Showing papers by "Michael E. McCullough published in 1999"

Religion and the Forgiving Personality

Abstract: Forgiveness is a concept with deep religious roots. It is also a basic social and psychological phenomenon. In this article, we explore the links between forgiveness and religion by surveying how they are linked in the major monotheistic world religions, and how they appear to be linked empirically. In attempting to account for the current body of empirical findings, we propose four potential substantive and methodological explanations that should be explored in future studies. Because the concept of forgiveness is (a) both spiritual and social-psychological in nature, and (b) possibly linked to some measures of human health and well-being (concerns that have traditionally been of interest to both researchers in personality and researchers in religion), the concept of forgiveness could be an important common ground for future research on the interface of religion and personality. The concept of forgiveness has dual natures: a common one and a transcendent one. In the common, material world, forgiveness is just one more social-psychological phenomenon. We can think about it and study

Does Religious Attendance Prolong Survival? A Six-Year Follow-Up Study of 3,968 Older Adults

Abstract: Background. The purpose of the study was to examine religious attendance as a predictor of survival in older adults. Methods. A probability sample of 3,968 community-dwelling adults aged 64-101 years residing in the Piedmont of North Carolina was surveyed in 1986 as part of the Established Populations for the Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly (EPESE) program of the National Institutes of Health. Attendance at religious services and a wide variety of sociodemographic and health variables were assessed at baseline. Vital status of members was then determined prospectively over the next 6 years (1986-1992). Time (days) to death or censoring in days was analyzed using a Cox proportional hazards regression model. Results. During a median 6.3-year follow-up period, 1,777 subjects (29.7%) died. Of the subjects who attended religious services once a week or more in 1986 (frequent attenders), 22.9% died compared to 37.4% of those attending services less than once a week (infrequent attenders). The relative hazard (RH) of dying for frequent attenders was 46% less than for infrequent attenders (RH: 0.54, 95% CI 0.48-.0.61), an effect that was strongest in women (RH 0.51, CI 0.43--0.59) but also present in men (RH 0.63,95% CI 0.52--0.75). When demographics, health conditions, social connections, and health practices were con­ trolled, this effect remained significant for the entire sample (RR 0.72,95% CI 0.64-.81), and for both women (RH 0.65,95% CI 0.55--o.76,p<.OOOI)and men (RH 0.83, 95% CIO.69-1.00,p=.05).

Religion and depression: a review of the literature

Abstract: We reviewed data from approximately 80 published and unpublished studies that examined the association of religious affiliation or involvement with depressive symptoms or depressive disorder. In these studies, religion was measured as religious affiliation; general religious involvement; organizational religious involvement; prayer or private religious involvement; religious salience and motivation; or religious beliefs. People from some religious affiliations appear to have an elevated risk for depressive symptoms and depressive disorder, and people with no religious affiliation are at an elevated risk in comparison with people who are religiously affiliated. People with high levels of general religious involvement, organizational religious involvement, religious salience, and intrinsic religious motivation are at reduced risk for depressive symptoms and depressive disorders. Private religious activity and particular religious beliefs appear to bear no reliable relationship with depression. People with high levels of extrinsic religious motivation are at increased risk for depressive symptoms. Although these associations tend to be consistent, they are modest and are substantially reduced in multivariate research. Longitudinal research is sparse, but suggests that some forms of religious involvement might exert a protective effect against the incidence and persistence of depressive symptoms or disorders. The existing research is sufficient to encourage further investigation of the associations of religion with depressive symptoms and disorder. Religion should be measured with higher methodological standards than those that have been accepted in survey research to date.

Research on Religion-Accommodative Counseling: Review and Meta-Analysis.

Abstract: The present meta-analysis examined data from 5 studies (N = 111) that compared the efficacy of standard approaches to counseling for depression with religion-accommodative approaches. There was no evidence that the religion-accommodative approaches were more or less efficacious than the standard approaches. Findings suggest that the choice to use religious approaches with religious clients is probably more a matter of client preference than a matter of differential efficacy. However, additional research is needed to examine whether religion-accommodative approaches yield differential treatment satisfaction or differential improvements in spiritual well-being or facilitate relapse prevention. Given the importance of religion to many potential consumers of psychological services, counseling psychologists should devote greater attention to religion-accommodative counseling in future studies.

