Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, Vol 52, Issue 6 S306-S316, Copyright © 1997 by The Gerontological Society of America
Religion among disabled and nondisabled persons II: attendance at religious services as a predictor of the course of disability
EL Idler and SV Kasl
Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08903, USA. idler@rci.rutgers.edu
Does religious involvement influence changes in physical health? We perform
a longitudinal analysis of the effect of religious participation on
functioning over a 12-year follow-up period, in a large, prospective,
representative sample of elderly persons from New Haven, Connecticut, a
religiously diverse community. To examine the possibility that disability
or changes in disability may be affecting religious involvement, we perform
a second longitudinal analysis of changes in religious practices. Finally,
we ask whether psychosocial correlates explain the effect of religious
involvement on disability. Findings are (a) that attendance at services is
a strong predictor of better functioning, even when intermediate changes in
functioning are included, (b) that health practices, social ties, and
indicators of well-being reduce, but do not eliminate these effects, and
(c) that disability has minimal effects on subsequent attendance. The
findings illustrate the short- and long-term importance of religious
participation to the health and well-being of elderly people, and suggest a
particular significance for religious participation in the lives of
disabled elders.
