Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The STEP trials

A round-up of the STEP phase 3 clinical trials evaluating semaglutide for weight loss in people with overweight or obesity.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Journal of Religion and Health
Published in: Journal of Religion and Health 1/2018

01-02-2018 | Original Paper

Examining the Effects of Religious Attendance on Resilience for Older Adults

Authors: Lydia K. Manning, Andrew Miles

Published in: Journal of Religion and Health | Issue 1/2018

Login to get access

Abstract

Growing older often brings hardship, adversity, and even trauma. Resilience is a broad term used to describe flourishing despite adversity. To date, resilience and the connections to religion have not been well studied, despite compelling evidence that religious practice can promote psychological health. This research examines the role that religion plays in promoting resilience among older adults. Research questions include: (a) What is the relationship between religion and trait resilience? and (b) Does religion promote resilient reintegration following traumatic life events? Results indicate that religious service attendance is tied to higher levels of trait resilience and that both service attendance and trait resilience directly predict lower levels of depression and higher rates of resilient reintegration following traumatic life events. Findings suggest that religious service attendance has protective properties that are worthy of consideration when investigating resilience.
Footnotes
1
The alpha value is 0.92 for respondents who received the LBQ in 2006 and 2008, giving an overall wave one alphas value of 0.92. For simplicity, this alpha is calculated using listwise deletion (use about 91% of respondents).
 
2
Alpha values were 0.78 for responses in 2006, 2008, 2010, and 2012, giving overall alphas of 0.78 for measures at both wave 1 and wave 2.
 
