Past Research
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L
Laloux, J. (1967). Pratique religieuse et appartenance sociale. Social Compass, 14, 105-116. (study of 461 Ss in Belgium; did not find church attendance associated with participation in other non-church groups; study in French and hard to evaluate)
Landis, B.J. (1996). Uncertainty, spiritual well-being, and psychosocial adjustment to chronic illness. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 17, 217-231. (C/S survey of convenience sample of 94 patients with diabetes (65% women, 33% Black, 83% Christian, 70% requiring insulin, ave age 46 (21-65)) living in Galveston, Texas; Paloutzian & Ellison SWB scale; psychological distress measured by Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale and "uncertainty" regarding illness measured by Mishel Uncertainty in Illness Scale; SWB inversely correlated with uncertainty (-.49, p<.001 and psychological distress (-.47, p=.001); RWB also inversely related to uncertainty (-.26, p<.01) and psychological distress (-.34, p<.001); using hierarchical regression, found that uncertainty and EWB predicted psychosocial adjustment, but RWB did not (? EWB and RWB correlated ?; may be missing an indirect effect); when asked what helped them live with diabetes, 34% said family/friends, 29% ability to manage disease, and 18% said that spiritual support such as belief in God, prayer, hope for a cure, and purpose was most helpful)
Lannert, J.L. (1991). Resistance and countertransference issues with spiritual and religious clients. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 31, 68-76. (review and opinion) (provides a historical background, examines research and professional bias, and the ethics of including religions in psychotherapy relationship)
Lannert, J.L. (1991). Spiritual and religious values of training directors and their internship sites. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Southern California, Los Angeles. (dont have it) (national study of 1990-1991 Association of Psychology Internship Centers training directors found that all respondents (94% of whom were also practicing psychologists) reported that they had not received any education or training in spiritual/religious issues during their formal internship, while 72% had addressed these issues in their clinical practices)
Lannin, D. R., Mathews, H. F., Mitchell, J., Swanson, M. S., Swanson, F. H., & Edwards, M. S. (1998). Influences of socioeconomic and cultural factors on racial differences in late-stage presentation of breast cancer. Journal of the American Medical Association, 279,1801-1807. (prospective cohort study examining reasons for higher breast cancer mortality among African American women compared with white women in the United States. This was a case-control study of 540 patients with newly diagnosed breast cancer and 414 control women matched by age, race, and area of residence. The outcome variable was breast cancer stage at diagnosis. They reported that "cultural beliefs" were a significant predictor of late stage at diagnosis (stage III or IV). Among these were fundamentalist religious beliefs such as "The devil can cause a person to get cancer" and "If a person prays about cancer, God will healed it without medical treatments." They concluded that both socioeconomic and cultural beliefs and attitudes accounted for the delay in diagnosis. While the fundamentalist religious beliefs above were univariately related to late cancer stage at diagnosis, the investigators did not report on the independent effects of these beliefs on stage of diagnosis after race, education, and socioeconomic factors were taken into account. Indeed, fundamentalist religious beliefs were much more common among Blacks, the uneducated, and the poor, all of whom were asked higher risk for late stage at diagnosis. While "cultural factors" did independently predict late stage of diagnosis, fundamentalist religious beliefs were only 2 variables out of 24 which were combined into the single category which was labeled cultural factors. Again, investigators did not examine the effect of fundamentalist religious belief by itself on stage of diagnosis in the multivariate models presented.
*[Lantz, H. (1948-49). Religious participation and sex orientation of 1,000 university students. Journal of Sociology & Social Research, 33, 285-290.] (found no correlation between religious activities and personal satisfaction with social conditions among college students)
Lapane, K.L., Lasater, T.M., Allan, C., & Carleton, R.A. (1997). Religion and cardiovascular disease risk. Journal of Religion and Health, 36 (2), 155-163] (C/S survey of two population-based random samples of 2,442 and 2,799 persons in 1981-82 and 1983-84, respectively, living in Pawtucket, RI; compared church members with non-members; church members were more likely to be 20% overweight; 48% of church members never smoked (vs. 35% of non-members) (p<.001); differences in SBP and total cholesterol (both lower in non-church members) were due to age, sex, and ethnicity); however, after adjustment for other risk factors, DBP of church members (75.9) was significantly less than non-members (76.6) (p=.017) (blood pressure)
Larson, D.B., & Wilson, W.P. (1980). Religious life of alcoholics. Southern Medical Journal, 73, 723-727. (Case-control study of 81 alcoholic men obtained from the psychiatric units of a NC State Hospital and the Durham VA (93% ages 30-59, 89% lower SES); 107 controls were normal subjects with no psychiatric history recruited from the same geographic area (48% ages 30-59, 69% from middle-class or higher); compared to controls, alcoholic cases were more likely to have lost interest in religion during adolescence (89% vs 20%, p<.01), less frequently shared their faith with others (3% vs 56%), read the Bible daily (1% vs. 40%), prayed several times/day (20% vs 57%), and less frequently reported a salvation experience (46% vs 75%) (28% of alcoholics reported a salvation experience after age 50, compared with 11% of controls) (although controls appeared to be more religious than the general U.S. population)
Larson, D.B., Pattison, E.M., Blazer, D.G., Omran, A.R., & Kaplan, B.H. (1986). Systematic analysis of research on religious variables in four major psychiatric journals, 1978-1982. American Journal of Psychiatry, 143, 329-334. (3,777 articles published in four major psychiatric journals during time period above; 2,348 were quantitative studies; 59 studies (2.5%) included a religious variable, 37 assessing denomination only; 5 assessed denomination and commitment and 17 assessed at least one religious commitment variable (total 1% of quantitative studies) (despite the availability of at least 300 available measures of religiousness))
Larson, D.B., Hohmann, A.A., Kessler, L.G., Meador, K.G., Boyd, J.H., & McSherry, E. (1988). The couch and the cloth: the need for linkage. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 39, 1064-1069. (C/S survey involving data from combined 5-site ECA study, including 5,034 from New Haven, 3,281 from eastern Baltimore, 3,004 from St. Louis, 3,921 from Durham, and 3,255 from East Los Angeles; DIS used to make diagnoses using DSM-III criteria; analysis focuses on four groups: those reporting having sought help from clergy for mental health problems, but not from outpatient mental health services (n=526), those who reported seeking help from outpatient mental health specialists at any time in life, but not from clergy (n=2,059), individuals who reported having contacted both (n=519), and individual who reported seeking help from neither (n=15,461); results indicated that men, those from highest socioeconomic quartile, and persons younger than 65 were more likely to see mental health specialists, rather than clergy alone; with regard to different types of conditions that help was sought for, those who chose both clergy and mental health specialists were significantly more likely to have received a DIS diagnosis of bipolar disorder, major depression, major depression with grief, and panic disorder (affective disorders); even those who live in southern rural counties like NC are no more likely to seek out clergy for mental health problems than persons in urban New Haven; concluded that among those who seek help from clergy or from mental health professionals, the prevalence of major psychiatric disorders is very similar for all psychiatric diagnostic categories except substance abuse and panic disorder; thus, clergy are as likely as mental health professionals to be sought out for help with serious psychiatric disorder)
Larson, D.B., Donahue, M.J., Lyons, J.S., Benson, P.L., & Pattison, M, Worthington, E.L., & Blazer, D.G. (1989). Religious affiliations in mental health research samples as compared with national samples. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 177, 109-111. (compares percentages of specific religious affiliations represented in study populations in mental health research (published in AJP and Archives) with percentages reported for general populations; 35% of mental health samples are Catholic, compared with 27% of national samples; 13-15% of mental health and community samples are Jewish, compared with 2.5% of national sample; 32% of psychiatric samples are Protestant, compared with 60% of national sample; 25% of psychiatric population with other/no religious affiliation, compared with 9% in U.S. surveys)
Larson, D.B., Koenig, H.G., Kaplan, B.H., Greenberg, R.S., Logue, E., & Tyroler, H.A. (1989). The impact of religion on men's blood pressure. Journal of Religion and Health, 28, 265-278. (C/S survey of 401 white males free of hypertension or any cardiovascular disease were identified in the Evans County Cardiovascular Epidemiologic study at the 1967-1969 follow-up; religious attendance and importance of religion were correlated with SBP and DBP; among men with high religious attendance and high religious importance, mean SBP was 133.5 vs 137.2 for the low-low category (p=ns); mean DBP was 83.8 for those in the high-high category, compared with 88.2 in the low-low category (p<.005); when controlling for smoking, SES, and weight to height ratio (Quetelet Index), the association remained statistically significant at p<.05; among men age 55 or over (n=146), high religious importance (n=113) was associate with significantly lower SBP than low religious importance (138.9 vs. 147.2, p<.05); a similar pattern was found for DBP (83.9 vs. 90.3, p<.005); when analyses were controlled for smoking, SES, and Quetelet Index, the associations weakened (SBP, p=.07; DBP, p=.08)); for smokers (overall population), the DBP difference was 7 mm lower (adjusting to 5.3 mm lower) for high importance group compared to lower importance group (a significant difference that persisted even after applying the Bonferroni correction, requiring p<.005); an even larger difference was noted for SBP (10.3 mm adjusting to 8.9 mm) but the difference was not statistically significant))
Larson, D.B., Sherrill, K.A., Lyons, J.S., Craige, F.C., Thielman, S.B., Greenwold, M.A., & Larson, S.S. (1992). Dimensions and valences of measures of religious commitment found in the American Journal of Psychiatry and the Archives of General Psychiatry, 1978-1989. American Journal of Psychiatry, 149, 557-559. (review) (assessed all measures of religious commitment in research studies published in AJP and AGP between 1978-1989; for nearly two-thirds of the measures, studies made no hypotheses (109/139 or 78%) or did not test the relationship between religious commitment and mental health (89/139 or 64%); for the great majority of studies which tested the relationship (36/50 or 72%), there was a positive relationship (? signif) between religion and mental health)
Larson, D.B., Thielman, S.B., Greenwold, M.A., Lyons, J.S., Post, S.G., Sherrill, K.A., Wood, G.G., & Larson, S.S. (1993). Religious content in the DSM-III-R glossary of technical terms. American Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 1884-1885. (found that 29 out of 100 technical terms contained in the DSM-III-R glossary contained one or more illustrative case examples; 18 contained one example, 6 contained two, and five contained three examples, thus yielding 45 total case examples (14 statements made by a patient and 31 descriptions of a patient's behavior, thinking or language); of the 45 cases, 10 (22.2%) had substantial religious content, included in references to illogical thinking, incoherence, poverty of content and speech, affect, catatonic posturing, delusions of being controlled, hallucinations, tactile I, hallucinations tactile II, magical thinking, and delusion)
Larson, D.B., & Greenwold, M.A. (1995). Are religion and spirituality clinically relevant in health care? Mind/Body Medicine, 1(3), 147-157. (review)
Larson, R. (1978). Thirty years of research on subjective well-being of older Americans. Journal of Gerontology, 33, 109-125.
