Dissemin is shutting down on January 1st, 2025

Published in

MDPI, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2(17), p. 494, 2020

DOI: 10.3390/ijerph17020494

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

Religiosity and Mental Health: A Contribution to Understanding the Heterogeneity of Research Findings

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

Full text: Download

Green circle
Preprint: archiving allowed
Green circle
Postprint: archiving allowed
Green circle
Published version: archiving allowed
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Most studies report positive associations between religiosity and spirituality and aspects of mental health, while a small proportion report mixed or fully negative associations. The aim of this study was to assess the associations of religiosity measured more specifically, with mental health in a secular environment, using a nationally representative sample of Czech adults (n = 1795). We measured religious affiliation, conversion experience, non-religious attitudes and the stability of these attitudes, mental health problems, and anxiety levels. Compared to stable non-religious respondents, unstable non-religious and converted respondents who perceived God as distant were more likely to experience anxiety in close relationships, and had higher risks of worse mental health. Our findings support the idea that the heterogeneity of findings in associations between religiosity/spirituality and mental health could be due to measurement problems and variation in the degree of secularity. A shift towards religiosity could be expected to be seen in a substantial part of non-religious respondents in problematic times.