3
The SRS and depression measures are related, but distinct.
 
Literature
Ardelt, M., Ai, A. L., & Eichenberger, S. E. (2008). In search for meaning: The differential role of religion for the middle-aged and older persons diagnosed with a life threatening illness. Journal of Religion, Spirituality & Aging, 20(4), 288–312.CrossRef
Arrington, E. G., & Wilson, M. N. (2000). A re-examination of risk and resilience during adolescence: Incorporating culture and diversity. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 9(2), 221–230.CrossRef
Bachay, J. B., & Cingel, P. A. (1999). Restructuring resilience: Emerging voices. Affilia, 14(2), 162–175.CrossRef
Berger, P. L. (1967). The sacred canopy: Elements of a sociological theory of religion. New York: Anchor Books.
Brewer-Smyth, K., & Koenig, H. G. (2014). Could spirituality and religion promote stress resilience in survivors of childhood trauma? Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 35(4), 251–256.CrossRefPubMed
Broyles, L.C. (2005). Resilience: Its relation-ships to forgiveness in older adults. Un-published doctoral dissertation, Uni-versity of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Carrico, A. W., Ironson, G., Antoni, M. H., Lechner, S. C., Durán, R. E., Kumar, M., et al. (2006). A path model of the effects of spirituality on depressive symptoms and 24-h urinary-free cortisol in HIV-positive persons. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 61, 51–58.CrossRefPubMed
Chatters, L., Taylor, R., Woodward, A., & Nicklett, E. (2014). Social support from church and family members and depressive symptoms among older African Americans. The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 23(6), 559–567.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
Clark, P., Burbank, P., Greene, G., Owens, N., & Riebe, D. (2010). What do we know about resilience in older adults? An exploration of some facts, factors, and facets (51–66). In B. Resnick, L. Gwyther, & K. Roberto (Eds.), Resilience in aging: Concepts, research. New York: Springer.
Dew, R., Daniel, S., Goldstone, D., & Koenig, H. (2008). Religion, spirituality, and depression in adolescent psychiatric outpatients. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 196(3), 247–251.CrossRefPubMed
Ellison, C. G., & George, L. K. (1994). Religious involvement, social ties, and social support in a southeastern community. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 33(1), 46–61.CrossRef
Enders, C. K. (2010). Applied missing data analysis. New York: The Guilford Press.
Faigin, C., & Pargament, K. (2011). Strengthened by Spirit: Religion, spirituality, and resilience through adulthood and aging (163–180). In B. Resnick, L. Gwyther, & K. Roberto (Eds.), Resilience in aging: Concepts, research. New York: Springer.
Ferraro, K. F., & Albrecht-Jensen, C. M. (1991). Does religion influence adult health? Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 30(2), 193–202.CrossRef
George, L. K., Ellison, C. G., & Larson, D. B. (2002). Explaining the relationships between religious involvement and health. Psychological Inquiry, 13(3), 190–200.CrossRef
Goldstein, H., & Healy, M. J. R. (1995). The graphical presentation of a collection of means. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society A, 158, 175–177.CrossRef
Greene, R. R. (Ed.). (2002). Resiliency: An integrated approach to practice, policy, and research. Washington, DC: National Association of Social Workers Press.
Helgeson, V., & Lopez, L. (2010). Social support and growth following adversity (309–332). In J. W. Reich, A. Zautra, & J. S. Hall (Eds.), Handbook of adult resilience. New York: Guilford Press.
Hildon, Z., Montgomery, S. M., Blane, D., Wiggins, R. D., Netuveli, G., & Hälsoakademin & Örebro universitet. (2010). Examining resilience of quality of life in the face of health- related and psychosocial adversity at older ages: What is “right” about the way we age? The Gerontologist, 50(1), 36–47. doi:10.​1093/​geront/​gnp067.CrossRefPubMed
Hildon, Z., Smith, G., Netuveli, G., & Blane, D. (2008). Understanding adversity and resilience at older ages. Sociology of Health & Illness, 30, 1–15.CrossRef
Hill, T. (2010). A biopsychosocial model of religious involvement. Annual Review of Gerontology & Geriatrics, 30, 179.CrossRef
Hovey, J., Hurtado, G., Morales, L., & Seligman, L. (2014). Religion-based emotional social support mediates the relationship between intrinsic religiosity and mental health”. Archives of suicide research, 18(4), 376–391.CrossRefPubMed
Hughes, J. (2010). Health in a new key: Fostering resilience through philanthropy (496–515). In J. W. Reich, A. Zautra, & J. S. Hall (Eds.), Handbook of adult resilience. New York: Guilford Press.
Hummer, R. A., Rogers, R. G., Nam, C. B., & Ellison, C. G. (1999). Religious involvement and US adult mortality. Demography, 36(2), 273–285.CrossRefPubMed
Humphreys, J. (2003). Research in shel-tered battered women. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 24, 137–152.CrossRefPubMed
Idler, E. (1995). Religion, health, and nonphysical senses of self. Social Forces, 74(2), 683–704.CrossRef