Larson, E.J., & Witham, L. (1997). Scientists are still keeping the faith. Nature, April 3, 435-436. (in 1916, James Leuba conducted a survey of 1,000 randomly selected scientists from the 1910 edition of American Men of Science, finding that 42% of 700 respondents believed in a personal God and 51% in human immortality; in 1996, Larson conducted a survey of 1,000 scientists from the 1996 edition of American Men and Women of Science, finding that 39.3% of their 600 respondents believed in a personal God and 38.0% believed in personal immortality; Half of scientists in both samples were biologists, and one-quarter each in math and physics/astronomy; in the 1996 survey, mathematicians were most likely to believe in a personal God (45%), whereas 22% of physicists/astronomers believe in God; the question asked was, "I believe in a God in affective and intellectual communication with humankind, i.e., a God to whom one may pray in expectation of receiving an answer. By answer, I mean more than the subjective, psychological effect of prayer." (p 436); in 1995, 93% of population professed belief in God, but when asked to define "God", 11% chose "higher consciousness", 8% "full realization of personal potential", 3% indicated "many gods", and 3% "everyone as their own God", leaving only (see Barna 1996); in 1969, Carnegie Commission asked 60,000 professors in U.S. "How religious do you consider yourself?", 34% of physical scientists were "religiously conservative" and 43% attended church 3-4 times/month -- similar to the general population)
Larson, L.E., & Goltz, J.W. (1989). Religious participation and marital commitment. Review of Religious Research, 30, 387-400. (C/S survey of random sample of 179 married couples in the 1980 Edmonton Area Survey (Canada); 2 items measured personal commitment and 4 items measured structural commitment (7 levels each); predictor variables were religious affiliation, religious homogamy, and religious attendance; 48 couples mainline Protestant, 44 couples Catholic, 10 couples conservative Protestant, 27 couples no denomination, remaining couples other; covariates were education, income, social class, satisfaction with family life, marital happiness, marital satisfaction index, and times married/divorced; no relationship between religious homogamy and personal or structural commitment; personal commitment unrelated to religious affiliation; structural commitment, however, is significantly related to religious affiliation of both husbands (r=.30) and wives (r=.24); lowest level of structural commitment are among both husbands and wives of no religious affiliation, whereas highest commitment found among those of conservative religious affiliation (statistically significant for husbands, but not wives); personal commitment is positively related to church attendance for both husbands (r=.26) and wives (r=.22); structural commitment is also related to church involvement for both spouses; control variables to not affect these relationships; thus, active involvement in church is the main source of marital commitment, whatever form)
Lasater, T.M., Wells, B.L., Carleton, R.A., & Elder, J.P. (1986). The role of churches in disease prevention research studies. Public Health Reports, 101, 125-131. (describes a large-scale research project in which church volunteers deliver behavior change programming on major cardiovascular risk factors (smoking, elevated blood pressure, elevated serum cholesterol, excess weight, physical inactivity) (and extension of Pawtucket Heart Health Program); 20 churches recruited throughout Rhode Island and randomly assigned to 5 experimental conditions: task forces and high professional involvement, no task forces and high professional involvement, task forces and low professional involvement, no task forces and low professional involvement, and no treatment control; task forces composed of volunteers specifically responsible for the overall management and coordination of the HARP (Health and Religion Program) programming in their church; establishment of health promotion programs in religious settings; describes methodology and implementation, but no results)
Lasker, J.N., Lohmann, J., & Toedter, L. (1989). The role of religion in bereavement: The case of pregnancy loss. Presented at the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Salt Lake City, Utah (don't have) (138 women, mean age 28, who had an abortion, fetal or neonatal death; importance of religion was related to less grief on two of the four subscales used to measure grief (-.16 and -.21) an average two months after the loss and two one of four subscales an average of 2 years after the loss (-.23); church attendance was unrelated to any grief subscales)
Lawson, R., Drebing, C., Berg, G., Vincellette, A, Penk, W. (1998). The long-term impact of child abuse on religious behavior and spirituality in men. Child Abuse & Neglect, 22, 369-380. (Survey of 1207 male veterans of whom 43.7% reported being abuse as a child; administered the spiritual injury scale, KASL religiosity index, can religious items from the Westberg personal health inventory; a history of sexual abuse was related to significantly greater spiritual injury and lower stability is spiritual behaviors and experiences but not to lower overall rate of current religious behavior. Sexual abuse, however, was related to increase frequency of prayer and of "spiritual experience."
Lawton, M. P. (1975). The Philadelphia Geriatric Center Morale Scale: a revision. Journal of Gerontology, 30, 85-89.
Ledbetter, T. J. (1999). A pastoral perspective of pain management. Presentation.
Lee, D. E. (1987). The self-deception of the self-destructive. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 65(3), 975-989.
Lee, G.R., & Ishii-Kuntz, M. (1987). Social interaction, loneliness, and emotional well-being among the elderly. Research on Aging, 9, 359-482. (C/S survey of a sample (selected by random digit dialing) of 2,872 persons age 55 or over from Washington State (1321 males and 1551 females); religious attendance; outcomes were a 4-item loneliness scale and a 7-item morale scale (both developed by investigators for project); after controlling for marital status, health, friends, and neighbors, church attendance was unrelated to loneliness in either men or women; among men, however, religious attendance as significantly and positively related to morale (p=.02), after controlling for 10 other variables, including all the social variables)
Lehr, E., & Spilka, B. (1989). Religion in the introductory psychology textbook: A comparison of three decades. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 28, 366-371. (compare and contrast the handling of religion in psychology textbooks in the 1950's and 1970's to those in the 1980's; 85% of 98 texts published in 1980's contained religious material (80% of time it was mentioned, it was included in commentary or discussion); in 20% of cases, religion used as part of a research citation; three items accounted for two-thirds of the content when religion mentioned (30% meditation, 20% cults, 15% institutionalized religion); compared to 1950's and 1970's, mention in the 1980's represented a 100% increase in proportion of texts discussing religion; however, the discussions in the 1980's texts were only one-third as long as those in the 1950's, and continued to be a primarily non-research discussion nature and main examples portrayed religion in a negative light)
Lehr, I., Messinger, H.B., & Rosenman, R.H. (1973). A sociobiological approach to the study of coronary heart disease. Journal of Chronic Disease, 26, 13-30. (prospective cohort study examining 12 social and 12 biological precursors of CHD in 679 white men aged 40-49 engaged in industrial employees in San Francisco Bay area; found that parental religious difference factor was second only to high blood pressure in predicting 6-year events (mother affiliated with liberal ("high status") religion-father associated with conservative religion had highest CHD, whereas if mother affiliated with conservative religion-father associated with liberal religion had the lowest); explained findings as due to the "success" ethic hypothesis)
Lehrer, E.L., & Chiswick, C.U. (1993). Religion as a determinant of marital stability. Demography, 30, 385-404. (C/S survey of probability sample of 1st marriages among sample of 3,060 marriages (1987-1988 National Survey of Families and Households); homogamous or intrafaith unions - same religious affiliation - are more stable than interfaith unions; intrafaith marriages between Mormons have the greatest stability; marriages between those without religious affiliation have the greatest instability (beta 0.71, p<.05); "The results also suggest that religious compatibility between spouses at the time of marriage has a large influence on martial stability, rivaling in magnitude that of age at marriage and, at least for Protestants and Catholics, dominating any adverse effects of difference in religious background" (p 385))
Leivers, S., Serra, P.I., & Watson, J.S. (1986). Religion and visiting hospitalized old people: sex differences. Psychological Reports, 58, 705-706. (5 nursing homes in Western Australia; in two religious homes, 66 residents were more likely to receive visits than were 250 residents in 3 secular NHs (p<.001), uncontrolled) (R-4)
Lemere, F. (1953). What happens to alcoholics. American Journal of Psychiatry, 109, 674-676. (during a period of 6 years, the author collected life history data on a convenience sample of 500 deceased alcoholics, obtained from the children, grandchildren, and nieces and nephews (psychiatric patients of the investigator) of these persons (Seattle, Washington); one of the question he wanted to answer was "How effective is religion in helping the alcoholic?"; of the 500 alcoholics, 142 became worse, 59 moderated their drinking habits, 144 remained the same, 112 quit during a terminal illness, and 53 quit exclusive of a terminal illness; of the 53 who quit, abstinence was attained on their own in 68% (n=36), through religion in 24% (n=13), and after medical treatment in 8% (n=4); "In the generations covered by this survey, rleigion was often a powerful force in promoting abstinence and 13, or 24% of these 53 who quite, did so in response to spiritual conversion." (pp 674-675)
