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Of high-school students who attend church, fundamental Protestants are less likely to drink than are liberal Protestants and Roman Catholics; nonattenders are more likely than churchgoers to be heavy drinkers.
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Religion has contributed to societal divides regarding COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. In this study, we conducted a secondary analysis of a survey of U.S. adults (N=4939) focused on how religious affiliations, beliefs, and practices impact attitudes toward genetic and genomic activities, one of which was mRNA vaccines. The dataset included large samples of participants from six religious groups in the U.S. (Black Protestant, Catholic, Evangelical Protestant, Jewish, Mainline Protestant, and Muslim), as well as individuals who were atheist, agnostic, or spiritual. ANCOVA results indicated that Evangelical Protestant participants showed significantly less support for mRNA vaccines than other groups, while atheist participants were the most supportive. Muslim participants had the highest concerns, whereas atheist participants had the lowest. Regression analyses indicated the strongest predictors of support for mRNA vaccines were more spiritual community support for community health, followed by higher acceptance of evolution, more liberal political orientation, less distrust toward the healthcare system, higher frequency of attending religious activities, higher income, lower fundamentalist religious beliefs, and more spiritual community support for liberal reproductive and end of life views. The strongest predictors of concerns about mRNA vaccines were more distrust toward the healthcare system and more conservative political orientation, followed by less spiritual community support for community health, stronger beliefs about God in the body, more fundamentalist religious beliefs, and lower knowledge of genetics. The large sample size, and examination of a broad array of religious variables alongside distrust and political orientation offer new insights. These findings add to the literature on the culture wars surrounding mRNA vaccines, and can perhaps aid in future efforts to build trust and relationships between public health and religious communities.
The relationship of religiosity to self-destructive behavior has largely been considered in terms of the impact of religious affiliation, or church membership, on rates of suicide for various geographical populations. This study departs from that approach and focuses instead on the relationship of intensity of religious commitment to the use of indirect life-threatening behavior (ILTB) among elderly, chronically ill hospital patients. A rating scale to measure the occurrence of ILTB was developed and administered to a sample of 58 patients in a Veterans Administration hospital. Findings for this sample indicate that intensity of religious commitment is a potentially more meaningful measure of religiosity than is formal church membership, that intensity of religious commitment tends to vary inversely with the extent of ILTB observed for the patient, and that "stigma avoidance" may play a role in the tendency for certain religious affiliates to make more extensive use of ILTB.
A questionnaire designed to identify the factors that influence the resolution of ethical dilemmas was returned by 230 (57% of the total) Massachusetts pediatricians. The decision to recommend surgery for an infant with Down's syndrome with duodenal atresia when the parents had refused surgery was influenced by religious affiliation (P less than .01), religious activity (P less than .04), and sex (P=.05). Of those favoring surgery, 40.2% would pursue a court order. The decision to recommend surgery for an infant with severe meningomyelocele when the parents' position was not stated was influenced by age (P less than .01), religious activity (P less than .02), and specialization (P less than .008). When the parents' wishes were expressed, the majority of the pediatricians modified their decision in accord with these wishes. In response to general ethical questions, 79.6% of all pediatricians thought that parents should have the right to withold consent for surgery. Equal numbers thought that psychosocial reasons justified witholding lifesaving procedures. Among a variety of factors, they thought that willingness of the parents to care for the child would influence the decision to take heroic measures. There were 90.4% who thought that ethics should be part of medical education; 55.7% indicated this need throughout their careers.
This study examined correlates of seeking help from clergymen in the event of the death of a close friend or relative. Demographic factors and attitudes toward seeking pastoral help in the event of the death of a close friend or relative were examined in 116 subjects. Half the subjects were undergraduates and half were from local congregations. Age, sex, socioeconomic status, religious affiliation, marital status, and intensity of religious belief were related to favorableness of help-seeking attitudes. Findings concerning sex of the subject were consistent with those in more general studies on help seeking. The remainder of the findings were in the opposite direction from comparable studies where the source of help was a mental health professional and the circumstances for seeking help are unspecified.
Religion has contributed to societal divides regarding COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. In this study, we conducted a secondary analysis of a survey of U.S. adults (N = 4939) focused on how religious affiliations, beliefs, and practices impact attitudes toward genetic and genomic activities, one of which was mRNA vaccines. The dataset included large samples of participants from six religious groups in the U.S. (Black Protestant, Catholic, Evangelical Protestant, Jewish, Mainline Protestant, and Muslim), as well as individuals who were atheist, agnostic, or spiritual. ANCOVA results indicated that Evangelical Protestant participants showed significantly less support for mRNA vaccines than other groups, while atheist participants were the most supportive. Muslim participants had the highest concerns, whereas atheist participants had the lowest. Regression analyses indicated the strongest predictors of support for mRNA vaccines were more spiritual community support for community health, followed by higher acceptance of evolution, more liberal political orientation, less distrust toward the healthcare system, higher frequency of attending religious activities, higher income, lower fundamentalist religious beliefs, and more spiritual community support for liberal reproductive and end of life views. The strongest predictors of concerns about mRNA vaccines were more distrust toward the healthcare system and more conservative political orientation, followed by less spiritual community support for community health, stronger beliefs about God in the body, more fundamentalist religious beliefs, and lower knowledge of genetics. The large sample size and examination of a broad array of religious variables alongside distrust and political orientation offer new insights. These findings add to the literature on the culture wars surrounding mRNA vaccines, and can perhaps aid in future efforts to build trust and relationships between public health and religious communities.