Koenig, H. G., George, L. K., Meador, K. G., Blazer, D. G., & Ford, S. M. (1994). Religious practices and alcoholism in a southern adult population. Hospital & Community Psychiatry, 45, 225–231.
Koenig, H., Hays, J., George, L., Blazer, D., & Larson, D. (1997). Modeling the cross-sectional relationships between religion, physical health, social support, and depressive symptoms. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 5, 131–144.CrossRefPubMed
Koenig, H., Hays, J., Larson, D., George, L., Cohen, H., McCullough, M., et al. (1999). Does religious attendance prolong survival? A six-year follow-up study of 3968 older adults. Journals of Gerontology: A Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 54, M370–M376.CrossRefPubMed
Lavretsky, H. (2014). Resilience and aging research and practice. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Luthar, S. S. (2006). Resilience in development: A synthesis of research across five decades. In D. Cicchetti & D. J. Cohen (Eds.), Developmental psychopathology: Risk, disorder, and adaptation (2nd ed., Vol. 3, pp. 739–795). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Luthar, S. S., Cicchetti, D., & Becker, B. (2000). The construct of resilience: a critical evaluation and guidelines for future work. Child Development, 71(3), 543–562.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
Mancini, A., & Bonanno, G. (2010). Resilience to potential trauma: Toward a lifespan approach (258–282). In J. W. Reich, A. Zautra, & J. S. Hall (Eds.), Handbook of adult resilience. New York: Guilford Press.
Manning, L. K., Carr, D. C., & Kail, B. L. (2016). Do higher levels of resilience buffer the deleterious impact of chronic illness on disability in later life? The Gerontologist, 56(3), 514–524.CrossRefPubMed
Moskowitz, J. (2010). Positive affect at the onset of chronic illness (465–483). In J. W. Reich, A. Zautra, & J. S. Hall (Eds.), Handbook of adult resilience. New York: Guilford Press.
Nygren, B., Aléx, L., Jonsén, E., Gus-tafson, Y., Norberg, A., & Lundman, B. (2005). Resilience, sense of coher-ence, purpose in life and self-transcen-dence in relation to perceived physical and mental health among the oldest old. Aging & Mental Health, 9, 354–362.CrossRef
Pargament, K. T., & Cummings, J. (2010). Anchored by faith: Religion as a resilience factor. In J. W. Reich, A. J. Zautra, & J. S. Hall (Eds.), Handbook of adult resilience (pp. 193–210). New York: Guilford Press.
Pargament, K. I., & Park, C. L. (1995). Merely a defense? The variety of religious means and ends. Journal of Social Issues, 512, 13–32.CrossRef
Park, C., & Cohen, L. H. (1993). Religious and nonreligious coping with the death of a friend. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 17, 561–577.CrossRef
Reich, J. W., Zautra, A., & Hall, J. S. (2010). Handbook of adult resilience. New York: Guilford Press.
Resnick, B., Gwyther, L., & Roberto, K. (Eds.). (2011). Resilience in Aging: Concepts, research. New York: Springer.
Richardson, G. E. (2002). The metatheory of resilience and resiliency. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 58(3), 307–321.CrossRefPubMed
Rote, S., Hill, T. D., & Ellison, C. G. (2013). Religious attendance and loneliness in later life. The Gerontologist, 53(1), 39–50.CrossRefPubMed
Staudinger, U. M., Marsiske, M., & Baltes, P. B. (1993). Resilience and levels of reserve capacity in later adulthood: Perspectives from life-span theory. Development and Psychopathology, 5(4), 541–566. doi:10.​1017/​S095457940000615​5.CrossRef
Wagnild, G. (2009). A review of the resilience scale. Journal of Nursing Measurement, 17(2), 105–113.CrossRefPubMed
Wagnild, G. M., & Young, H. M. (1993). Development and psychometric evalu-ation of the resilience scale. Journal of Nursing Measurement, 1, 165–178.PubMed
Zraly, M., & Nyirazinyoye, L. (2010). Don’t let the suffering make you fade away: An ethnographic study of resilience among survivors of genocide-rape in southern Rwanda. Social Science and Medicine, 70(10), 1656–1664.CrossRefPubMed
Metadata
Title
Examining the Effects of Religious Attendance on Resilience for Older Adults
Authors
Lydia K. Manning
Andrew Miles
Publication date
01-02-2018
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Journal of Religion and Health / Issue 1/2018
Print ISSN: 0022-4197
Electronic ISSN: 1573-6571
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-017-0438-5

Other articles of this Issue 1/2018

Journal of Religion and Health 1/2018 Go to the issue

Original Paper

Sex-Specific Impact of Spiritual Beliefs and Sleep Quality on Degree of Psychological Distress

Impressionistic Reporting

Altruism and Religion: A New Paradigm for Organ Donation

Original Paper

Religious Coping, Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety, and Well-Being Among Somali College Students

Psychological Exploration

The Ashtanga Yoga Hindi Scale: An Assessment Tool Based on Eastern Philosophy of Yoga

Original Paper

Including the ‘Spiritual’ Within Mental Health Care in the UK, from the Experiences of People with Mental Health Problems

Original Paper

Patient Appreciation of Student Chaplain Visits During Their Hospitalization