Leming, M.R. (1980). Religion and death: A test of Homans' thesis. Omega: Journal of Death & Dying, 10, 347 359. (C/S multi-staged cluster random sample of 372 residents of Northfield, Minnesota (RR not given) (62% female, mean age 46, average 16 years of formal education, 72% Protestant, 16% Catholic, 42% experienced death of friend or family member in past year; religiosity assessed by 10 items by Glock & Stark and Faulkner & Dejong; fear of death by Leming Death Fear Scale; religiosity was significantly (but no p values reported) and inversely related to fear of death (including religious experience, belief, and ritual subscales), although in somewhat inverted-U type pattern (most of which was downward sloping) (effects were strongest in Protestants) ("controlled" by age, social status, and affiliation due to stratification of analyses) (R 7)
Lemon, F.R., Walden, R.T., & Woods, R.W. (1964). Cancer of the lung and mouth in Seventh-Day Adventists. Cancer, 17 (April), 486-497. (Retrospective case-control; California Seventh-Day Adventists wer enrolled into the study by means of a questionnaire, including information on sex, date of birth, length of church membership, race, marital status, place of birth, occupation and residentail history, and present state of health; using the list of a free weekly newspaper, 5 copies of quesitonnaire mailed to each Seventh-Day Adventist family; mailing was repeated to non-respondents 3 times; questionnaires were also distributed in each church with public announcements over a period of several weeks; information was also obtained from each church on a count of "actual members" including inactive members, etc.; enrolled 47,866 persons, who made up 88% of 54,000 actual available membership or 75% of numerical membership of 64,256; death rates of a five year period (1955-1959) were calculated for the sample and were compared to age-sex adjusted mortality rates for the general population of California during that time; death determined by death certificates; found that death rates for male SDA's was 64.9% that of members of the surrounding population; SDA male cancer deaths were 70.6% of that expected (especially for cancer of the mouth and lung); for males, death rates from ASCVD was 65% of expected, and pneumonia and influenza deaths were 75.0% expected, and death from liver cirrhosis were 14% that expected; for female SDA's, all-cause and cancer mortality was 74.1% and 80.1% that expected (p<.05); among women deaths from cancer of the lung, stomach, uterine cervix, and urinary tract were all below that expected; death rates from ASCVD were about 74% that expected)
Lemon, F.R., & Walden, R.T. (1966). Death from respiratory system disease among Seventh-Day Adventist men. Journal of the American Medical Association, 198, 137-146. (prospective case-control study of mortality among 11,071 California SDA men age 30 or older between 1958-1962 (n=850); when compared to other men in California, SDA men were older, more likely involved in professional, managerial, or ownership occupations, and were much less likely to smoke; total deaths observed were about 50% of that expected and for respiratory disease it was about one-fourth that expected; concluded that there was a large reduction in lung cancer and other mortality in nonsmoking U.S. populations, supporting the causal relationship of cigarette smoking to lung cancer; only 1 death from lung cancer/emphysema occurred in the 3,913 lifetime SDA members who had never smoked)
Lemon, F.R., & Kuzma, J.W. (1969). A biologic cost of smoking. Archives of Environmental Health, 18, 950-955. (case-control study of 34,217 SDA's ages 35 or above in California that examined mortality between 1960-1962, using "life table analysis"; found that the survival advantage was greater for SDA men than SDA women; the average life expectancy for a 35 yo SDA male was 6.2 years longer than a non-SDA male; for a 35 yo SDA female, it was 23.7 years longer than a non-SDA female; at age 40, SDA male lived 6.1 years longer than non-SDA male, a figure that is similar to the 5.1 increased life expectancy in U.S. for non-smoker)
Leonard, W.M. (1982). Successful aging: An elaboration of social and psychological factors. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 14, 223-232. (C/S survey of a probability sample of 320 community-dwelling adults age 60 or over in U.S. (NORC); examined 23 psychosocial and health predictors of life satisfaction (measured by a 5-item scale); belief in afterlife (the only religious variables) was unrelated to life satisfaction) (poor)
Leserman, J., Stuart, e.M., Mamish, M.E., & Benson, H. (1989). The efficacy of the relaxation response in preparing for cardiac surgery. Behavioral Medicine, Fall, 111-117. (27 cardiac surgery patients (mean age 68) were randomly assigned to either educational information + relaxation response vs. educational information only; the experimental group had lower incidence of SVT (p=.04), but no difference in systolic or diastolic blood pressures or heart rate; on the POMS, the relaxation response group experienced significantly greater reductions in tension and anger than the education only group; however, relaxation response participants had significantly higher "tension" scores and higher "anger" scores on admission than did education only subjects (? regression to the mean ?); also a single unblinded nurse collected both questionnaire information and helped experimental patients in practicing relaxation response)
Lester, D., & Beck, A.T. (1974). Suicide in the Spring: A test of Durkheim's explanation. Psychological Reports, 35, 893-394 (79 attempted suicides in spring were more often agnostic than 165 attempted suicides in other seasons)
Lester, D. (1987a). Religiosity and personal violence: A regional analysis of suicide and homicide rates. Journal of Social Psychology, 127(6), 685-686.
Lester, D. (1987b). Religion, suicide and homocide. Social Psychiatry, 22, 99-101. (examined proportion Catholic for each of 49 U.S. states, and the proportion of school children in Catholic schools; suicide rates were inversely related to proportion of Catholics (-.26, p<.05, uncontrolled) and inversely related to the percentage of school children in Catholic schools (-.42, p<.001); likewise, homicide rates were inversely related to percent Catholic (-.45, p<.001) and percent of children in Catholic schools (-.35, p<.01); when divorce, age, or migration was controlled, relationship between percent Catholic and suicide disappeared; this was true for percent children in Catholic schools only when migration was controlled; percent Catholic and percent children in Catholic schools remained significantly related to less homocide while each of the covariates was controlled, except relationship with percent in Catholic schools which lost its signifiance when income was controlled)
Lester, D. (1988). Religion and personal violence (homicide and suicide) in the USA. Psychological Reports, 62, 618 (C/S survey of % Catholic in each state and percent attending church; found that after controlling for race (only), suicide rates were more strongly correlated with CA (-.54, p<.001) than with Catholicism (-.23); homocide rates were also inversely related with CA (-.30, p<.05), but not Catholicism (partial r=0.01))
Lester, D. (1992). Religiosity, suicide, and homocide: A cross-national examination. Psychological Reports, 71, 1282. (based on a Gallup survey of people in 13 nations in Europe and the U.S. (N is not given); belief in life after death -- which ranged from 25% to 80% -- and belief in God -- which ranged from 55% to 95% -- were inversely related to suicide (Spearman rho=-.71, p<.01 and -.86, p<.01), but belief in life after death and belief in God were positively correlated with homocide (.56, p<.05 and .62, p<.05) (uncontrolled)
Lester, D., & Francis, L. J. (1993). Is religiosity related to suicidal ideation after personality and mood are taken into account? Personality & Individual Differences, 15(5), 591-592.
Lester, D. (1996a). Comment on "Jewish affiliation in relation to suicide rates.". Psychological Reports, 78(3 pt 1), 834.
Lester, D. (1996b). Religiosity and suicide. Psychological Reports, 78, 1090. (percentage of Roman Catholics in nations of the world (1980) was associated with suicide rates/100,000, but not with homocide rates, among nations with more than 50% Christians (-.34, p=.02, uncontrolled); when gross domestic product per capita controlled, became NS; in total sample suicide rates, but not homocide rates, lower in countries with higher percentages of Muslims (-.30, p=.02), but not with % Christians; homocide rates related to % Catholics (.27, p=.04); after controlling for GNP, lost significance)
Lester, D. (1999). Zen and happiness. Psychological Reports, 84, 650. (Examining a sample of 69 undergraduates, a Taoist orientation was associated with less depression and hopelessness)
Levav, I., Magnes, J., Aisenberg, E., Rosenblum, I., & Gil, R. (1988). Sociodemographic correlates of suicidal ideation and reported attempts: A brief report on a community survey. Israel Journal of Psychiatry and Related Sciences, 25(1), 38-45.
Levav, I., & Aisenberg, E. (1989a). The epidemiology of suicide in Israel: international and intranational comparisons. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 19(2), 184-200.
Levav, I., & Aisenberg, E. (1989b). Suicide in Israel: Crossnational comparisons. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavia, 79(5), 468-473.
Levav, I, Kohn, R., Golding, J.M., & Weissman, M.M. (1997). Vulnerability of Jews to affective disorders. American Journal of Psychiatry, 154, 941-947 (C/S survey of random sample; period prevalence and lifetime rates of major depression in Los Angeles and New Haven using ECA data; while no differences were found among females, Jewish males had significantly higher rates of major depression -- both period prevalence and lifetime rates -- than Catholics, Protestants, and or non-Jews combined; non-Jew males were 70% less likely to have period major depression than Jewish males (0.30 OR, 95% CI 0.14-0.62); odds ratio for lifetime prevalence was 0.50, 95% CI 0.29-0.87). Alcohol abuse/dependence period among non-Jewish males was over 4 times that of Jewish males (OR 4.11, 95% CI 1.84-9.20; for lifetime it was OR 2.82, 95% CI 1.72-4.60); non-Jews were also significantly more likely to have bipolar disorder than Jews (OR 5.40, 95% CI 1.38-21.0))
Levi, J. S. (1986). Jewish medical ethics. Australian Family Physician, 15, 17-19.
