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Religious Involvement and Readiness to Confirm Reported Physical Disability

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Abstract

This investigation examines the influence of religious involvement on likelihood of verifying previously reported disability, net of current activity difficulty and self-rated health. It compares African American and white community-dwelling adults confirming (N = 348) and not confirming (N = 164) activity limitations. Logistic regressions show service attendance negatively associated with disability perception only among African Americans. For whites, use of beliefs in coping mitigates against confirmation of disability. Observed associations are conditioned by socioeconomic status and gender. These results underscore the importance of social context, as well as multidimensional religiosity, in understanding the health and disability implications of religiousness.

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Acknowledgments

An earlier version of this article was presented at the annual meeting of the Southern Demographic Association, October 24, 2009, Galveston, TX. This work is supported by grants R01 DA13292 and R01 DA016429 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to R. Jay Turner. I thank Jay Turner, John Taylor, and Don Lloyd for helpful comments and advice on earlier drafts.

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  1. Department of Social Sciences, University of Houston-Downtown, One Main Street, N1067, Houston, TX, 77002-1014, USA

    A. Henry Eliassen

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Eliassen, A.H. Religious Involvement and Readiness to Confirm Reported Physical Disability. J Relig Health 53, 1427–1439 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-013-9763-5

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