Past Research
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M
N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
N
Naguib, S.M., Lundin, F.E., & Davis, H.D. (1966). Relation of various epidemiologic factors to cervical cancer as determinants of a screening program. Osbetrics and Gynecology, 28, 451-459. (cytolic screening program for cancer of cervix was conducted in Washington County, MD, in 1963; cancer detection kits were mailed to a population-based sample of 6,801 persons; personal characteristics were obtained on these persons during a separate study by the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health during that year; 5,896 women who were sent kits were matched to their personal data; 1501 women failed to return the kits and 4,341 returned them (54 Blacks were excluded to increase homogeneity); 4,290 pap smears that were returned were satisfactory for examination; among 3,962 women designated as "Christians", there was an inverse relationship between frequency of religious service attendance and rates of abnormal smears or confirmed cases of cervical CA, an association which persisted after controlling for educational level; among women attending services once/week or more, rates of suspicious or positive smears or confirmed cases was 25/2213 or 1.13%, compared with 15/426 (3.52%) women attending services less than twice a year or never; concluded that since Kinsey et al had found extramarital coitus inversely related to church activity, they concluded that this was evidence that multiple sexual partners related to cervical CA) (Kinsey AC, Pomeroy WB, Martin CE, Gebhard PH. Sexual Behavior in the Human Female. Philadelphia: Saunders)
Naguib, S.M., Comstock, G.W., & Davis, H.J. (1966). Epidemiologic study of trichomoniasis in normal women. Obstetrics and Gynecology 27, 607-616. (same study as above; among women claiming to have no religious affliation and among those who refused to answer this question, the prevalence of women positive for the sexually transmitted disease trichomoniasis was 20% (which was significantly higher than for the group as a whole, 14.5%); among 3,962 women designated as Christians, frequent religious attendance was associated with lower rates of trichomoniasis: among those attending services once/week or more there were 274/2213 (12.4%) with trichomoniasis, compared with 210/1155 (18.2%) for those attending services once/month or less often) (see Kinsey study in previous Naguib et al 1966 article)
Naguib, S.M., Geiser, P.B., & Comstock, G.W. (1968). Responses to a program of screening for cervical cancer. Public Health Reports, 83, 990-998. (case control study of 2,612 white women, ages 30-45, living in rural Washington County were mailed self-use pipettes; women who used and returned the pipettes (n=1,970) were more likely to be members of religious and social organizations than those who did not use the pipettes (n=642) (45% vs 30%); conversely, atheists and persons without a religious affiliation had significantly lower participation rate (54% vs. 75% for overall sample); among Christians, participation in survey was directly related to frequency of church attendance; women who attended church once a week or more had a participation rate of 81% vs 60% for women never attended church) (compliance)
Ndom, R.J.E., & Adelekan, M.L. (1996). Psychosocial correlates of substance use among undergraduates in Ilorin University, Nigeria. East African Medical Journal, 73, 541-547. (two C/S surveys of 10% random samples of 2nd and 4th-year university students, involving 649 subjects in 1988 and 859 subjects in 1993; examined life-time use of cigarettes, alcohol, and an assortment of drugs including prescription and non-prescription illegal drugs; religiosity assessed by two items: 3-level self-rated religiosity item and affiliation (Islam vs Christian); in both 1988 and 1993, current drinking associated with not being religious (81% and 54% vs 24% and 16%, both p<.001), and with Christian versus Moslem (45% and 30% vs 25% and 20%, both p<.01); in both 1988 and 1993, greater religiousness was significantly associated with less cigarette smoking (very religious 4% and 3% vs. not religious 36% and 30%, both p<.001; same for use of cannabis (6% and 2% vs 25% and 9%, p<.01 and p<.05) (no controls)
