Centre for Policy on Ageing



Religious involvement and the health of the elderly — some hypotheses and an initial test
Author(s)	Ellen L Idler
Journal title	Social Forces, vol 66, no 1, September 1987
Pages	pp 226-238
Keywords	Religion ; Health [elderly] ; Physical disabilities ; Depression ; Living in the community ; Correlation ; United States of America.
Annotation	The study examines patterns of religious involvement, health status, functional disability, and depression among non-institutionalised older residents of New Haven, Connecticut (CT), in 1982. Controlling for demographic variables and physical health status, cross-sectional analysis of data for 2811 subjects from the Yale Health and Aging Project shows higher levels of public religious involvement associated with lower levels of functional disability and depressive symptomatology. Among men, the analysis also shows that private religious involvement modifies the associations of health status with disability, and disability with depression. Four alternative explanatory hypotheses with roots in classical sociological theories of religion are tested: three arguments for indirect effects of religious involvement through health behaviours; social cohesiveness; cognitive coherence; and an interactive theodicy effect. (OFFPRINT) (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-981118204 A
Classmark	TR: CC: BN: ENR: K4: 49: 7T *
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.