The prevalence of severe mental retardation, derived from military records, is analyzed in terms of time trend, region, religious affiliation and urbanization of birth place. The data are singular in that they are national and virtually complete for a total population of young men, 19-year-old survivors of male births in the Netherlands over the years 1944 through 1947, and they include variables not previously studied. Previous local studies are shown to agree well with the national prevalence of 3.7 per 1,000. Prevalence rose through the four birth years for all forms of severe mental retardation, but most markedly for Down's syndrome. In this condition agency surveys usually yeild equivalent rates to population surveys, and are an economical means of monitoring prevalence. Differences in rates are quite likely to indicate substantive differences. The remarkable similarities in rates from past surveys may reflect a high proportion of chromosomal and genetic abnormalities. The divergence between urban and rural rates over time demonstrated in this paper for four annual cohorts is attributed by inference to disparate increases in survival in different ecologic settings.
The study describes findings on two samples of depressives and normals matched for age, sex, social class and religious affiliation. The following observations on the psychopathology of depression were made by considering the relationships between personality, various aspects of hostility, and the degree of depression: (1) depression, guilt and anxiety are linked together; (2) the extent to which anxiety is somatized is not dependent on the way hostility is handled; also, somatic symptoms occur independently of hysterical symptoms in depressive illness; (3) obsessional symptoms are likely to occur together with hysterical symptoms and to be associated with hostility-aggression during depressive illness; (4) hysterical tendencies may accentuate intropunitiveness.
Four hundred and twenty-five women replied to a questionnaire designed to assess social and psychological changes occurring after tubal sterilization. Dissatisfaction with the outcome of the operation was unrelated to patient age at the time of the operation, parity, religious affiliation and history of emotional instability. While the incidence of negative social and psychological changes was low, a substantial proportion of the sample reported positive effects, particularly in emotional and sexual adjustment.
Of the 187 women who underwent laparoscopic tubal division at the Massachusetts General Hospital between September 1969 and June 1973, one hundred thirty-nine were interviewed in a follow-up study. The mean age was 33.9 years; the mean gravidity was 5.0 and mean parity 3.8. Most women were married, with religious affiliations reflecting those of the general hospital population, and most underwent tubal division because they felt they had had enough children. The majority (85.6%) were satisfied with their decision and reported similar or improved mental and physical health and sexual activity. Almost all (93.5%) said that they would make the same choice again, and more than half (54.7%) would have liked to have had this operation earlier. Those ambivalent or regretful about their decision could not be readily identified by any preoperative characteristics such as age, parity, and marital status.
The NLRB and the appellate courts are more in conflict than in harmony over the inclusion of members of religious congregations in hospital collective bargaining units. The NLRB has bound several bases for exclusion; consequently, unless a hospital affiliated with a congregation is free of these conditions or is willing to assume the burdens of appellate litigation, members of a religious congregation in that hospital are unlikely to be included in a bargaining unit there.
The author discusses the new discipline of sociobiology. He develops the hypothesis that relief of neurotic distress may be associated with experiencing social affiliation and presents data that demonstrate a decline in neurotic symptom intensity in individuals who joined a cohesive religious sect. Anthropological and ethological evidence for the adaptive value of this "relief effect" provides a basis for the evolution of this trait. The author proposes a corresponding model for psychotherapy in large groups.
By means of Allport's Religious Orientation Inventory (ROI) 145 students were classified as intrinsically religious and 133 as nonreligious. Personality differences between the two groups were explored on the basis of their scores on EPPS, the CPI, and 16 PF Questionnaire. Factor analysis of the combined 49 subscales of these three instruments produced eight factors: Achievement Potential, Self-Control, Social Ascendency, Affiliation, Personal and Social Adequacy, Egocentric Sexuality, Restlessness, and Stereotyped Femininity. Analyses of variance of the factor scores of the two groups of subjects showed significant differences on five of the eight factors, accounting for a total of 25% of the total variance. The intrinsically religious scored significantly higher on Self-Control, Personal and Social Adequacy, and Stereotyped Femininity; the nonreligious scored higher on Egocentric Sexuality and Restlessness. These results were discussed in relation to some of Allport's ideas on religion as a dimension of personality.
Religious congregations are challenged to maintain the Catholic health care ministry at the local level despite the pressures of rising costs and decreasing religious personnel. In response, they are creating delivery systems and are experimenting with ways of increasing lay leadership.
Highlands Medical Center, Louisville, is the first instance of a Baptist-Catholic sharing arrangement in the nation. Without attempting to alter the religious dedication or legal operation of either of the two hospitals involved, the Highlands Center arrangement helps the facilities and their patients to save money and the hospitals to provide their community with a greater range of services at the lowest possible cost.