 years. Effect sizes were greater than those previously demonstrated for psychosocial variables known to predict HIV-disease-progression, such as depression and coping. Results remained significant even after adjusting for church attendance and psychosocial variables (health behaviors, mood, and coping). These results provide good initial evidence that spiritual beliefs may predict health outcomes.

Religion, evolution, and mental health: attachment theory and ETAS theory

This article reviews the historical origins of Attachment Theory and Evolutionary Threat Assessment Systems Theory (ETAS Theory), their evolutionary basis and their application in research on religion and mental health. Attachment Theory has been most commonly applied to religion and mental health in research on God as an attachment figure, which has shown that secure attachment to God is positively associated with psychological well-being. Its broader application to religion and mental health is comprehensively discussed by Kirkpatrick (2005). ETAS Theory explains why certain religious beliefs--including beliefs about God and life-after-death--should have an adverse association, an advantageous association, or no association at all with mental health. Moreover, it makes specific predictions to this effect, which have been confirmed, in part. The authors advocate the application of ETAS Theory in research on religion and mental health because it explains how religious and other beliefs related to the dangerousness of the world can directly affect psychiatric symptoms through their affects on specific brain structures.

Beliefs about God, psychiatric symptoms, and evolutionary psychiatry

The present study analyzed the association between specific beliefs about God and psychiatric symptoms among a representative sample of 1,306 U.S. adults. Three pairs of beliefs about God served as the independent variables: Close and Loving, Approving and Forgiving, and Creating and Judging. The dependent variables were measures of General Anxiety, Depression, Obsessive-Compulsion, Paranoid Ideation, Social Anxiety, and Somatization. As hypothesized, the strength of participants' belief in a Close and Loving God had a significant salutary association with overall psychiatric symptomology, and the strength of this association was significantly stronger than that of the other beliefs, which had little association with the psychiatric symptomology. The authors discuss the findings in the context of evolutionary psychiatry, and the relevance of Evolutionary Threat Assessment Systems Theory in research on religious beliefs.

Stress and depression among older residents in religious monasteries: do friends and God matter?

The purpose of this investigation was to explore how friendship and attach-0 ment to God provide protective benefits against stress and depression. Participants included 235 men and women, age 64 and older, residing in religious monasteries affiliated with the Order of St. Benedict. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were completed to assess main and moderating effects of friendship and attachment to God relative to the influence of stress on depressive symptomology. Lower degree of friendship closeness (beta = -.12, p < .10) and greater insecurity with God (beta = -.15, p < .01) were directly associated with greater depressive symptoms. A significant three-way interaction (Stress x Friendship x Attachment to God) also existed relative to depressive symptoms (beta = .14, p < .05). Three "stress-buffering" mechanisms emerged relative to the influence of stress on depressive symptomology. First, a greater degree of friendship closeness in combination with less secure attachment to God represented a greater risk for depressive symptoms. Second, greater friendship closeness in combination with greater secure attachment to God reduced the risk for depressive symptoms. Third, lower degree of friendship closeness combined with less secure attachment to God diminished the noxious effects of stress on depressive symptoms. This has implications relative to how social and spiritual resources can be used to reduce stress and improve quality of life for older adults residing in religious communities.