Levine, S., Coe, C., & Wiener, S.G. (1989). Psychoneuroendocrinology of stress: A psychobiological perspective. In F.R. Brush & S. Levine (eds.), Psychoendocrinology (chapter 7), NY: Academic Press (don't have it) (squirrel monkeys exposed to stressful stimuli experience half the elevations in serum or plsasma cortisol if they have another squirrel monkey with them) (immune system)
Levine, S.P., Towell, B.L., & Suarez, A.M. (1985). Platelet activation and secretion associated with emotional stress. Circulation, 71, 1129-1134 (platelet activation by catecholamines made partly explained why emotional stress predisposes some people to acute cardiovascular ischemia; studied 61 senior medical residents immediately before they were just speak in public ; this study provided direct evidence of platelet secretion in association with emotional stress; through neuroendocrine messengers as the catecholamines, serotonin, and cortisol, negative emotions have been associated with key pathogenic mechanisms for increased platelet aggregation)
Levy, S., Herberman, R., Lippman, M., & d'Angelo, T. (1987). Correlation of stress factors with sustained suppression of natural killer cell activity and predictive prognosis in patients with breast cancer. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 5, 348-353. (prospective cohort study that examined natural killer cell (NK) activity and psychological status at baseline and 3 months later as part of a NCI protocol in 75 women with stage I-II breast cancer, mean age 52; NKC activity found earlier to be an important predictor of patient baseline prognosis (metastasis); both at baseline and at 3 months followup, there was a similar cross-sectional correlation between fatigue and perception of family support and NK cell activity; furthermore, those reporting depressive, fatigue-like symptoms, and who complained about lack of family support at baseline, tended to show a decrease in NK activity levels at 3 months (controlling for Time 1 NK cell activity at .05<.10); found that increased stress was associated with reduced natural killer cell activity among patients with breast cancer; reduced activity of natural killer cells, in turn, was associated with shorter survival (node-positive patients had lower levels of NK cell activity than patients with non-metastatic disease)
Leyser, Y. (1994). Stress and adaptation in orthodox Jewish families with a disabled child. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 31, 376-385. (82 Orthodox Jews with disabled children in Israel; 46% indicated they coped by prayer (most common response indicated out of a checklist of coping behaviors); 35% spontaneously mentioned God as a way of coping when asked open-ended question - the second most common category of response) - HGK. Longitudinal study of 82 ultra-orthodox Jewish families in Jerusalem with a child with moderate to severe developmental disabilities. Primary handicapping conditions included mental retardation (N=33), learning disabilities (N=28) and CNS impairment/organic disabilities (N=13), and emotionally maladjusted/autistic (N=8). Mean age = 11.63 years (range: 6-17 years, SD= 2.30). 55% boys, 45% girls. Year One study (1986 - 1987) consisted of 60-150 minute semi-structured interview with parents assessing demographic information, impact of disabled child on family life, areas of daily hardship and stress, parental use of personal psychological adaptation techniques, availability of informal and formal support systems, with several items focusing on future plans and concerns. Final section - interviewer rated family adjustment, stability, and functioning on a 5 point scale Respondents were 90% mothers, 8% fathers, 1% both parents, and 1% other family member. Children's competence was assessed with AAMR Adaptive Behavior Scale - School edition (ABS). Follow-up was done in 1990 - 1991. Results of Adaptive Behavior of child from Year 1 to Year 5 indicate siginificant decrease in consultation with rabbi (T=7.36; p=.000), consultation with medical experts (T=4.95; p=.000), need to meet with other parents (T=4.00; p=.000), complaint of financial hardships/constraints (T=6.53; p=.000) and complaint of limited community resources (T=7.59; p=.000). - TB
Liberson, D.M. (1956). Causes of death among Jews in New York City in 1953. Jewish Social Studies, 18, 83-117. (presents vital statistics for the largest Jewish community in the world -- the Jews of New York City (over 2,000,000 or over 25% of city's population); examined causes of death among whites in NYC in 1953 by sex, age, and place of burial (n=74,079 total, with 19,962 in Jewish cemetaries and 27,858 in Catholic-Protestant cemetaries); higher death rates from diabetes among Jews compared to non-Jews (29/100,000 vs. 18/100,000), especially among those over age 65 (247/100,000 vs 137/100,000); for cancer, death rates similar for Jews and non-Jews, except that cancer of cervix was only 0.33% among Jewish women and 1.50% among non-Jews; Jews were somewhat more likely to die of CAD than non-Jews (206/100,000 vs. 160/100,000); Jews less likely to die of diseases of liver than non-Jews (10/100,000 vs. 30/100,000), but lower death rates from TB, syphilis, and most infectious diseases, and lower infant mortality rates by about one-third; overall, Jews lived about 2 years longer than non-Jews; some of these differences are clearly related to socioeconomic differences and availability and use of health care services by Jews)
Lin, T.T. (1975). J Clin Psychology, 31, 148-151 - see other file
Linden, W., Stossel V, & Maurice J. (1996). Psychosocial interventions for patients with CAD: A meta-analysis. Archives of Internal Medicine, 156, 745-752. Meta-analysis of 23 randomized controlled trials that evaluated the additional impact of psychosocial treatment of rehabilitation documented coronary artery disease. Anxiety, depression, biological risk factors, mortality, and recurrence of cardiac events were the clinical end points that were studied. Mortality data were available from 12 studies and recurrence data for 10 of 23 studies. Studies evaluated 2024 patients who received psychosocial treatment vs. 1156 control subjects. Psychosocially treated patients showed greater reductions in psychological distress (0.34, p<.001), systolic blood pressure (-0.24, p<.05), heart rate (-0.38, p<.01) and cholesterol level (-1.54, p<.01). Patients who did not receive psych. treatment showed greater mortality and cardiac recurrence rates during the first 2 years of follow-up with log-adjusted odds ratios of 1.70 for mortality (95% confidence interval, 1.09-2.64) and 1.84 for recurrence (95% CI, 1.12-2.99), both p=.02.
Lindenthal, J.J., Myers, J.K., Pepper, M.P., & Stern, M.S. (1970). Mental status and religious behavior. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 9, 143-149. (C/S survey (baseline) of a probability sample of 938 community-dwelling persons in New Haven area; when asked if they prayed for help after a life crisis in the past year, 44% indicated yes; prayer more common after health and catastrophic events than legal, financial, job, marriage, interpersonal, family, education or relocation stressors; church attendance and affiliation are reduced among those with severe psychological impairment; 78% of unimpaired are affiliated, vs. 62% of severely impaired are affiliated; 61% of unimpaired attended church more than once/month, vs. 37% of very impaired (cross-sectional association that persists when social class, sex, marital status, age, race and religion are controlled); among 753 respondents who experienced any one of 62 life events, the more impaired the individual, the more likely he was to reduce his church attendance after the event (4% of unimpaired reduced their attendance vs. 11% of moderately impaired, vs. 20% of very impaired); the opposite was true for prayer: the more impaired, the more likely they were to pray after an event (31% unimpaired, 46% moderately impaired, 58% very impaired) (all cross-sectional, making direction of effect impossible to determine)
Lindgren, K.N., & Coursey, R.D. (1995). Spirituality and serious mental illness: A two-part study. Psychosocial Rehabilitation Journal, 1 8 (3), 93-111. (28 patients with serious mental illness (19/28 with schizophrenia) who were interested in spirituality were identified from three psychosocial rehabilitation centers; a four-session course (1.5 hrs/session) was developed and administered with six groups, first 5-6 person in three experimental groups and then 5-6 persons in three wait-list control groups who were crossed-over and the intervention applied; this psychoeducational program was designed to help patients utilize their spiritual beliefs to foster healthy self-esteem; significant differences on a Spiritual Support Scale resulted when compared before and after the intervention, but there were no significant differences in depression, hopelessness, self-esteem, or purpose in life); note that 74% of these seriously ill patients indicated that spirituality/religion had helped either "somewhat" (27%) or "a great deal" (47%); impact of religion/spirituality on life was either "somewhat" (20%) or "a great deal" (60%); 57% prayed daily and 76% thought about God or spiritual/religious matters on a daily basis)
Liu, QA et al. (1998). The influence of local church participation on rural community attachment. Rural Sociology, 63 (3), 432-450.
Livingston, I.L., Levine, D.M., & Moore, R.D. (1991). Social integration and Black intraracial variation in blood pressure. Ethnicity & Disease, 1, 135-149. (Cross-sectional survey of 1420 black Americans who participated in the 1981-1982 Maryland statewide hypertension control program. Separate multiple regression analyses were conducted for 587 males and 833 females. The only religious variable was religious affiliation. Among males, 64.7% of subjects indicated no church affiliation; among females, 55.1% indicated no church affiliation. After controlling for multiple other covariates, among men church affiliation was significantly related to lower systolic (beta=-4.90, p=.04) and lower diastolic (beta =-6.51, p=.0003) blood pressures; among women church affiliation was also significantly related to systolic (beta =-4.01, p=.07) and diastolic (beta -5.32, p=.0006) blood pressures. Other variables included in these models included age, education, income, hypertension medication status, exercise, daily physical activity, alcohol consumption, salt consumption, cigarette smoking, and body mass index).
Lo, B., Quill, T., & Tulsky, J. (1999). Discussing palliative care with
patients. Annals of Internal Medicine, 130, 744-749. (Summarizes
recommendations from large task force [American College of
Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine End-of-Life Care
Consensus Panel] concerning how physicians should address palliative
care issues with patients including spiritual and existential concerns.
