Gabriel A Acevedo, Reed T DeAngelis, Jordan Farrell, Brandon Vaidyanathan
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Although religious involvement tends to be associated with improved mental health, additional work is needed to identify the specific aspects of religious practice that are associated with positive mental health outcomes. Our study advances the literature by investigating how two unique forms of religious social support are associated with mental health.
Purpose: We explore whether support received in religious settings from fellow congregants or religious leaders is associated with participants' mental health. We address questions that are not only of interest to religion scholars, but that may also inform religious leaders and others whose work involves understanding connections between religious factors and psychological outcomes within religious communities.
Methods: We test several hypotheses using original data from the "Mental Health in Congregations Study (2017-2019)", a survey of Christian and Jewish congregants from South Texas and the Washington DC area (N = 1882). Surveys were collected using both paper and online surveys and included an extensive battery of religious and mental health measures.
Results: Congregant support has more robust direct associations with mental health outcomes than faith leader support. Increased congregant support is significantly associated (p < 0.001) with fewer symptoms of psychological distress (β = - 0.168), anxiety (β = - 0.159), and anger (β = - 0.190), as well as greater life satisfaction (β = 0.269) and optimism (β = 0.283). However, faith leader support moderates these associations such that congregant support is associated with better mental health only in cases where faith leader support is also high. When leader support is low, congregant support and mental health are not associated.
Conclusions and implications: At the conceptual level, our study adds to an extensive literature on the relationship between religious social support and mental health. Additionally, our work may provide important insights to religious leadership in terms of communications strategies, services, and resources that might enhance overall congregant mental health and well-being.
期刊介绍：
The Review of Religious Research (RRR) publishes empirical social science research on religion, primarily in sociology and social psychology and related fields of psychology, and scholarly literature reviews of research in these fields. RRR provides a forum for research across multiple disciplines and approaches, including research on the following topical areas: Clergy; Church programs; Comparative analyses of religious denominations and institutions; Denominational and congregational growth, decline, and vitality; Denominational and congregational conflict, competition, and cooperation; Ethnicity/race and religion; Generational and personal religious change; New religious movements; Personal spiritual and religious beliefs and practices; Religion and attitudes; Religion and family; Religion and gender, Religion and social behavior; Religion and well-being; and Research methodology. Among the characteristics that distinguish RRR from other academic journals on the study of religion are its applied focus and the opportunities it offers for academics and denomination-based researchers to share their findings with each other. RRR aims to facilitate the sharing and comparing of applied studies between denominational and academic researchers. RRR is the official quarterly journal of the Religious Research Association, Inc. RRR regularly publishes Original Articles, Research Notes, Review Articles, Applied Research Abstracts, and Book Reviews, and occasionally publishes articles on the Context of Religious Research. Applied Research Abstracts: This type of publication (previously called Denominational Research Reports) consists of a 350-550 word summary (without any references) of an applied research study in the form of a structured abstract, with the following section headings: Background, Purpose, Methods, Results, and Conclusions and Implications, followed by 3-4 keywords. The author may included a footnote that states: (a) whether a complete report exists and how it can be obtained; (b) whether the raw data are available in electronic form and how they can be obtained if the authors wish to make them available to other researchers; and (c) whether the authors would like to collaborate with other researchers to further analyze the data and write a full report for possible journal publication as a peer-reviewed manuscript. Such abstracts should be submitted to the journal editor for consideration for publication. Book Reviews: Unsolicited book reviews are not accepted for publication in RRR. If you would like to review a book for the journal, contact the Book Review Editor, David Eagle, Ph.D. – david.eagle@duke.edu Context of Religious Research: This journal heading covers items about awards and announcements, memoriams, and articles about the research process (e.g., articles on research methods and statistics, and profiles of denominational research organizations), as well as invited addresses to the Religious Research Association. Unsolicited articles should be submitted to the journal editor for consideration for publication. Original Articles: These are scholarly and methodologically sophisticated research studies: see Information for Authors on this website and the Submission Guidelines on the Springer RRR website for details (https://www.springer.com/13644) Reseach Notes: These are scholarly and methodologically sophisticated research studies: see Information for Authors on this website and the Submission Guidelines on the Springer RRR website for details (https://www.springer.com/13644) Review Articles: Authors should send an email to the journal’s editor describing the nature and scope of a proposed literature review to see if it is suitable for publication in RRR. See Information for Authors on this website and the Submission Guidelines on the Springer RRR website for details (https://www.springer.com/13644) The journal’s editor is Kevin J. Flannelly, Ph.D. – kjflannelly@gmail.com
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