{"title":"Does Spirituality or Religion Positively Affect Mental Health? Meta-analysis of Longitudinal Studies","authors":"B. Garssen, A. Visser, Grieteke Pool","doi":"10.1080/10508619.2020.1729570","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The objective of this meta-analysis was to determine the longitudinal positive effect of religion or spirituality (R/S) on mental health. We summarized 48 longitudinal studies (59 independent samples) using a random effects model. Mental health was operationalized as a continuous and a dichotomous distress measure, life satisfaction, well-being, and quality of life. R/S included participation in public and private religious activities, support from church members, importance of religion, intrinsic religiousness, positive religious coping, meaningfulness, and composite measures. The meta-analysis yielded a significant, but small overall effect size of r = .08 (95% CI: 0.06 to 0.10). Of eight R/S predictors that were distinguished, only participation in public religious activities and importance of religion were significantly related to mental health (r = .08 and r = .09, respectively; 95% CI: 0.04 to 0.11 and 0.05 to 0.12, respectively). In conclusion, there is evidence for a positive effect of R/S on mental health, but this effect is small.","PeriodicalId":47234,"journal":{"name":"International Journal for the Psychology of Religion","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7000,"publicationDate":"2020-02-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/10508619.2020.1729570","citationCount":"138","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Journal for the Psychology of Religion","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10508619.2020.1729570","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 138
Abstract
ABSTRACT The objective of this meta-analysis was to determine the longitudinal positive effect of religion or spirituality (R/S) on mental health. We summarized 48 longitudinal studies (59 independent samples) using a random effects model. Mental health was operationalized as a continuous and a dichotomous distress measure, life satisfaction, well-being, and quality of life. R/S included participation in public and private religious activities, support from church members, importance of religion, intrinsic religiousness, positive religious coping, meaningfulness, and composite measures. The meta-analysis yielded a significant, but small overall effect size of r = .08 (95% CI: 0.06 to 0.10). Of eight R/S predictors that were distinguished, only participation in public religious activities and importance of religion were significantly related to mental health (r = .08 and r = .09, respectively; 95% CI: 0.04 to 0.11 and 0.05 to 0.12, respectively). In conclusion, there is evidence for a positive effect of R/S on mental health, but this effect is small.
期刊介绍:
The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion (IJPR) is devoted to psychological studies of religious processes and phenomena in all religious traditions. This journal provides a means for sustained discussion of psychologically relevant issues that can be examined empirically and concern religion in the most general sense. It presents articles covering a variety of important topics, such as the social psychology of religion, religious development, conversion, religious experience, religion and social attitudes and behavior, religion and mental health, and psychoanalytic and other theoretical interpretations of religion. The journal publishes research reports, brief research reports, commentaries on relevant topical issues, book reviews, and statements addressing articles published in previous issues. The journal may also include a major essay and commentaries, perspective papers of the theory, and articles on the psychology of religion in a specific country.