Needleman, L. (1988). Fifty years of Canadian Jewish mortality. Social Biology 35:110-122 (death rates among Jews in Montreal were examined by obtaining information from the Department of Health of the City of Montreal, 1920-1971 (one-third of Canadian Jewish population lives in Montreal); between early 1920's and late 1960's, Montreal male Jews at age 40 had an increase in average life expectancy of almost 7 years, whereas during the same period, expectation of life for the average Canadian male at the same age increased by less than a year; by 1971, the average life expectancy of Jewish males at birth was almost 4 years longer than that for Canadian men and higher than for men in any other country in the world; Jewish women were similar to women in general population; results for Montreal Jews are likely to be similar to that for Canadian Jews in general)
Neeleman, J., & King, M.B. (1993). Psychiatrists' religious attitudes in relation to their clinical practice: A survey of 231 psychiatrists. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavia, 88, 420-424. (C/S survey of 231 psychiatrists at general and psychiatric hospitals in London, England (67% ages 20-40, 55% men); religious background and belief assessed by 16 questions each; 73% of psychiatrists reported no religious affiliation (vs 38% of their patients), 22% of psychiatrists attended religious services once/month or more; belief in God was more common among women than men psychiatrists (39% vs 19%); 92% believe that religion and mental illness were connected and that religious issues should be addressed in treatment; 42% indicated that religiousness can lead to mental illness, although 61% indicated that religious belief can protect from mental illness; 58% never made referrals to clergy)
Neeleman, J., & Lewis, G. (1994). Religious identity and comfort beliefs in three groups of psychiatric patients and a group of medical controls. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 40, 124-134. (C/S case-control study of psychiatric patients and orthopedic patients at two university hospitals in London; the four groups were: (1) depressed psychiatric outpatients (n=26), (2) self-harm patients (n=26), (3) psychotic outpatients with chronic schizophrenia (n=21), and (4) consecutive patients seen at an orthopedic clinic (controls -- 68% male, mean age 35) (n=26); religiosity measured by 16-item questionnaire, seven examining religious practices and experiences and 9 examining religious beliefs and attitudes; psychotic patients more likely to be active in religious practices; psychotic and depressed patients were more likely to have personal religious experience than others (48% vs 38% vs 17%, p=.05); psychotic patients in particular, and psychiatric patients more generally, were also more likely to be more religious and receive comfort from religion than orthopedic controls, as indicated by scores on religious beliefs and attitudes; even when other factors were controlled using regression analysis, significant differences between psychiatric patients and controls persisted (p<.0005) (although psychotic group clearly had more older persons, Blacks, and women, all of which were related to greater religiosity) (negative study)
Neeleman, J., & Persaud, R. (1995). Why do psychiatrists neglect religion? British Journal of Medical Psychology, 68 (part 2), 169-178. (review) (good history and great quotes: "Psychiatry's last taboo" (Kung, 1986);
Neeleman, J., Halpern, D., Leon, D., & Lewis, G. (1997). Tolerance of suicide, religion and suicide rates: An ecological and individual study in 19 Western countries. Psychological Medicine, 27, 1165-1171. (C/S survey of random interview samples of adult residents of 19 non-Eastern bloc European countries, Canada, and the USA (n=28,085) (1990/91 wave of World Values Survey); a single item on tolerance of suicide (1-10 responses),religious attendance, religious affiliation, religious upbringing; 23-items assessed permissiveness of respondents to homosexuality, euthanasia, fare-dodging, etc.); 22-items examed personal religious beliefs; sex-specific suicide and undetermined death rates for 1989 from WHO were obtained and countries rankings determined; strength of religious belief was negatively associated with general tolerance levels (OR .74, CI .58-.94, after controls) for men and for women (.72, CI .60-.86); suicide tolerance was 50% lower for those with religious upbringing (both sexes) (OR .50, CI .40-.62), 42% less for Roman Catholics (OR .58, CI .34-.98), 84% less for highest quartile of religious belief (OR .16, CI .11-.24), and 72% less for highest quartile of church attendance (OR .28, CI .21-.36); higher suicide rates in women were associated with lower levels of religious belief (-.15, p<.01) and less frequent church attendance (-.13, p=.03) (controls included)
Neeleman, J. (1998b). Regional suicide rates in the Netherlands: does religion still play a role? International Journal of Epidemiology, 27, 466-472.
