Abstracts of Selected Scholarly Publications
1980s | 1990s | 2000+

Jeffrey S. Levin and Harold Y. Vanderpool.  (1989). “Is Religion Therapeutically Significant for Hypertension?”  Social Science and Medicine 29:69-78.

            Epidemiologic studies of the effects of religion on blood pressure suggest that religious commitment is inversely associated with blood pressure and that several religious denominations or groups have relatively low rates of hypertension-related morbidity and mortality. In this review, we examine the implication that certain characteristics and functions of religion account for this association, and we posit 12 possible explanations for this finding.  We propose that a salutary effect of religion on blood pressure can be explained by some combination of the following correlates or sequelae of religion:  the promotion of health-related behavior; hereditary predispositions in particular groups; the healthful psychosocial effects of religious practice; and, the beneficial psychodynamics of belief systems, religious rites, and faith. Since past epidemiologic studies may have been methodologically limited or flawed, possible explanations for the findings of these studies also include epistemological confusion, measurement problems, and analytical errors.  Finally, for the sake of completeness, two more speculative hypotheses are identified: superempirical and supernatural influences or pathways.

            In a study of air traffic controllers, religious differences are found in the way Type A behavior is associated with several health status indicators.  Associations between the Jenkins Activity Survey (JAS) and physical illness incidence, health-promotive behavior, diastolic and systolic blood pressure, subjective distress and impulse control problems, and alcohol consumption are examined by religious attendance, religious affiliation, and change in affiliation.  Findings confirm that Type A does not vary significantly by religion.  However, there are several significant findings between Type A and various health indicators.  Type A is associated with illness incidence, overall and more strongly in several religious subgroups.  Type A and alcohol consumption are related positively in Protestants and converts, and negatively in churchgoing Catholics.  Type A is related to impulse control problems in churchgoing Protestants and to subjective distress in churchgoing Catholics.  Finally, in individuals with weak or no religious ties, Type A is associated with lower blood pressure.  This last finding suggests that in some people (for example, the irreligious or unchurched), the coronary-prone behavior pattern may have cardiovascular effects which are salutary in at least one respect.

            The relationship between religious attendance and psychological well -being is explored in a sample of middle-aged and older Mexican American men and women.  Religious attendance has significant zero-order effects on life satisfaction in older men and in middle-aged and older women.  The associations remain significant in women, despite controlling for age, marital status, social class, and either of two indicators of health status.  Previous work in gerontology and epidemiology suggests that religious attendance, especially among older adults, may represent a proxy for health, but our findings provide only mixed confirmation of this, and only in older men. In women, religious attendance does appear to have a substantive effect on well-being.

            Although hundreds of published studies have addressed the effects of religion on morbidity and mortality, many investigators may be unaware of this literature.  This paper begins with an analysis of an important subset of these studies—those 27 which operationalize 'religiosity' as religious attendance—and which, taken as a whole, point to a consistent salutary effect for frequent attendance.  Upon identifying several pervasive epistemological, methodological, and analytical problems with these studies, however, this paper shows that there is insufficient evidence to conclude that religious attendance is positively and significantly related to health.  Nevertheless, the authors present a theoretical basis for expecting such associations.  This framework is included in a brief primer on religion for epidemiologists and other sociomedical scientists interested in exploring the health-related effects of religious factors.  Finally, a possible scenario for the development of an epidemiology of religion is discussed.

            This paper reviews epidemiologic studies employing religion as an independent construct, and finds that most epidemiologists have an extremely limited appreciation of religion.  After a historical overview of empirical religion and health research, some theoretical considerations are offered, followed by clarification of several operational and methodological issues.  Next, well over 200 studies are reviewed from nine health-related areas: cardiovascular disease, hypertension and stroke, colitis and enteritis, general health status, general mortality, cancer of the uterine corpus and cervix, all other non-uterine cancers, morbidity and mortality in the clergy, and cancer in India.  Finally, an agenda for further research is proposed.

            The attitudes toward hospital evangelism of a random sample of Baptist ministers from Texas are analyzed, with special reference to significant differences between pastors and chaplains.  Findings reveal that these two groups hold divergent views on the central mission of hospital evangelism.  In general, Baptist pastors tend toward a more idealized view focused on soul -winning than Baptist chaplains, who seem somewhat more attentive to the special circumstances of the hospital patient. The implications of these findings are discussed

            Epidemiologists often correlate religious attendance with a variety of health outcomes and claim that religion represents a protective factor with respect to health.  However, these analyses are typically zero-order (i.e., uncontrolled) and thus fail to address the possibility that partialling out the effects of potential explanatory variables might reduce such associations to insignificance. Using a three-generations sample of Mexican American Catholics, the authors regress subjective health onto religious attendance, alternatively controlling for four such variables: social support, physical capacity, social class, and subjective religiosity.  Among both older and younger women, significant zero-order associations are explained away by removing the effects of physical capacity. These findings lend empirical support to theoretical work in social gerontology which suggests that religious attendance may represent a proxy for functional health, especially in older people.

            In recent years, a new role for Black pastors has emerged.  As agents of health-related social and behavioral change, Black ministers have taken active roles in preventive medicine at the tertiary, secondary, and primary levels of prevention, succeeding despite resistance by some physicians.  The literature detailing these new health-related pastoral roles is reviewed, with special reference to the place of the Black Church in health care and to the place of the Black experience.  It is concluded that Black ministers are ideal people to take part in planning, promoting, and delivering health care in the Black community.

            This paper provides a conceptual overview of the 'New Age' phenomenon and of 'New age healing,' concepts which have gone virtually unaddressed in social science research, health-related or otherwise. First, drawing upon diverse sources, the authors attempt to define 'New age,' after which they discuss those medical, spiritual, and sociocultural developments which help account for the rise of new age healing in the U.S.  Next, a comprehensive review of over a dozen schemata of healing, healers, and medical systems fails to provide a satisfactory classification of new age healing.  Finally, by analyzing data derived from primary and secondary source materials on 81 healing systems or techniques identifying themselves with the new age, a typology of new age healing itself is inductively generated.  Three general modes are found: mental or physical self-betterment, esoteric teachings, and contemplative practice.  These types of new age healing place primary emphasis, respectively, on body, mind and soul.

            The relationship between religion and health was investigated using data from a three-generation study of Mexican Americans. Two measures of religion—religious institution attendance and self-rated religiosity—were correlated with a number of functional health indicators, including self-rated health, activity restriction owing to health, bed disability days, physician utilization , worry over health, a physical symptoms sale, and a depression scale.  In addition, prevalence rates were calculated for several major chronic diseases.  Many significant associations obtained, as well as an inverse relationship between self-rated religiosity and hypertension.  These findings are interpreted in light of the literature on religious attendance and health and on religion and aging.

            Historically, the black church has been the preserver and the perpetuator of the black ethos, the radix from which its defining values and norms have been generated, and the autonomous social institution that has provided order and meaning to the black experience in the United States.  The traditional ethic of community-oriented service in the black ethos is highly compatible with the communitarian ethic of community medicine.  Given this congruence and the much-documented fact that black Americans are an at-risk and underserved group regarding health status indicators and the provision of preventive health care, respectively, the black church is an extremely relevant locus for the practice of community medicine.  A number of health programs based in or affiliated with the black church have operated throughout the United States, and these programs, along with the corpus of literature comprising conceptual articles favorable toward such a role for the black church, are reviewed within four areas of community medicine:  primary care delivery, community mental health, health promotion and disease prevention, and health policy.

1980s | 1990s | 2000+