Abstract
The purpose of this study is to see if there are differences in the social relationships that older African Americans, older whites, and older Mexican Americans form with the people where they worship. Data from two large surveys are pooled to see if race differences emerge in eleven different measures of church-based social relationships. These measures assess social relationships with rank-and-file church members as well as social relationships with members of the clergy. The findings reveal that older African Americans tend to have more well-developed social relationships in the church than either older whites or older Mexican Americans. This is true with respect to relationships with fellow church members as well as relationships with the clergy. In contrast, relatively few differences emerged between older Americans of European descent and older Mexican Americans. However, when differences emerged in the data, older whites tend to score higher on the support measures than older Mexican Americans.
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Notes
Some researchers have pointed out that standard errors derived from data that have been imputed with the EM procedure may be underestimated (e.g., Graham 2009). This means that some study findings may appear to be statistically significant even though this may not actually be the case. All analyses in this paper were re-estimated after list-wise deletion procedures were used to deal with item non-response. In no instance did a statistically significant relationship emerge from the imputed data but not from the data that were obtained with the list-wise deletion procedure. Moreover, in only one instance was a relationship estimated with the EM procedure (p = 0.029) more highly significant than the corresponding value that was estimated with list-wise deletion methods (p = 0.055). Given the fairly large number of significance tests that were conducted in this study, one might expect to get this type of result by chance alone.
The secular emotional support items were not administered until the second wave of interviews with older Americans of European descent and older African Americans. The analyses presented in the current study, therefore, compare secular support among older Mexican Americans at the baseline (and only) interview with Wave 2 reports of secular support by older whites and older African Americans.
The following instructions were read to study participants when the secular emotional support items were administered: “Now I have some questions about people who do not attend your church. I’m thinking here of family members and friends who do not worship in the church you go to.”
Mandas, or promesas, are a true religious quid pro quo whereby a Mexican American makes a solemn promise to the Virgin or one of the saints if the deity will grant a request. So, for example, they may promise to make a pilgrimage to a sacred shrine if the deity cures a loved one who is ill.
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Acknowledgments
This research was supported by grants from the National Institute on Aging (RO1 AG014749; RO1 AG026259) and a grant from the John Templeton Foundation that was administered through the Center for Spirituality, Theology, and Health, at Duke University.
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Krause, N., Bastida, E. Social Relationships in the Church During Late Life: Assessing Differences Between African Americans, Whites, and Mexican Americans. Rev Relig Res 53, 41–63 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13644-011-0008-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13644-011-0008-3