Spiritually and religiously oriented health interventions

Abstract: Controlled intervention studies offer considerable promise to better understand relationships and possible mechanisms between spiritual and religious factors and health. Studies examining spiritually augmented cognitive-behavioral therapies, forgiveness interventions, different meditation approaches, 12-step fellowships, and prayer have provided some evidence, albeit modest, of efficacy in improving health under specific conditions. Researchers need to describe spiritual and religious factors more clearly and precisely, as well as demonstrate that such factors independently influence treatment efficacy. Inclusion of potential moderating and mediating variables (e.g. extent of religious commitment, intrinsic religiousness, specific religious coping strategy) in intervention designs could help explain relationships and outcomes. Using a variety of research designs (e.g. randomized clinical trials, single-subject experimental designs) and assessment methods (e.g. daily self-monitoring, ambulatory physiological measures, in-depth structured interviews) would avoid current limitations of short-term studies using only questionnaires.

Adolescent religiousness and its influence on substance use: preliminary findings from the Mid-Atlantic School Age Twin Study.

Abstract: Research has consistently shown that religiousness is associated with lower levels of alcohol and drug use, but little is known about the nature of adolescent religiousness or the mechanisms through which it influences problem behavior in this age group. This paper presents preliminary results from the Mid-Atlantic School Age Twin Study, a prospective, population-based study of 6‐18-year-old twins and their mothers. Factor analysis of a scale developed to characterize adolescent religiousness, the Religious Atti tudes and Practices Inventory (RAPI), revealed three factors: theism, religious/spiritual practices, and peer religiousness. Twin correlations and univariate behavior-genetic models for these factors and a measure of belief that drug use is si nful reveal in 357 twin pairs that common environmental factors significantly influence these traits, but a minor influence of genetic factors could not be discounted. Correlations between the multiple factors of adolescent religiousness and substance use, comorbid problem behavior, mood disorders, and selected risk factors for substance involvement are also presented. Structural equation modeling illustrates that specific religious beliefs about the sinfulness of drugs and level of peer religiousness mediate the relationship between theistic beliefs and religious/spiritual practices on substance use. Limitations and future analyses are discussed.

Depressive symptoms and nine-year survival of 1,001 male veterans hospitalized with medical illness.

Abstract: Authors examined effects of depressive symptoms on after-discharge survival of hospitalized medically ill male veterans. Psychosocial and physical health evaluations were performed on a consecutive sample of 1,001 patients ages 20–39 (16%) and 65–102 years (84%). Subjects or surviving family members were later contacted by telephone, and Cox proportional-hazards regression modeled the effects of depressive symptoms on time-to-death, controlling for demographics and social, psychiatric, and physical health. Follow-up was obtained on all 1,001 patients (average observation time, 9 years), during which 667 patients died (67%). Patients with depressive symptoms were significantly less likely to survive. For every 1-point increase on the 12-item Brief Carroll Depression Rating Scale (BCDRS), the hazard of dying increased by 10% (P

The mismeasurement of religion in mortality research

Abstract: This paper reviews the existing research on mortality among members of specific religious faiths in comparison with the general population and examines the methods used to ascertain and categorize religious affiliation in mortality research. Having obtained these studies by using standard literature retrieval methods, we then noted the methods used in each of these studies to ascertain and categorize religious affiliation. We found that mortality researchers only rarely examined religious affiliation. When they have done so, they have tended to use religious taxonomies that do not adequately capture religious diversity, and too frequently have ascertained subjects' religious affiliation exclusively by inferring it from subjects' cemetery of burial or funeral home. Given the recently observed links between religion and physical health and longevity, we recommend that mortality researchers include more adequate measurements of religion in future studies.