Religious involvement, social support, and health among African-American women on the east side of detroit
Open accessAbstract
Background A significant body of research suggests that religious involvement is related to better mental and physical health. Religion or spirituality was identified as an important health protective factor by women participating in the East Side Village Health Worker Partnership (ESVHWP), a community-based participatory research initiative on Detroit's east side. However, relatively little research to date has examined the mechanisms through which religion may exert a positive effect on health.Objective The research presented here examines the direct effects of different forms of religious involvement on health, and the mediating effects of social support received in the church as a potential mechanism that may account for observed relationships between church attendance and health.Design This study involved a random sample household survey of 679 African-American women living on the east side of Detroit, conducted as part of the ESVHWP.Main results Results of multivariate analyses show that respondents who pray less often report a greater number of depressive symptoms, and that faith, as an important source of strength in one's daily life, is positively associated with chronic conditions such as asthma or arthritis. Tests of the mediating effect of social support in the church indicated that social support received from church members mediates the positive relationship between church attendance and specific indicators of health.Conclusions These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that one of the major ways religious involvement benefits health is through expanding an individual's social connections. The implications of these findings for research and practice are discussed.
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Self-rated health is strongly related to objective health, that is, future health, health services use, and mortality.
“While based on participants' subjective impression, self-rated health is strongly related to objective health, that is, future health, health services use, and mortality [505–507].”
From Religion, Spirituality, and Health: The Research and Clinical Implications (2012) · cites this paper as [505]
The Measures: Dependent Variables section says the self-rated general-health item is highly predictive of population mortality. It does not say that self-rated health predicts future health or health-services use; references to service attendance concern church attendance, not health care. (LLM, conf=0.88)
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- Authors
- Olphen, J., Schulz, A., Israel, B., Chatters, L., Klem, L., Parker, E., & Williams, D.
- Affiliations
- San Francisco State University (US)
- University of Michigan (US)
- Venue
- Journal of General Internal Medicine
- Published
- 2003-07
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 549-557
- ISSN
- 0884-8734 (ISSN-L)
- 1525-1497
- PMC
- PMC1494889
- OpenAlex
- W2012135123
- Cited by
- 210
- References
- 47
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 48 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 13 · 2012: 10
- FWCI
- 5.72
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Journal of General Internal Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Deep Blue (University of Michigan) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Henry Ford Health System
- School of Public Health, University of Michigan
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U48/CCU515775)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Religion and Society Interactions
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Keywords
- religious involvement, social support, church attendance, African American women, depressive symptoms, prayer frequency, chronic disease, asthma, arthritis, mediation, community-based participatory research, Detroit
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Black or African American, Community-Institutional Relations, Female, Health Services Research, Health Status, Humans, Michigan, Middle Aged, Religion, Social Support, Urban Health, Urban Population, Multivariate Analysis
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