Depression and religiosity in older age
<p>Abstract</p> <p>We investigated the hypothesis that religious commitment could help counter general affective distress, accompanying depressive symptoms, in older age. A total of 34 older adults, all catholic believers, completed self-reported questionnaires on the presence of d...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2011-09-01
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| Series: | European Journal of Medical Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.eurjmedres.com/content/16/9/401 |
| _version_ | 1818208515507879936 |
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| author | Pokorski M Warzecha A |
| author_facet | Pokorski M Warzecha A |
| author_sort | Pokorski M |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <p>Abstract</p> <p>We investigated the hypothesis that religious commitment could help counter general affective distress, accompanying depressive symptoms, in older age. A total of 34 older adults, all catholic believers, completed self-reported questionnaires on the presence of depressive symptoms, religiosity, health, worry, and the style of coping with stress. The depressive and non-depressive subgroups were then created. The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 50%, with the substantial predominance of females. Regression analyses indicate that health expectations and worry significantly worsen with increasing intensity of depressive symptoms. The results further show that religious engagement was not different between the depressive and non-depressive subgroups. Religiosity failed to influence the intensity of depressive symptoms or the strategy of coping with stress in either subgroup, although a trend was noted for better health expectations with increasing religious engagement in depressive subjects. We conclude that religiosity is unlikely to significantly ameliorate dysphoric distress accompanying older age.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T04:46:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-cd431e161e3b40a6bae37b2c8a4d763d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2047-783X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T04:46:03Z |
| publishDate | 2011-09-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | European Journal of Medical Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-cd431e161e3b40a6bae37b2c8a4d763d2022-12-22T00:37:37ZengBMCEuropean Journal of Medical Research2047-783X2011-09-0116940110.1186/2047-783X-16-9-401Depression and religiosity in older agePokorski MWarzecha A<p>Abstract</p> <p>We investigated the hypothesis that religious commitment could help counter general affective distress, accompanying depressive symptoms, in older age. A total of 34 older adults, all catholic believers, completed self-reported questionnaires on the presence of depressive symptoms, religiosity, health, worry, and the style of coping with stress. The depressive and non-depressive subgroups were then created. The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 50%, with the substantial predominance of females. Regression analyses indicate that health expectations and worry significantly worsen with increasing intensity of depressive symptoms. The results further show that religious engagement was not different between the depressive and non-depressive subgroups. Religiosity failed to influence the intensity of depressive symptoms or the strategy of coping with stress in either subgroup, although a trend was noted for better health expectations with increasing religious engagement in depressive subjects. We conclude that religiosity is unlikely to significantly ameliorate dysphoric distress accompanying older age.</p>http://www.eurjmedres.com/content/16/9/401Agedepressionreligiositypsychosomatic health |
| spellingShingle | Pokorski M Warzecha A Depression and religiosity in older age European Journal of Medical Research Age depression religiosity psychosomatic health |
| title | Depression and religiosity in older age |
| title_full | Depression and religiosity in older age |
| title_fullStr | Depression and religiosity in older age |
| title_full_unstemmed | Depression and religiosity in older age |
| title_short | Depression and religiosity in older age |
| title_sort | depression and religiosity in older age |
| topic | Age depression religiosity psychosomatic health |
| url | http://www.eurjmedres.com/content/16/9/401 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT pokorskim depressionandreligiosityinolderage AT warzechaa depressionandreligiosityinolderage |