They note that "Physicians should also screen for unaddressed spiritual
and existential concerns." (p 744) Also notes that "In addition to
addressing physical suffering, physicians can extend their caring byte
knowledge in exploring psychosocial, existential, or spiritual
suffering." (p 744) Also notes that "Most experts in palliative care
believe that attention to spiritual, existential, in religious issues is
a crucial component of palliative care." They also emphasize the
importance of physicians addressing spiritual it issues with patients,
and the fact that one study showed that 39% of respondents considered
very important to have a physician who is spiritually a tuned to them.
They suggest four questions be asked:
"Is faith (religion,
spirituality) important to you in this illness?"
"Has faith
(religion, spirituality) been important to you at other times in your
life?"
"Do have someone to talk to about religious matters?"
"Would
you like to explore religious matters with someone?"
*[Loch, Hughes (1985). Religion and youth... Journal of Religion and Health, 24, 197-208.]
Locke, F.B., & King, H. (1980). Mortality among Baptist clergymen. Journal of Chronic Disease, 33, 581-590. (case-control study that examined mortality among 3,446 American Baptist clergymen between 1950 and 1959 (n=654), and compared to death rates in U.S. males of comparable ages (SMR 69 for all, but SMR 49 for ages 20-64), to death rates in U.S. males with work experience between ages 20-64 (SMR 42), and to death rates for all U.S. white clergymen ages 20-64 (SMR 49); for specific causes of death, Baptist clergymen had SMR's of 76 for major cardiovascular-renal diseases, SMR 62 for malignant neoplasms, 51 for accidents and 10 for suicide (all with 95% CI below 100) (uncontrolled); biggest differences are seen for 20-44 ages group for CV deaths and 45-54 group for cancer-related deaths; had similar rates of death as other Protestant clergy (SMR 69 vs. SMR 71-73))
Loewenthal KM, Cornwall N, (1993). Religiosity and perceived control of life events. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 3(1), 39-45. Convenience sample of 74 recruits from SE England and South Wales compromise 2 groups (religious and non-religious). Affiliation for religious group was 9 Roman Catholic, 9 Church of England/Wales, 3 Nonconformist and 18 none. For non-religious 1 Church of England and 36 None. Religiosity assessed by belief in God, definition of self as religious, frequency of church attendance, frequency of prayer and belief in the efficacy of prayer. Subjects were asked to attribute causes of 38 life events (adapted from Holes and Rahe scale) to God, powerful other(s), luck, or self. God was invoked as a causal agent more often by the religious than the non-religious subjects. Overall perception of control by others, luck, and self occurred to a very similar extent in both groups. Life events were classified as health, occupation/finance, or relationships. Religious subjects saw God as controlling agent for health (p<.0001), weak tendency for religious and non-religious to see the self as not causally involved in health events compared to other events (p=.047 and .070 respectively) and for non-religious to ascribe cause of health events to luck (p=.053).
Long, D.D., & Miller, B.J. (1991). Suicidal tendency and multiple sclerosis. Health and Social Work, 16, 104-109. (C/S mail survey sent to 400 randomly selected members of the local Multiple Sclerosis Society chapter; 147 subjects returned questionnaires (93% white, mean age 43, 77% female); measured hopelessness with Beck et al (1974) scale; 5-item fear of death scale; self-perceived religiosity, belief in a supreme being, and religious orthodoxy (Putney & Middleton 1961 orthodoxy scale) assessed; suicidal tendency emasured by Likert-type scale assessing suicidal ideation or contemplation of suicide; suicidal thoughts inversely related to self-rated religiousness (r=-.39), religious orthodoxy (r=-.24), and less belief in God (r=-.40); when regression model constructed with hopelessness and six other variables as predictor variables, no variables other than hopelessness - including no religious variables - significantly predicted suicidal thoughts; when only hopelessness, self-rated religiosity, and family support were entered into the model, self-rated religiosity reached statistical significance (beta -.27, p<.05))
Long, J.D., Anderson, J., & Williams, R.L. (1990). Life reflections by older kinsmen about critical life issues. Educational Gerontology, 16, 61-71. (Q, but good) (C/S survey of 99 older adults ages 60-103 regarding their perspectives on issues related to personal well-being and effective living (a convenience sample of elderly relatives of undergraduate students living in Southeastern U.S.); respondents indicated tdhat family, rleigion, and good health were principal contributors to a sense of well-being throughout life)
Long, K.A., & Boik, R.J. (1993). Predicting alcohol use in rural children: A longitudinal study. Nursing Research, 42, 79-86. (C/S survey of convenience sample of 625 children grades 3-7 from south-central Montana (573 White, 36 Indian, 16 Hispanic); religious practices measured by two yes-no items: "Do you attend a religious ceremony almost every week? Do you pray almost every week?"; logistic regression was used to predict alcohol use vs. nonuse in grades 6 and 7 from sociodemographic and personality and attitude measures obtained in Grades 3 and 4 (n=214); praying almost every week was one of the strongest negative predictors of alcohol use (beta 8.39, p<.001)
LoPresto, C. T., Sherman, M. F., & DiCarlo, M. A. (1994-1995). Factors affecting the unacceptability of suicide and the effects of evaluator depression and religiosity. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 30(3), 205-221.
LoPrinzi, C.L., Laurie, J.A., Wieand, H.S., Krook, J.E., Novotny, P.J., Kugler, J.W., et al. (1994). Prospective evaluation of prognostic variables from patient-completed questionnaires. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 12, 601-607. (C/S, systematic, 1,115 pts with advanced colorectal or lung CA; predictors of survival examined using Cox model; questions examined feelings regarding "faith", "religion", "attitude" (optimistic); none predicted mortality in univariate analysis; median survival 2 yrs; other predictors all health or function-related; force of mortality too great) (R 7)
Lorch, B.R., & Hughes, R.H. (1985). Religion and youth substance use. Journal of Religion and Health, 24, 197-208. (C/S survey of 13,878 high school students (7th-12th grades) in Colorado Springs, CO; six dimensions of religion: membership, denomination, attendance, importance, combined attendance-importance, and combined denomination-importance; 8 aspects of substance abuse: beer, marijuana, tobacco, poly-drug, poly-alcool, heavy alcohol, heavy drugs, need for help with alcohol/drugs; church membership related to lower marijuana use (18% vs 25%), lifetime beer use (80% vs 88%); Mormons and Christian fundamentalists had lowest use of alcohol and drugs; All 48 zero order coefficients between 6 dimensions or religion and 8 measures of substance use were statistically significant at least at the .05 level but weak (.02 to .19). A stepwise multiple regression analysis was done to determine the relative importance of the six dimensions of religion in predicting alcohol and drug use. Importance of religion of subject was first, church membership second and score on denomination scale was third.)
Lorch, B.R., Hughes, R.H. (1988). Church, youth, alcohol and drug education programs and youth substance use. Journal of Alcohol and Drug Education, 33, 14-26. (C/S survey of pastors at 143 churches (60% RR) and examined their educational programs for youth concerning use of alcohol and drugs (Colorado Springs); religious groups at fundamentalist end of spectrum (Mormon, Baptist, etc.) with educational programs that forbid alcohol/drug use have greatest deterrent to use; whereas, more liberal churches (mainline Protestant, Catholic, Jewish) with more accepting attitudes that provide guidelines have lower rates of heavy use)
Loue, S., Lane, S. D., Lloyd, LS, Loh, L. (1999). Integrating Buddhism and HIV prevention in US southeast Asian communities. Journal of Health Care for the Poor & Underserved, 10, 100-121.
Lovekin, A., & Malony, H.N. (1977). Religious glossolalia: A longitudinal study of personality changes. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 16, 383-393. (prospective cohort study of 51 persons attending Life in the Spirit Seminars in a New Mexico Catholic church and a California Episcopalian church (in which students are encouraged to achieve glossolalia in the 5th of 7 weekly meetings); subjects were tested at the beginning of the seminar (Time 1), 1 week after receiving the Baptism of the Holy Spirit (Time 2), and 3 months afterward (Time 3) with a wide range of measures, including state anxiety, depression, hostility, ego strength, guilt Trait anxiety, and extrinsic religiosity; research question: were there personality changes in students who became glossolalic; during the seminar 12 became "fully" glossolalic, 14 did not, and 13 had previously been glossolalic; state anxiety was significantly greater among no-tongues group compared with old tongues and new tongues; these differences persisted with the new tongues group dropping in anxiety at Time 2, and all groups becoming more equal at Time 3 (3 months later); there was little support for the hypothesis that becoming glossolalic integrates the personality; there was no evidence for change in depression, hostility, guilt, or trait anxiety)
Loveland, G.G. (1968). The effects of bereavement on certain religious attitudes and behaviors. Sociological Syposium, 1, 17-27. (case-control C/S survey of 100 bereaved persons who volunteered in response to an ad in the paper (bereaved mothers (33), fathers (25), wives (24), husbands (12), daughters (2), sons (4); compared to control non-bereaved persons drawn case by case from same neighborhoods as bereaved persons (had living relative of same type, not suffering from other beareavement, and unknown to cases); assessed church attendance before and after death, frequency and reason for praying before and after, belief in God and his various characteristics; bereaved reproted praying more for comfort and consolation during bereavement than before death; there ws a significant change (from before to after loss) of religious feeling in a positive nature in bereaved group (compared to little change in controls) (p<.05) (no controls); less religious change in those over age 50 and in males)
Lovinger, S.L., Miller, L., & Lovinger, R. J. (1999). Some clinical applications of religious development in adolescence. Journal of Adolescence, 22, 269-277. (Authors discussed the use of religion in lives in adolescence to repair problematic or disrupted attachments using attachments theory and Kohut's self-psychology theory; authors suggest that adolescents do not seek to break ties with parents or adults so much as to revise their relationships in a more adult direction. Cases are discussed.)
