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Relationship Between Religiosity and Health: Evidence from a Post-communist Country

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Abstract

Background

The relationship between religiosity and health has been investigated in the western world for decades. However, very little data are available from the post-communist region of Europe, where religion was suppressed for a long time.

Purpose

The aim of the present study was to lessen this gap.

Methods

In 2002, 13 years after the regime change, 12,643 persons (mean age = 47.6 ± 17.9 years; 44.8 % male) were interviewed in a Hungarian representative survey. The relationship of mental and physical health indicators with religious worship and personal importance of religion—controlling for several psychological and lifestyle characteristics—were analyzed using the general linear model procedure.

Results

Our results showed that practicing religion was largely associated with better mental health and more favorable physical health status. However, persons being religious in their own way tended to show more unfavourable results across several variables when compared to those practicing religion regularly in a religious community or even to those considering themselves as non-religious. The personal importance of religion showed a mixed pattern, since it was positively associated not only with well-being but depression and anxiety as well.

Conclusions

We can conclude that even after an anti-religious totalitarian political system practicing religion still remained a health protecting factor.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the other members of the Hungarostudy 2002 team (János Réthelyi, Csilla Csoboth, György Gyukits, János Lőke, Andrea Ódor, Katalin Hajdu, Csilla Raduch, László Szűcs, and Sándor Rózsa), the network of district nurses for the home interviews, Professor András Klinger for the sampling procedure, and the National Population Register for the selection of the sample. This study was supported by OTKA-73754/2008 and ETT-100/2006 grants.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Behavioral Sciences, Semmelweis University, Nagyvárad tér 4. XX. em., 1089, Budapest, Hungary

    Barna Konkolÿ Thege, János Pilling, András Székely & Mária S. Kopp

Authors
  1. Barna Konkolÿ Thege
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  2. János Pilling
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  3. András Székely
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  4. Mária S. Kopp
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Correspondence to Barna Konkolÿ Thege.

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Mária S. Kopp (deceased)

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Konkolÿ Thege, B., Pilling, J., Székely, A. et al. Relationship Between Religiosity and Health: Evidence from a Post-communist Country. Int.J. Behav. Med. 20, 477–486 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-012-9258-x

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