Neeleman, J., Wellsly, S., & Lewis, G. (1998a). Suicide acceptability in African-and white Americans. The role of religion. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 186, 12-16 (Cross-sectional survey of a random sample of 1525 whites and 204 African-Americans in United States from World Values Survey; found that Orthodox religious beliefs and personal devotion predicted rejection of suicide best of all variables; this effect was equally strong in both races. The low levels of suicide acceptability among African-Americans was attributable mostly to their relatively high level of orthodox religious beliefs and devotion, rather than to practice and affiliation. Authors concluded that rapid secularization in young in United States may help to explain the rising suicide rates among white and especially African-American young persons.)
Neeleman, J., Lewis, G. (1999). Suicide, religion, and socioeconomic conditions. And ecological study in 26 countries, 1990. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 53,204-210. (Ecological study of associations between suicide rates and an index of religiosity, adjusted for socioeconomic variables. 26 European and American countries. Interview data from 37,688 people aggregated by country. Age and sex specific suicide rates were the outcome. Adjusted for socioeconomic status, there was a negative association between male suicide rates and religiosity in the 13 least religious countries only. Associations between religiosity in female suicide rates did not very across countries.)
Neighbors, H., and Musick, M. (1998). The African American minister as a source of health for serious personal crises. Health Education and Behavior, 25, 759-777. (C/S probability survey of 2, 107 black Americans as part of National Survey of Black Americans; found that clergy was the primary professional sought during times of personal crisis and that satisfaction was greater with clergy than with any other health professional (including mental health professional)
*[Neighbors, H.W., Jackson, J.S., Bowman, P.J., & Gurin, G. (1983). Stress, coping, and Black mental health: Preliminary findings from a national study. Prevention in Human Services, 2 (3), 5-29.] (2,107 random sample of Black Americans; endorsement of prayer as the most useful coping behavior for dealing with 5 types of stressors; severity of personal problems was positively related to the percentage of persons reporting that prayer was the most helpful coping behavior; prayer was most frequent coping behavior for all 5 problem types)
Nelson, A.A., & Wilson, W.P. (1984). The ethics of sharing religious faith in psychotherapy. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 12, 15-23 (R)
Nelson, F.L. (1977). Religiosity and self-destructive crises in the institutionalized elderly. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 7(2), 67-74. (C/S survey of random sample of 58 Intermediate Care Unit chronically ill patients (mean age 66) at Wadsworth Va Hospital Center; indirect life-threatening behavior (ILTB) was measured by a rating scale designed for this purpose (rating 56 behaviors); religiosity was measured by church affiliation and intensity of religious commitment (asked if patient subscribed to the teachings of a religius faith or philosophy and how important a role these beliefs had played in his life; based on responses patient was placed in one of four ordinal categories of intensity of religious commitment); mean scores on ILTB scale increased progressively from devout (n=5) to nonreligious (n=17), and from Jewish (n=9) to "Protestant - no denomination" (n=11) or no preference (n=8); concluded that "the greater one's level of commitment to a particular religious faith, the less likely one is to engage in indirect life-threatening behavior, regardless of formal church membership" (p 72) (no statistical comparison of groups, and no controls)
Nelson, FL, & Farberow, N. (1980). Indirect Self-Destrucitve Behavior in the Elderly Nursing Home Patient. Journal of Gerontology, 35(6), 949-957.
