The DOI matches its Crossref record; 51 of the 55 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Does Spirituality or Religion Positively Affect Mental Health? Meta-analysis of Longitudinal Studies
Open accessAbstract
The objective of this meta-analysis was to determine the longitudinal positive effect of religion or spirituality (R/S) on mental health. We summarized 48 longitudinal studies (59 independent samples) using a random effects model. Mental health was operationalized as a continuous and a dichotomous distress measure, life satisfaction, well-being, and quality of life. R/S included participation in public and private religious activities, support from church members, importance of religion, intrinsic religiousness, positive religious coping, meaningfulness, and composite measures. The meta-analysis yielded a significant, but small overall effect size of r = .08 (95% CI: 0.06 to 0.10). Of eight R/S predictors that were distinguished, only participation in public religious activities and importance of religion were significantly related to mental health (r = .08 and r = .09, respectively; 95% CI: 0.04 to 0.11 and 0.05 to 0.12, respectively). In conclusion, there is evidence for a positive effect of R/S on mental health, but this effect is small.
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Handbook of Religion and Health
Koenig, H. G., VanderWeele, T. J., & Peteet, J. R. (2023) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190088859.001.0001 · Cited by 1,160
Spirituality in Serious Illness and Health
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A many-analysts approach to the relation between religiosity and well-being
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A Meta-Analysis of Religion/Spirituality and Life Satisfaction
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Flourishing in critical dialogue
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Metadata
- Authors
- Garssen, B., Visser, A., & Pool, G.
- Affiliations
- University Medical Center Groningen (NL)
- University of Groningen (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Garssen, Bert
- Venue
- The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2020-02-27
- Volume
- 31
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 4-20
- ISSN
- 1050-8619 (ISSN-L)
- 1532-7582
- OpenAlex
- W3008244037
- Cited by
- 418
- References
- 55
- Citations by year
- 2026: 65 · 2025: 73 · 2024: 76 · 2023: 106 · 2022: 57 · 2021: 35 · 2020: 5
- FWCI
- 8.01
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- research.rug.nl
- Licence
- other-oa
- Locations
- International Journal for the Psychology of Religion (publishedVersion)
- University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Dutch Cancer Society (HDI 2010 – 4871)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Religion and Society Interactions
- Keywords
- religion, spirituality, mental health, religious participation, church support, intrinsic religiosity, positive religious coping, meaningfulness, life satisfaction, well-being, quality of life, psychological distress
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