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Who Does Believe in life After Death? Brazilian Data from Clinical and Non-clinical Samples

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Abstract

Belief in afterlife is frequent, but little is known about how it relates to religiousness/spirituality (R/S) and socio-demographic variables. To investigate how the beliefs in afterlife and that “there is something beyond matter” are associated with socio-demographic, health, and R/S dimensions in a sample of medical inpatients and their companions. In multivariate analysis, afterlife belief correlated positively to educational level, religious affiliation, belief in something beyond matter, and private religious practices. Believe in something beyond matter correlated positively to afterlife belief and being spiritual. Educational level, rates of spirituality, religious affiliation, and private religious practices seem to influence the belief of afterlife and in a non-materialist cosmology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Center in Spirituality and Health, School of Medicine, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora (UFJF), Eduardo Sathler, 2 Casa P15, Neo Residencial, Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, 36035-720, Brazil

    Cristiane Schumann Silva Curcio & Alexander Moreira-Almeida

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  1. Cristiane Schumann Silva Curcio
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  2. Alexander Moreira-Almeida
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Correspondence to Cristiane Schumann Silva Curcio.

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The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All data collections were initiated after approval of the research protocol (Nos. 2122.182.2010 and 52745115.5.0000.5147) by the Research Ethics Committee (CEP) of the University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF).

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Curcio, C.S.S., Moreira-Almeida, A. Who Does Believe in life After Death? Brazilian Data from Clinical and Non-clinical Samples. J Relig Health 58, 1217–1234 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-018-0723-y

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