Abstract
A growing body of evidence indicates an association between religion and health. However, few have studied the connection between the extent of an individual’s religiosity and his health. Analysis of the 2004 Israel National Health Survey was performed. Religiosity was self-identified using five continuous categories, distinctive to Israeli Jews. Bivariate and multivariate analyses examined the relationship between the extent of Religious commitment and several health outcomes. The relationship took the shape of an inverse U function: Israeli Jews in the middle religiously have the worst physical and mental health status on both unadjusted and adjusted bases. Israeli Jews exhibit a non-trivial connection between religiosity and health whereby the most Secular and the most Religious individuals seem to be healthier than individuals in between.
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Appendix: Description of the variables
Appendix: Description of the variables
Health condition {j = 1, …, 5} variables (1) Self-rated overall physical health respondents were asked “In general, what is the state of your physical health?” excellent, very good, good, not good or not good at all. Responses were dichotomized as excellent/very good or good/not good/not good at all. (2) Chronic disease was dichotomized as whether or not they had at least one of the following key diseases: stroke, heart disease, hypertension, diabetes or high blood sugar, stomach ulcer, asthma, tuberculosis, chronic lung disease, thyroid disease, neurological disease, kidney disease, prostate disease or cancer. (3) Pain was defined as ever had either arthritis or rheumatism, chronic back or neck pains, strong headaches or other chronic pain. (4) Respondents were asked “In general, what is the state of your mental health?” Excellent, very good, good, not good or not good at all. Responses were dichotomized as excellent/very good or good/not good/not good at all. (5) A variable for depressive/anxiety emotional symptoms was constructed, which had a value of 1 if any of the following were true in the past month: felt under strain, was unhappy, was depressed or felt life is not worth living or had sleeping problems or had lost self-confidence.
Religiosity {r = 1, …, 5}, the main independent variable of interest, was measured by self-identified categorization, with the survey subdividing the Jewish population into separate categories of secularism and Religious identification. Respondents were asked to self-identify in one of five Religious categories: Secular, Traditional-not Religious, Traditional-religious, Religious and Haredi (sometimes translated as ultraorthodox). Although these are not formal denominations, most are commonly understood categories, each distinguished by variant sets of beliefs and practices. The one exception is that many surveys only have one category for Traditional. The five categories are ordered by what is commonly considered least Religious to most strictly Religious although this is not always the case for all Religious issues and Religious groups are marked by theological differences as well.
Control variables {X} Demographic variables that on a theoretical basis are both useful for policymakers in objectively targeting populations and typically are not influenced extensively by Religious identity were included as control variables. These included age, gender, ethnicity, education level and area of residence.
Gender was either male or female, with the variable having a value of 1 if female. Age was dichotomized as above or below 50, with the variable having a value of 1 if the respondent was above the age of 50. Education was defined as years of schooling, whether Religious or Secular and dichotomized as whether or not respondents had at least 13 years, with the variable having a value of 1 if they did. Area of residence was categorized as the Tel Aviv area, Central Israel or other. Ethnicity was based on region of ancestry, with the following categories: North America/Europe/Oceania, Asia/Africa, Israel and the Former Soviet Union.
Summary of variables
Variable | Description |
|---|---|
Religious identity | The Religious category with which they identify |
Age | Age broken down into five categories |
Gender | Male or female |
Ethnicity | Geographic region of ancestry and/or nativity |
Area of residence | Tel Aviv area, Central Israel or periphery/other |
Education | Years of education (whether 13 years or more) |
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Brammli-Greenberg, S., Glazer, J. & Shapiro, E. The Inverse U-Shaped Religion–Health Connection Among Israeli Jews. J Relig Health 57, 738–750 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-018-0577-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-018-0577-3