Low, J.F. (1997). Religious orientation and pain management. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 51, 215-219. (review) (excellent - refer to when writing Pain chapter)
Lowis, M.J., Hughes, J. (1997). A comparison of the effects of sacred and secular music on elderly people. Journal of Psychology, 13 (1), 45-55. (To explore the measurability and effectiveness of supposed spiritual and mood-altering, thought-provoking music, two types of classical music were played to voluntary subjects. The subjects were independent retirement age men and women. The music was classified between sacred and secular based on the history of the composition and/or of the composer. Subjects rated feeling and thought responses to the music, scales measuring spirituality and Ego Integrity (life satisfaction) were administered before and after listening sessions and observations were made by the examiners. The results were that these particular methods and events did not unfold significant evidence of differences between those listening to sacred and those listening to secular music regarding spirituality, feelings or life satisfaction. Regardless of types of music heard, overall there was actually a significant decrease in spirituality measured after listening compared to that measured before the sessions. People who were identified as more spiritual, had a higher measure of spirituality after listening to both types of music. Other variables unrelated to spirituality were thoroughly analyzed and compared. The study also presented a brief and limited discussion of the history of the controversy regarding whether music can or does evoke spirituality.)
Lowis, M.J., Hughes, J. (1997). The comparison of the effects of sacred and secular music on elderly people. Journal of Psychology, 13, 45-55.
Lubin, B., Zuckerman, M., Breytspraak, L.M., Bull, N.C., Gumbhir, A.K., & Rinck, C.M. (1988). Affects, demographic variables, and health. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 44, 131-141. (C/S survey of a national probability sample of 1,543 adults over 18 by Gallup Poll using Multiple Affect Adjective Check List (MAACL) (50% males and 50% females); 5 subscales on MAACL were anxiety, depression, hostility, positive affect, and sensation seeking; these were combined into a dysphoria scale (A+D+H) and a positive affect scale (PA+SS); when religious affiliation examined, found higher depression scores in Jewish than other groups (p<.04), and higher hostility scores in Greek Orthodox than other groups (p<.001); positive affect was low in those with no religion, compared to other religious groups (p<.02) (no control variables))
Luecken, L., Suarez, E., Kuhn, C., Barefoot, J., Blumenthal, J., Siegler, I., and Williams, R. (1997). Stress in employed women: impact of marital status and children at home on neurohormone output and home strain. Psychosomatic Medicine 59:363-361. (found that working women with children at home, independent of marital status or social support, extreme greater amounts of cortisol (p<.01) and experienced higher levels of home strain (p<.001) than those without children at home)
Lukianowicz, N. (1968). Attempted suicide in children. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavia 44, 415-435. (10 children attempting suicide; religious denomination distribution same as in general population (Presbyterian, Catholic, Methodist, Church of England); concluded that religious affiliation does not play much a role in attempted suicide)
Lukoff, D., Lu, F., & Turner, R. (1992). Toward a more culturally sensitive DSM-IV: Psychoreligious and psychospiritual problems. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 180, 673-682. (examine mental health nomenclature barriers that prevent accurate diagnosis and management of psychospiritual and religious problems; propose a new Z-code diagnostic category that gives credance to these types of problems; authors provide good definitions of psychoreligious problems, including concerns of the person which are troubling or distressing that involve beliefs or practices of a religion or with a "transcendent being or force"); they separate out (1) religious problems, (2) mental disorders with religious content, and (3) psychoreligious problems, not due to a mental disorder; also provide differential diagnosis for above categories)
Lukoff, D., Provenzano, R., Lu, F., and Turner, R. (1999). Religious and Spiritual Case Reports on Medline: a Systematic Analysis of Records From 1980 to 1996. Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, 5(1):64-70. Descriptive review of case reports involving religious or spiritual issues listed in MedLine from 1980-1996. 364 abstracts cross-coded, 4 themes identified: religion and psychopathology cases, religious sensitivity issues, collaboration between healthcare and religious professionals, and religious and spiritual interventions. Of these themes, majority (57%) emphasized importance of being sensitive to religion in treatment and practice. 32% involved psychiatric diagnoses, 24% medical or surgical procedures (majority here Jehovah's Witness blood transfusion cases), 12% serious medical illness, and 9% ritual-related (e.g. self-injuries, fasting). Only 2% dealt with stress, illness, or grief situation in which religion could serve as a coping mechanism or enhance well-being in general.
Luna, A., Osuna, E., Zurera, L., Gracia-Pastor MV, & Castillo del Toro, L. (1992). The relationship between perception of alcohol and drug harmfulness and alcohol consumption by university students. Medicine and Law, 11, 3-10. (surveyed 328 medical, 347 veterinary, and 280 law students in Spain; the more religious had more negative attitudes toward drug and alcohol use/abuse)
Lund, D.A., Caserta, M.S., & Dimond, M.F. (1989). A comparison of bereavement adjustments between Mormon and non-Mormon older adults. Journal of Religion & Aging, 5 (1/2), 75-92. (prospective cohort study of 190 bereaved persons aged 50-93 mailed questionnaires 3 weeks, 1 yr, and 2 yrs after spouses' death; Mormons (73% of sample) were compared with non-Mormons (Utah) in terms of social support networks, health, psychosocial functioning and other measures of bereavement adjustment; Mormons had greater religiosity than non-Mormons and greater social networks, but there was no significant group by time interactions, indicating that groups did not significantly differ over time in the change of their social support networks; religious membership did not having a significant effect on health or psychosocial functioning changes over time; very little, if any, relationship was found between religious characteristics and bereavement outcomes; out of 216 possible correlations, only 7 (3%) were statistically significant; religiosity was inversely related to anger/guilt/confusion, helplessness/avoidance, and religious activity was associated with more grief resolution beahviors, although belief in afterlife was associated with greater depression at T1 and T2) (all uncontrolled)
Lyles, M.R., Wilson, W.P., & Larson, D.B. (1983). Mental health and discipleship. Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 2, 62-66. (C/S survey of 21 psychiatric patients from inpatient and outpatient psychiatric units at Duke University Medial Center, were compared with 31 normal controls recruited from several Christian churches in the community; no difference in age, sex, race, marital status, SES or affiliation; patients were significantly less confident in their understandings of the role of faith in daily living, in meeting and mastering temptation, and experiencing God's love in their lives); more patients were not currently involved in church and many were inactive in serving the church; most felt that their lives were more influenced by persons outside of their church (75% vs 30%) (no controls)) (poor study))
Lyon, J.L., Klauber, M.R., Gardner, J.W., & Smart , C.R. (1976). Cancer incidence in Mormons and non-Morons in Utah, 1966-1970. New England Journal of Medicine, 294, 129-133. (case-control study of incidence of cancer in Utah Mormons, Utah non-Mormons, and national sample; based on 10,641 cancer deaths in Utah from 1966-1970; Mormons have fewer cancers relate to smoking, and Mormon females have lower incidence of breast CA (p<.01), uterine cervix CA (.00001), and ovarian CA (p<.05); Mormon males with lower rate of stomach cancer (p<.01); findings leave unexplained the significant differences between Mormons and non-Mormons for lower rates of breast and cervical CA, but higher rates of prostate and nervous system cancers; associations controlled for age and sex)
Lyon, J.L., Gardner, J.W., Klauber, M.R., & Smart, C.R. (1977). Low cancer incidence and mortality in Utah. Cancer, 39, 2608-2618. (case-control study examining cancer mortality in Utah between 1950-1969 and morbidity for 1966-1970, comparing with data from Third National Cancer Survey; found that Utah had 18% fewer cases of cancer and 24% fewer cancer deaths than nation at whole; half of these differences were explained by cancer sites associated with cigarette smoking and alcohol use; other cancer sites were also less frequent, including pancreas, colon, rectum, female breast, uterine cervix and ovary; on the other hand, higher rates of cancer of lip were found)
Lyon, J.L., Wetzler, H.P., Gardner, J.W., Klauber, M.R., Williams, R.R. (1978). Cardiovascular mortality in Mormons and non-Mormons in Utah, 1969-1971. American Journal of Epidemiology, 108, 357-366. (case-control study; Mormons (who proscribe use of tobacco and alcohol) had 35% less mortality between 1969-71 than expected from ischemic heart disease, while mortality among non-Mormon men was no different from general U.S. population of white males; Mormon men also had lower mortality from hypertensive heart disease and Mormon women from rheumatic heart disease, compared to non-Mormon women in Utah)
Lyon, JL, Bishop, CT, & Nielsen, NS. (1981). Cerebrovascular disease in Utah, 1968-1971. Stroke, 12,564-566 (compared mortality rates from cerebrovascular disease (CBVD) in Utah and the rest of the United States, finding rates of CBVD in Utah significantly below the U.S. average. However, when they compared CBVD rates between Mormons and non-Mormons in Utah between 1968 and 1971, there was no significant difference between the two groups)
Lyon, J.L., Gardner, K., & Gress, R.E. (1994). Cancer incidence among Mormons and non-Mormons in Utah 1971-1985. Cancer Causes & Control, 5(2), 149-156. (examined age-adjusted cancer incidence rates/100,000 for Mormons vs non-Mormons in Utah between 1971-1985 (cases=49,182); rate for male Mormons was 24% less than comparable rates for U.S. men; a 50% reduction occurred for cancers related to cigarette smoking, and a small reduction for non-smoking cancers; non-LDS men in Utah experienced an incidence of smoking-associated cancers slightly higher than U.S. men; non-LDS men in Utah had a 40% higher rate of cancer than U.S. men for non-smoking sites because of higher rate of melanoma, cancers of lip and prostate gland; for LDS women, a reduced all-cancer site incidence of 24% was found, with a 60% reduction for smoking-related cancers; for non-smoking cancer sites, it was 20% lower than U.S. women, due to lower rates of colon, breast, and cervical CA; non-LDS Utah women had a 13% higher rate of non-smoking CA's due to higher rates of CA of the lip and breast)
