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Religious Service Attendance and Allostatic Load Among High-Functioning Elderly
Open accessAbstract
OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between frequency of religious service attendance and an index of cumulative physiological dysregulation as measured by allostatic load (AL) (systolic and diastolic blood pressure, waist/hip ratio, high-density lipoprotein and total cholesterol, glycosylated hemoglobin, cortisol, serum dihydroepiandrosterone sulfate, norepinephrine, and epinephrine). There is growing empirical evidence of a positive relationship between religious engagement and better clinical health outcomes. However, studies exploring the subclinical levels of physiological dysregulation are rare; hence, the physiological processes underpinning the religion-health relationship are not well understood. METHODS: In 1988, 853 participants from the MacArthur Successful Aging Study provided information on the frequency of religious service attendance as well as blood and urine samples needed to obtain measures for a ten-item cumulative AL index. Gender-stratified multivariate linear regression models were used to estimate the direction and magnitude of the association between weekly religious service attendance and AL. RESULTS: At least weekly religious service attendance was associated with lower AL levels among women (b = -0.47; p < .01), but not among men (b = 0.02; p = .88) in models that statistically controlled for age, income, education, marital status, and level of physical functioning. This relationship could not be attributed to the association between religious attendance and any one or two of the components of the AL index. It also was not explained by either higher physical functioning or social integration. CONCLUSION: Cumulative physiological dysregulation may be one mechanism through which religious engagement may influence a diverse range of clinically relevant health outcomes.
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“Among the 25 studies with the highest quality ratings, 11 (44%) reported greater weight among the more R/S [82, 317–322] and five (20%) found lower weight (or less underweight [323]).”
From Religion, Spirituality, and Health: The Research and Clinical Implications (2012) · cites this paper as [321]
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“Ten of the 12 studies had quality ratings of 7 or higher; of those, seven (70%) reported significant inverse associations with infection/viral load [440, 441, 449–454].”
From Religion, Spirituality, and Health: The Research and Clinical Implications (2012) · cites this paper as [452]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Maselko, J., Kubzansky, L., Kawachi, I., Seeman, T., & Berkman, L.
- Affiliations
- Temple University (US)
- Harvard University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Maselko, Joanna
- Venue
- Psychosomatic Medicine
- Published
- 2007-06
- Volume
- 69
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 464-472
- ISSN
- 0033-3174 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2042594728
- Cited by
- 124
- References
- 52
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 41 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 4.77
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- nrs.harvard.edu
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Psychosomatic Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (MH-17119, T32MH017119)
- 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 service attendance, allostatic load, religious involvement, physiological dysregulation, successful aging, older adults, sex differences, cortisol, blood pressure, cholesterol, HbA1c, norepinephrine, epinephrine, physical function, social integration
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Aging, Blood Pressure, Cardiovascular Diseases, Cardiovascular System, Female, Health Status, Humans, Hydrocortisone, Lipids, Male, Cohort Studies, Spirituality, Waist-Hip Ratio
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