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Religiousness and health in Europe

  • MENTAL HEALTH
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Abstract

Recent research suggests that epidemiological forces in religion and health can have opposed effects. Using longitudinal data of people aged 50+ included in wave 1 (2004–2005) of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), and followed up through waves 2 (2006–2007), 4 (2011) and 5 (2013), we examined two forms of religious internalization and their association with health. Multivariate logistic regressions were used to examine all associations. Taking part in a religious organization was associated with lower odds of GALI (global activity limitation index) (OR = 0.86, 95% CI 0.75, 0.98) and depressive symptoms 0.80 (95% CI 0.69, 0.93), whereas being religiously educated lowered odds of poor self-rated health (SRH) 0.81 (95% CI 0.70, 0.93) and long-term health problems 0.84 (95% CI 0.74, 0.95). The more religious had lower odds of limitations with activities of daily living 0.76 (95% CI 0.58, 0.99) and depressive symptoms 0.77 (95% CI 0.64, 0.92) than other respondents, and compared to people who only prayed and did not have organizational involvement, they had lower odds of poor SRH 0.71 (95% CI 0.52, 0.97) and depressive symptoms 0.66 (95% CI 0.50, 0.87). Conversely, people who only prayed had higher odds of depressive symptoms than non-religious people 1.46 (95% CI 1.15, 1.86). Our findings suggest two types of religiousness: 1. Restful religiousness (praying, taking part in a religious organization and being religiously educated), which is associated with good health, and 2. Crisis religiousness (praying without other religious activities), which is associated with poor health.

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Acknowledgements

This article uses data from SHARE waves 1 (2004–2005), 2 (2006–2007), 4 (2011) and 5 (2013). The SHARE data collection has been primarily funded by the European Commission through the 5th framework programme (project QLK6-CT-2001-00360). Additional funding came from the US National Institute on Ageing (U01 AG09740-13S2, P01 AG005842, P01 AG08291, P30 AG12815, Y1-AG-4553-01 and OGHA 04-064). Further support from the European Commission through the 6th framework programme (projects SHARE-I3, RII-CT-2006-062193, and COMPARE, CIT5-CT-2005-028857) is gratefully acknowledged. For methodological details, see Börsch-Supan et al. (2013).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max-Planck Odense Center on the Biodemography of Aging, University of Southern Denmark, 5000, Odense, Denmark

    Linda Juel Ahrenfeldt & Rune Lindahl-Jacobsen

  2. Unit of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Biodemography, University of Southern Denmark, J. B. Winsløws Vej 9B, 5000, Odense, Denmark

    Linda Juel Ahrenfeldt, Karen Andersen-Ranberg, Astrid Roll Vitved & Rune Lindahl-Jacobsen

  3. OPEN – Odense Patient data Explorative Network, Odense University Hospital and Department of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, 5000, Odense, Denmark

    Sören Möller

  4. Research Unit of General Practice, Department of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, 5000, Odense, Denmark

    Niels Christian Hvidt

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  1. Linda Juel Ahrenfeldt
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Ahrenfeldt, L.J., Möller, S., Andersen-Ranberg, K. et al. Religiousness and health in Europe. Eur J Epidemiol 32, 921–929 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-017-0296-1

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