Levin, J.S. (1984). The role of the Black church in community medicine. Journal of the National Medical Association, 76, 477-483 (R) (argues that the Black church is an extremely relevant locus for the practice of community medicine (primary care delivery, community mental health, health promotion and disease prevention, and health policy)
Levin, J.S., & Markides, K.S. (1985). Religion and health in Mexican Americans. Journal of Religion and Health, 24, 60-67. (C/S survey of three generations of Mexican Americans in San Antonio metropolitan area in 1981-82; probability sample to identify MA elderly ages 65-80 who had a child and grandchildren age 18 or older; 1,125 persons interviewed (375 in each generation); mean age for young was 26 (G3), for middle age was 49 (G2), and for elderly was 74 (G1); religious variables were frequenty of religious attendance (1-6) and self-rated religiosity (1-4); dependent variables were self-rated health, activity restriction, bed disability days, physician visits, worry over health, a 20-item physical symptoms scale and a 20-item depression scale (CES-D); CA positively related to self-rated health (.14, p<.01) in G3, but not G1 or G2; CA negatively related to activity restriction due to health, but only for G1 males (-.15, p<.05); CA also inverly related to physical symptoms scale for G1 overall (-.13, p<.01) and for G1 females in particular (-.18, p<.01); no association for any generation or sex with physician visits per year, worried about health, or depression; SR religiosity was positively related to activity restriction due to health for G3 overall (.12, p<.05) and especially for G3 males (.21, p<.05), but was negatively related to activity restriction in G1 males (-.26, p<.01); for G2 males, SR religiosity was positively related to bed disability days (.15, p<.05); for G1 overall, SR religiosity was positively related to physician visits in past year (.09, p<.05), but there was no relationship between self-rated health, worried about health, physical symptoms scale, or CES-D depression for any generation or sex; among G1, there was a negative relationship between CA and kidney disease, and a positive relationship between hypertension and self-rated religiosity (p<.05) (among "less than very religious" group 30% had self-reported HTN, compared with 43% of the "very religious" group (no control variables, any analysis)
Levin, J.S., Markides, K.S. (1986). Religious attendance and subjective health. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 25, 31-40. (C/S survey of probability sample of 1125 Mexican-Americans in 3-generation sample (elders, 65-80, children 18 or over, and grandchildren (18 or over) from San Antonio, TX (2/3 women); religious attendance and subjective religiousness each measured by single items; subjective health assessed by 1-item; religious attendance correlated with subjective health (in both younger and older women), and in elderly subjects, is correlated in both women (.17, p<.01) and men (.53, p<.001); in younger generation, attendance correlated with subjective religiosity in women (.50, p<.001) and men (.49, p<.001); among middle generation, attendance is correlated with subjective religiosity in women (.33, p<.001) and men (.53, p<.001), and to social support in women (.16, p<.01); when they controlled for social support, physical capacity, social class, and subjective religiosity, relationships between attendance and subjective health disappeared)
Levin, J.S., & Coriel, J. (1986). 'New Age' healing in the U.S. Social Science & Medicine, 23, 889-897. (defines 'New Age'; analyzes data from primary and secondary sources on 81 healing systems or techniques that identify themselves with the new age, comes up with 3 types of new age healing based on the following emphases: (1) focus on body's physical healing (with non-spiritual orientation and Western cultural emphasis), (2) focus is on the mind (religious or non-religious approaches toward healing) (with a spiritual orientation and Western cultural emphasis), and (3) focus on the soul (with an emphasis on meditation or comtemplative practices) (characterized by spiritual orientation, an Eastern cultural emphasis, and supernatural emphasis))
Levin, J.S., & Schiller, P.L. (1986). Religion and the multidimensional health locus of control scales. Psychological Reports, 69, 26. (C/S survey and self-care health education intervention conducted in 909 adults (? sampling method) in Appalachian mountain area; administered Multidimensional Health Locus of Control scale; non-church affiliated higher on "chance" scale (p<.05); highest "internal" scale scores were among Mormons, Episcopalians, and Catholics (heavily ritualized or behaviorally strict traditions) (p<.05); highest "powerful" others was among Presbyterians; no affiliation persons had lowest powerful others score; changes on locus control after intervention occurred in church-subjects only; self-care health care education increased the internal score (p<.01) and decreased the powerful others score (p<.05) only in subjects with an affiliation) (no controls) (R 7)
Levin, J.S., & Schiller, P.L. (1987). Is there a religious factor in health? Journal of Religion and Health, 26, 9-36. (R) (over 200 studies are located which include findings on religion and health, including cardiovascular disease, HTN and stroke, general health status, uterine and non-uterine cancer, health status of clergy, and mortality; an over-emphasis on religious affiliation is noted, rather than religious commitment; point out deficiencies in the published research including lack of cross-cultural studies, lack of studies of minorities, lack of study of religion in disease prevention, lack of geographical diversity (many studies in NY City), and lack of broad focus when studying women (most studies focused on their reproductive systems or sexual behavior))
Levin, J.S., & Vanderpool, H.Y. (1987). Is frequent religious attendance really conducive to better health?: Toward an epidemiology of religion. Social Science & Medicine, 24, 589-600. (R) (review draws on 250 epidemiologic studies on religion and nine areas of clinical disease; focuses on studies that use attendance at services as predictor variable; of the 250 studies, 27 included results concerning religious attendance and health status; of those 27, 22 found significant associations with better health; also discuss possible bias that persons attending church are able to becuase of their better health)
Levin, J.S., & Markides, K.S. (1988). Religious attendance and psychological well-being in middle-aged and older Mexican Americans. Sociological Analysis, 49, 66-72. (C/S survey of probability sample of older Mexican-Americans aged 65-80 linked with three generation families; 375 each from the older and middle-generation comprised the study sample, with mean age of older group being 75 and younger group being 49 (almost all Catholic); examined life-satisfaction with the 13-item version of the Neugarten LSI; regression analyses indicated that church attendance was significantly related to life satisfaction for middle-aged women (p<.01) and older women (p<.05), but no for men, after controlling for age, marital status, income, education, subjective health, and functional status)
Levin, J.S., Jenkins, C.D., & Rose, R.M. (1988). Religion, type A behavior, and health. Journal of Religion and Health, 27, 267-278. (a largely C/S analysis of data from a convenience sample of 408 male air traffic controllers in northeastern U.S. involved in a 3-year prospective cohort study (mean age 36, 11 years average experience); Wave I included information on religious attendance (1-5), affiliation, and change in religious affiliation; also administered a 14-item physical illness incidence scale (PHS), 9-item health-promotive behaviors scale (HPBS), mean DBP and SBP, and Psychiatric Status Schedule (PSS) (including SDS, subjective distress score, and ICS, impulse control problems) to measure psychopathology (Wave I); major dependent variable was Jenkins Activity Survey (JAS) which collected information on Type A behavior at Wave II; frequent church-going Protestants tended to be more Type B than non-attenders or other groups (although p=NS); Protestants -- especially frequent attenders -- practiced significantly more health-promotive behaviors in four of seven classes; infrequent church attenders and atheists/agnostics had more impulse-control problems than frequent attenders (controlling for age and education); there were significant associations between Type A behavior and illness incidence only among converts, atheists, and agnostics, but not among other groups suggesting that religiosity or religious stability may protect against the negative effects of Type A behavior on health); finally, there was a strong, signifciant, negative correlation between Type A behavior and BP, but only in atheists and agnostics; thus among atheists/agnostics, type B behavior is associated with higher BP; same finding was replicated for infrequent church attenders (all p<.05))
[out of sequence] Schiller PL and Levin JS (1988). Is there a religious factor in health care utilization? A review. Social Science Medicine, 27 (12), 1369-1379. Reviews over 30 studies of health care utilization in which the effects of religion variables are examined. Three fourths of those studies reported significant religious differences in rates of utilization. Most common operational use of religion was affiliation, although effects of religious attendance and religiosity were occasionally examined. Majority of health services were represented, including psych. care, maternal and child health, dental, and physician/hospital utilization. Of the preponderance of significant findings, few trends were consistent, although low order analyzes indicated Jews were higher utilizers than non-Jews. Also reported results from a study in Appalachia region of West Virginia. 909 adults surveyed from Fall 1978 - Spring 1981. Religious variables were church membership, religious attendance, and holding a church office. Utilization variables were frequency of physician visits, length of time since last physician visit, length of time since last hospitalization (b=0.40, p<.01) and significant and negatively correlated with length of stay (b=-1.92, p<.01). When broken down by religious affiliation, Baptists had significant lower stays (F=2.18, p<.05) but once education and age were controlled for, all differences in utilization were insignificant. - TB
Levin, J.S., & Vanderpool, H.Y. (1989). Is religion therapeutically significant for hypertension? Social Science & Medicine, 29, 69-78. (R) (reviews 7 blood pressure studies conducted between 1960 and 1987; all but 1 found that religious commitment was associated with lower blood pressure; also review studies that look at religious affiliation: monks, SDA's, Mormons, Buddhists, Zen Buddhist priests; highly devout groups that restrict certain behaviors or diets have lower blood pressures and hypertension-related diseases; also, present 12 hypotheses as possible explanations for the rreligion-blood pressure relationship)
