religion today has most adversely been affected by
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Abstract
Theory and literature suggests that the reason religiously-involved people tend to have good health outcomes is because they have healthy lifestyles and behaviors in accord with religious beliefs. Other literature suggests that religious involvement may play a negative role in health outcomes due to beliefs about illness originating as punishment for sins. These ideas were tested as part of a theoretical model of the religion-health connection, in a national sample of African Americans. Outcomes included a variety of health-related behaviors. Study participants (N=2,370) randomly selected from a US national call list completed a telephone survey assessing religious involvement, health behaviors, and demographic characteristics. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze study data. Findings indicate that perceived religious influence on health behavior mediated the relationship between religious beliefs and behaviors and higher fruit consumption, and lower alcohol use and smoking. Belief that illness is the result of punishment for sin mediated the relationship between 1) religious beliefs and higher vegetable consumption and lower binge drinking; and 2) religious behaviors and lower vegetable consumption and higher binge drinking. These findings could be applied to health education activities conducted in African American faith-based organizations such as health ministries, in the effort to eliminate health disparities.
Keywords: Religion, Religious beliefs, Punishment, African Americans, Health behaviors
Research has extensively examined the relationship between religious involvement, referring to “an organized system of [religious] beliefs, practices, rituals, and symbols” (Thoresen, 1998, p. 415)”, and a wide variety of physical and mental health outcomes (Koenig, McCullough, & Larson, 2001). These relationships are generally agreed to be positive in nature (see Ellison, Hummer, Burdette, & Benjamins, 2010; Koenig, King, & Carson, 2012 for reviews), though some evidence of negative aspects of religious involvement and impact on health have been noted as well (Exline, 2002; Mitchell, Lannin, Mathews, & Swanson, 2002; Pargament, 2002; Pargament, Koenig, Tarakeshwar, & Hahn, 2001). Additionally, these relationships are particularly relevant for segments of the population high in religiosity, such as African Americans (Krause, 2002), who tend to have greater religious involvement than other groups (Levin, Taylor, & Chatters, 1994; Taylor, Chatters, Jayakody, & Levin, 1996). This population suffers a notable burden of chronic disease and other health problems (Pleis & Lethbridge-Çejku, 2007), including but not limited to cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, and cancer. Such conditions have often been found to be negatively associated with religious involvement (see Koenig et al., 2012 for review). An overarching goal of Healthy People 2020 is to attain health equity and eliminate health disparities, in which a health outcome occurs to a greater or lesser degree in a particular group (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2010). Learning more about how religious involvement is connected to health can better inform interventions aimed at health disparities reduction, including faith-based programs, and efforts to increase cultural competence/humility among practitioners.
Theoretica was concluded that most have included mechanisms of healthy lifestyle, social support, self-esteem/self-efficacy, and sense of meaning (George, Ellison, & Larson, 2002).
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money power, politics, urbanisation