Nelson, L.D., & Dynes, R.R. (1976). The impact of devotionalism and attendance on ordinary and emergency helping behavior. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 15, 47-59. (C/S survey of a probability sample of 663 adult male residents identified through city telepone directory of a mid-sized city in Southwest (150,000) hit by tornado 8 months previously; mailed questionnaires, with 70% response rate; devotionalism (table prayers, private prayer, importance of prayer), church attendance, and subjective religiosity); outcome measures were ordinary helping behavior (contribute funds, donate goods, provide ade to motorists or pickup hitchhikders, taking food to bereaved families, regular participation in formal voluntary social service work) and emergency helping behavior (dontation of funds to relief organizations, provision of relief goods, performance of disaster relief services); found that devotionalism predicted 3/4 types of ordinary helping behavior, while church attendance consistently predicted emergency helping behavior; the later was hypothesized due to churches providing organized means for participation) (analyses controlled for secular organization membership, income education, and age)
Nelson, L.D., & Cantrell, C.H. (1980). Religiosity and death anxiety: a multi-dimensional analysis. Review of Religious Research, 21, 148-157. (R)
Nelson, P.B. (1989). Ethnic differences in intrinsic/extrinsic religious orientation and depression in the elderly. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, 3, 199-204. (C/S survey of a purposive sample of 68 elderly community-dwelling persons attending an elderly day-care program in senior citizen centers in southwestern U.S. (Austin, TX) (47% White, 50% Black, 3% Hispanic, 78% women, 46% widowed); excluded cognitively impaired subjects and those with clinical depression; Age Universal Religious Orientation Scale (20-item Gorsuch & Venable' revision of Allport-Ross I-E scale); depression measured by GDS and self-esteem by Rosenberg scale; Blacks had higher IR scores than Whites (p=.03); Blacks were more depressed than Whites (p=.03); IR was positively related with church attendance (.52, p<.001); GDS depression and low Rosenberg SE were inversely related to IR (-.23, p<.05 and -.38, p<.001, both uncontrolled)
Nelson, P.B. (1989). Social support, self-esteem, and depression in the institutionalized elderly. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 10, 55-68. (C/S survey of convenience sample of 26 patients without prior depression selected from a nursing home and a retirement home in a southwestern city (Austin, Texas); 77% were female and average age was 81 years; social support was measured using the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire, self-esteem by the Rosenberg scale, and depression by the Geriatric Depression Scale; relatives made up 47% of the support network, followed by friends 36%, health care providers (8%), and minister (5%); almost 70% of respondents reported regular participation in religious activity; religious participation was correlated with low GDs depression score (r=.39, p<.05); did not report on association between attendance and SE; concluded that subjects who frequently participated in religious activity were less depressed than those who did not; no control variables)
Nelson, P.B. (1990). Intrinsic/extrinsic religious orientation of the elderly: relationship to depression and self-esteem. Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 16, 29-35. (C/S survey of convenience sample of 68 community-dwelling adults aged 55 or over participating in an elderly day care program in Austin, Texas (same sample as in earlier study described above); IR was inversely related to both depression (r=-.23, p<.05) and low self-esteem (r=-.38, p=.001); extrinsic religiosity was related to neither depression or self-esteem; concluded that religion is a source of support in the lives of the elderly) (reported same results as earlier study!)
Ness, R.C., & Wintrob, R.M. (1980). The emotional impact of fundamentalist religious participation: an empirical study of intragroup variation. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 50, 302-315. (prospective cohort study of 51 Pentecostal church members (23 males, 28 females) in a small Newfoundland coastal community; investigators measured frequency of religious behaviors such as glossolalia, testimonials, seeking possession by the Holy Spirit, helping at the altar, and consistency of church attendance during a 13 month period by attending weekly services during that time; they then administered the Cornell Medical Illness used to identify the number and type of illness complaints (physical and psychological complaint scores; there was a correlation between "possession behavior" in women and total physical complaints (.25); after controlling for physical complaints, psychological complaints in men was strongly negatively correlated with religious behavior, with "inadequacy", depression, sensitivity, and anger all correlated at -.35 to -.44 with helping at altar, possession behavior, glossolalia, testimonials, and church attendance; among women, "tension" was positively correlated with church attendance (.38), although total psychological complaints, depression, sensitivity, and tension were all negatively correlated with testimonials; concluded that the more frequently subjects engaged in religious activities (especially in men), the less likely they were to report symptoms of emotional distress)