Levin, J.S. (1989). Religious factors in aging, adjustment, and health: a theoretical overview. In William M. Clements (ed), Religion, Aging, and Health: A Global Perspective. New York: The Haworth Press. (R)
Levin, J.S., & Vanderpool, H.Y. (1991). Relgious factors in physical health and the prevention of illness. Prevention in Human Services , 9, 41-64. (reviews and discusses research on religion's role in prevention of physical disease and benefits of religious commitment on mental health)
Levin, J.S. (1993). Esoteric vs. exoteric explanations for findings linking spirituality and health. Advances, 9, 54-56. (R)
Levin, J.S., Lyons, J.S., & Larson, D.B. (1993). Prayer and health during pregnancy: Findings from the Galveston Low Birthweight Survey. Southern Medical Journal, 86, 1022-1027. (C/S survey of 266 Black and Hispanic post-partum women on obstetric service at U of Texas at Galveston hospital; self-reported praying for one's baby during pregnancy and self-rated religiosity; frequency of prayer assessed by single item (when pregnant, how often did person pray about baby, with 5 responses possible); self-reported global health before pregnancy (-.18, p<.01) and worry over health before (.21) and during pregnancy (.16) were related to frequency of prayer (48% of women prayed for their babies at least daily); these associations persisted after controlling for age, marital status, gravidy, education, and religiousness)
Levin, J.S., & Taylor, R.J. (1993). Gender and age differences in religiosity among black Americans. The Gerontologist, 33, 16-23. (C/S survey of national probability sample of 2,107 from National Survey of Black Americans (1979-80); 12 indicators of religiosity examined (ORA, NORA, SR or subjective religiosity); Black women have higher religiosity than Black men in all dimensions and in all age groups, even after controlling for marital status, health, and other sociodemographic characteristics)
Levin, J.S. (1993). Age differences in mystical experience. The Gerontologist, 33, 507-513. (C/S survey of a national probability sample of 1481 adults using GSS NORC data from 1988 survey to assess "psi" or mystical experiences (deja vu, ESP, clairvoyance or visions, contact with dead or spirits, numinous or out-of-body experiences); in addition, ORA, NORA, and subjective religiosity also measured; only 13.5% indicated never having experienced any of the five mystical experiences, although the frequency of such experiences were clearly not common; mystical experiences inversely related to organizational religiosity (among 18-30 yo's, beta=-.22, p<.01, controlling for 8 covariates; among 31-40 yo's, beta=-.17, p<.05); among 41-60 yo, beta=-.35, p<.001); among 61+, beta=-.10, p=ns); but such experiences were positively related to non-orgnanizational religious activities and subjective religiosity, from beta -.05 to beta .65); significant inversely relationship between mystical/psi experiences and age for two of five measures and for total mysticism scale)
Levin, J.S. (1994). Religion and health: is there an association, is it valid, and is it causal? Social Science & Medicine, 38, 1475-1482. (R)
Levin, J.S., Taylor, R.J., & Chatters, L.M. (1994). Race and gender differences in religiosity among older adults: findings from four national surveys. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 49, S137-S145. (C/S survey involving four national data sets, including Quality of American Life survey, NCOA survey, American Changing Lives survey, and GSS survey; found in all four sruveys significant racial and gender differences in organizational, non-organizational, and subjective religiosity that persisted after controlling for a host of other covariates) (Blacks and Women more religious)
Levin, J.S. (1994). Dimensions and correlates of general well-being among older adults. Journal of Aging and Health, 6, 489-506. (C/S survey of a probability sample of 2,931 older adults aged 55 or over in Kentucky; positive affect measured by 4 variables, energy level by 3 variables, and negative affect by 4 variables; LISREL used to analyze data; no measures of religion examined)
Levin, J.S. (1994). Does religious involvement protect against morbidity and mortality? Bridges: ISSSEEM, 5, 12-14. (R)
Levin, J.S., Chatters, L.M., & Taylor, R.J. (1995). Religious effects on health status and life satisfaction among black Americans. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 50B, S154-S163. (C/S survey of national probability sample of 1,848 Black Americans (National Survey of Black Americans, mean age 42, 62% female, 79% living in urban areas, mean income $9,000); split into two subsamples (957 and 891) for analysis; ORA assessed with 5 items, NORA assessed by 4 items, and subjective religiosity assessed by 3 items; health status measured by 4 items and life-satisfaction by 3 items; using LISREL, found ORA associated with health and life satisfaction (p<.01); controlling for age, gender, education, martial status, employment status, geographical region, urbanicity, and in particular, health status, ORA remained significantly associated with life statisfaction in both subsamples (.26, p<.05, and .24, p<.01); subjective religiosity was also significantly related to life satisfaction in both subsamples in uncontrolled analysis (.32, p<.05, and .38, p<.01); these effects were shown to be present in all three age groups (30, 30-55, and > 55 years)
Levin, J.S., Taylor, R.J., & Chatters, L.M. (1995). A multidimensional measure of religious involvement for African Americans. The Sociological Quarterly, 36, 157-173. (LISREL used to develop a measurement model for organizational, non-organizational, and subjective religiosity using data from national Survey of Black Americans (n=2,107) (no health outcomes)
Levin, J.S. (1996b). How religion influences morbidity and health: Reflections on natural history, salutogenesis and host resistance. Social Sciences and Medicine, 43, 849-864. (R)
Levin JS (1996). How prayer heals: A theoretical model. Alternative Therapies, 2(1), 66-73. (R)
Levin, J.S., Chatters, L.M., Ellison, C.G., & Taylor, R.J. (1996c). Religious involvement, health outcomes, and public health practice. Current Issues in Public Health, 2, 220-225. Reviews hundreds of published studies and concludes there is an impact of religious involvement on the health of populations. Religious involvement appears to be a generally protective factor for physical and mental health, to promote the psychological well-being of older adults, and to encourage positive health behaviors and affect patterns of health care utilization. Further, religious institutions have served as bases for interventions at each of the levels of prevention, especially among underserved Blacks. Experimental evidence seems to point to unexplained but present effect of religious healing. Concludes that in order to establish public health/faith community partnerships encouraging faith and health coalitions, public health professional will have to re-examine long-held assumptions regarding roles of science and faith in matters of health, as well as guarding against personal biases. Authors created this model:
Levin, J.S., Markides, K.S., & Ray, L.A. (1996a). Religious attendance and psychological well-being in Mexican Americans: A panel analysis of three-generations data. The Gerontologist, 36, 454-463. (11-year prospective cohort study of 624 out of 1,125 systematically sampled Mexican-Americans from three generations in San Antonio, TX, who completed the baseline (Time 1) and last evaluation (Time 2); religious measures included a single item measure of religious attendance (1-4); life satisfaction by 13-item LSI of Neugarten; depressed affect measured by 7-item and positive affect by a 4-item subscale of the 20-item CES-D; covariates included age, sex, education, marital status, employment status, subjective health; found slight increases in religious attendance between Time 1 and Time 2 for younger and middle generations, but a significant decline in religious attendance for oldest cohort; T1 and T2 religious attendance are positively cross-sectionally correlated with T1 and T2 life satisfaction for oldest and middle generations, but not for youngest generation (when covariates are controlled, however, the T2 cross-sectional analysis loses significance); also, T1 religious attendance is unrelated to T2 life satisfaction in any generation; with regard to positive affect, T1 religious attendance is unrelated to T1 positive affect for any generation, but T2 religious attendance is inversely related to T2 positive affect, after covariates are controlled (-.13, p<.05); T1 religious attendance significantly predicts T2 positive affect in the youngest generation (.11, p<.05), but when covariates are controlled the association reverses it's effect (-.13, p<.05); with regard to depressed affect, T1 and T2 attendance are unrelated cross-sectionally to T1 and T2 depressed affect, regardless of generation; however, T1 attendance significantly predicts less T2 depressed affect both before (-.15, p<.001) and after covariates are controlled (-.16, p<.05) for the youngest generation)
Levin, J.S., & Taylor, R.J. (1997). Age differences in patterns and correlates of the frequency of prayer. The Gerontologist, 37, 75-88. (C/S survey of probability sample of 1481 adults in 1988 NORC GSS; examines frequency of prayer, racial and gender variation in prayer, and religious/sociodemographic correlates of prayer; analyses are done across four age cohorts (18-30, 31-40, 41-60, and >60); prayer increases with successively older cohorts; females and Black Americans pray more frequently than males and Whites)
Levin, J.S., Larson, D.B., & Puchalski, C.M. (1997). Religion and spirituality in medicine: Research and education. Journal of the American Medical Association, 178, 792-793 (R)
Levin, J.S., & Koenig, H.G. (1997). Religion, mental health, and aging: An overview. In submission (R)
Levin, JS, Wickramasekera, IE, & Hirschberg, C. (1998). Is religiousness a correlate of absorption?: implications for psychophysiology, coping, and morbidity. Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, 4 (6), 72-77. Investigators examined the association between absorption and intrinsic and extrinsic religiousness in 83 respondents who were adult survivors of cancer or other life-threatening disease; self-administered surveys were were used to collect data. Subjects completed the Tellegen Absorption Scale and Religious Orientation Scale. Prior research has established that absorption and hypnotizability have psychophysiological correlates. Findings indicated that predominantly intrinsic subjects had absorption scores at least 20% higher than did predominantly extrinsic, proreligious, or nonreligious subjects. The authors concluded that certain religious cognitions may generate in internally focused state that enhances health and attenuates disease through self-smoothing psychophysiological mechanisms.
Levin, J. S. (2000). The New Age hodgepodge: implications for the relationship between religion and medicine. Review of Religious Research, in press
