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Background: In Scandinavia there seems to be a decline in traditional religiousness
which has developed simultaneously with economic growth and modernization. As
religiousness and spirituality are linked to beneficial health outcomes like greater wellbeing, lacking an existential framework may therefore posit a challenge to people’s health and well-being. Although the number of scientific publications from studies on religiousness and health has grown considerably since the 1990s, few studies have been conducted in a Norwegian context. Consequently, more knowledge is needed in order to understand if and how religiousness and spirituality are related to health in a secular Norwegian context.
Aims: The overall aim of this thesis is to gain knowledge on the relationship between
religiousness and health in Norway by examining associations between religiousness
and social support, and between religiousness and existential well-being. Specifically,
the thesis aims to explore if groups of religious people differ from non-religious people on levels of perceived social support, and further to determine if these differences are moderated by age, gender, or view of life enrichment. Furthermore, a second specific aim is to examine if and how optimism and pessimism mediates the relationship between religious coping and existential well-being and if these mechanisms differ for people with and without long-standing health problems. Finally, the last specific aim is to examine whether frequency of church attendance and religious experiences is related to existential well-being differently for women and men.
Methods: The present thesis has a cross-sectional design. It is based on data from a
mailed questionnaire on religiousness and health distributed to a random sample of
3000 people from the Norwegian registry between the ages of 18-75. The questionnaire was distributed in the fall of 2009; 653 persons agreed to participate in the study, which represented a 22% response rate.
Results: Older non-religious people reported higher levels of perceived social support compared to older religious people. Among younger people, religious men reported higher levels of social support compared to non-religious men, while the opposite pattern was found for younger women. Religious coping was related to existential wellbeing through pessimism but not optimism. The relationship between religious coping and existential well-being were stronger for people with long-standing health problems, but the pattern of associations between religious coping and existential well-being were generally equal compared to people without long-standing health problems. Positive religious coping strategies were generally related to higher levels of well-being, while negative coping strategies were related to lower levels of well-being. Attending church more frequently was related to higher levels of existential well-being for men but not for women. Negative religious experiences were inversely related to existential well-being for both men and women, while positive religious experiences were related to more existential well-being for women but not for men.
Conclusions: Compared to many studies that support the notion that religiousness and spirituality plays a significant role in the development of people’s health, the results of the present thesis do not consistently support this view. As religiousness is often argued to be a facilitator of social support, representing a mechanism in which religion influence beneficial health outcomes, this relationship could not be supported in the present thesis as non-religious people generally reported higher levels of social support. On the other hand, the results supported a significant relationship between religious coping, frequency of church attendance, and existential well-being, which is consistent with international findings. As religious coping were more strongly associated to existential well-being for people with long-standing health problems is also consistent with international studies. Two findings of particular interest were the role of religiousness for men’s social support and existential well-being and the association between a non-religious view of life and social support. These findings should be explored more in depth in further studies.
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