Ness, R.C. (1980). The impact of indigenous healing activity: an empirical study of two fundamentalist churches. Social Science and Medicine, 14B, 167-180. (C/S survey of 23 males and 28 females who were members of a Pentecostal church in Northeast Harbour, Newfoundland (Church A) and 24 males and 30 females who were members of a mainline Protestant group (Church B) (a church that was declining from 100 to 54 members prior to 1973 study, which which Church A members had split off from earlier to establish their church); among men in Church A, inadequacy was inversely related to "helping at altar" (-.38, p<.05); depression was inversely related to "possession beahvior" (-.35, p<.05), sensitivity was inversely related to possession behavior (-.36, and anger was inversely related to glossolalia (-.35), testimonials (-.54), possession behavior (-.38) and church attendance (-.44); among women in Church A, total physical complaints (Cornell Medical Index) were positively correlated with glossolalia and possession behavior (both 0.25, p<.05); total psychological complaints were inversely realted to testimonials (-.44), depression, sensitivity, and tension were all inversely related to testimonials (-.39, -.41, and -.40); tension also inversely related to ritual healing (-.39); among men in Church B, total physical symptoms were positively related to testimonials and church attendance (.42 and .43, both p<.05); no correlations were observed amoung women of Church B); in Pentecostal church, religious behaviors associated with lower emotional distress; in mainline church, no association)
Neugarten, B. L., Havighurst, R. J., Tobin, S. S. (1961). The measurement of life satisfaction. Journal of Gerontology, 134-143.
Neumann, J.K. (1997). Biological effects of forgiveness: Baseline and stress response correlates. Grant proposal to the Templeton foundation. (immune correlates of forgiveness)
Newcomb & Bentler (1986). Addictive Behaviors, 11, 263-273. (nothing on religion)
Newcomb, M.D., Maddahian, E., & Bentler, P.M. (1986). Risk factors for drug use among adolescents: Concurrent and longitudinal analyses. American Journal of Public Health, 76, 525-531. (essentially a C/S survey of low vs. high religiousness among 791 adolescents (sampling method not given); began as a prospective cohort study of 1,634 adolescents in grades 7-9 in Los Angeles (64% white, 15% black, 13% hispanic, 8% asian); 847 completed the 5-year followup; useable data was available for 791 subjects at Year 4, which was used to assess risk-factor and substance use data in a cross-sectional analysis that looked at religiosity as one of several risk factors; also used number of risk factors to predict Year 5 substance abuse, but religiousness was not examined in that analysis; the average uncontrolled correlation between low religiosity and 5 classes of substance use (cigarettes, alcohol, cannabis, hard drugs, and nonprescription medications) was 0.13 for the 791 adolescents surveyed in Year 4, which made it the 6th strongest correlate of 10 correlates examined, with r's up to 0.41 for peer drug use)
Newcomb, M.D. (1992). Understanding the multidimensional nature of drug use and abuse: The role of consumption, risk factors, and protective factors. In M. Glantz & R. Pickens (eds), Vulnerability to Drug Abuse. Washington DC: American Psychological Association, pp 255-298) (don't have it) (12 year follow-up of 614 adolescents; religiousness was a significant factor that predicted less substance abuse)
Newill, V.A. (1961). Distribution of cancer mortality among ethnic subgroups of the White population of New York City, 1953-1958. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 26, 405-417. (83,341 deaths of white residents in NY City occurred between 1953-1958; most striking were differences in rates of mortality for individual sites of cancer between Jewish and Catholic and Protestant groups; among males CA of buccal cavity, pharynx, esophagus, gallbaldder, larynx, lung, prostate, and male genitalia were significantly less in Jews than in other two groups; in women, cancer of the cervix was also less frequent; cancers of the large intestine, kidney, brain, thryoid, and melanoma, reticulum-cell sarcoma, lymphosarcoma, Hodgkin's disease, other lymphoma, and leukemia were higher than in non-Jews; CA of male breast and among women, CA of liver and pancreas were more common among Jews)
Newman, J.S., & Pargament, K.I. (1990). The role of religion in the problem-solving process. Review of Religious Research, 31, 390-404. (C/S survey of convenience sample of 327 undergraduates in introductory courses in psychology at Bowling Green State University; degree that religion helped in comforting, redefining, solution generation, decision-making, and implementation of solutions; Hoge IR scale, 71 item Religion in Problem Solving (RPS) scale (composed of 5 subscales), and Callenging Event scale (extent to which an event was seen as challenging to one's meaning-belief system); IR correlated with greater comfort from religion (.62), implementation (.39), redefinition (.43), decision-making (.46), and generation of solutions (.27); e.g., IR associated with all 5 aspects of religious problem-solving)
Newshan, G. (1998). Transcending the Physical: Spiritual Aspects of Pain in Pateints with HIV and/or Cancer. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 28(6):1236-1241. Examines spirituality as an important aspect of care for cancer and HIV patients; meaning, hope, and love and relatedness are defined as three elements of spirituality, each of which, the authors argue based on previous literature, affect perception and experience of pain, although pain also generates crises in these domains itself. Argues that nurses are involved with patients' spiritual needs and ought to "begin their own spiritual journeys," learn to assess spirituality in patients, and provide interventions for needy patients (e.g. "listening authentically," showing acceptance, presence, and practicing "judicious self-disclosure"]. Generally, this article is an understandable discussion of how to work with patients with painful illnesses in a psychodynamically sensitive way. Interesting suggestion of how religious coping can shape not only the general stress of painful illness or treatment, but of the perception of felt pain itself.
Newsweek (1997). The mystery of prayer: Does God play favorites? Newsweek, March 31, 1997, pp 56-65 (Newsweek Poll conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates who telephoned 751 adults nationwide, March 20-21, 1997; 87% of persons answering a Newsweek survey indicated that God answers prayers and 79% that God answers prayers for physical healing)
Nicholas, L., & Durrheim, K. (1995). Religiosity, AIDS, and sexuality knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and practices of black South-African first-year university students. Psychological Reports, 77, 1328-1330. (C/S survey of 1,817 first-year students at University of Western Cape (mean age 20, 56% female, all Black) (systematic sampling method, attempting to survey all first year students, although RR not given); religiosity measured by 8-item Rohrbaugh and Jessor (1975) scale; scores divided into quartiles: highly religious, medium religious (middle two quartiles), and low religious; openness of communication with parents toward contraception, attitudes toward homosexuality, attitudes towards AIDS, and sexual and contraceptive behaviors were assessed; religiosity correlated with negative attitudes toward homosexuality (.14, p<.0001, and persisting in regression analysis), but not toward contraception or AIDS; highly religious students experienced sexual intercourse at an older age than low religious students (17.5 vs. 15.9 years, p<.0001), to have fewer sexual partners in high school (p=.01), more likely to intend to remain sexually abstinent during first year of college (p<.0001), but were less likely to use safer sex practices (p<.0001) and less likely to use contraceptives (p<.05); note that in the last series of analyses, virgins were excluded, and only compared those in top quartile of religiousness with those in bottom quartile of religiousness); concluded that religious commitment associated with lower likelihood of engaging in sexual intercourse and later age of onset; high scoring religious subjects who had been sexually active, were less likely to engage in safe sexual practices; multiple regression used for some analyses (predicting attitudes toward homosexuality), but not for primary outcomes)
Nicholi, A.M. (1985). Characteristics of college students who use psychoactive drugs for nonmedical reasons. College Health 33:189-192. (review - by Harvard psychiatrist) ("Users also have fewer religious convictions. Among the students who do not use illicit drugs, 45% report that religious faith is very important in their lives compared with half othis number (21%) who use marijuana and harder drugs)
Nielsen, SL, Johnson, WB, Ridley, CR (2000). Religiously sensitive rational emotive behavioral therapy: Theory, techniques, and brief excerpts from a case. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 31, 21-28.
Norris & Murrell (1988). Am J Comm Psychol (nothing on religion)
Nye, W.P. (1992-93). Amazing grace: religion and identity among elderly black individuals. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 36, 103-114. (Q) (43 life stories)
